Whatever Remains Quotes

“You can’t love anything properly from a distance.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“I was afraid,” she said, “and I wanted to hear your voice.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“They’d dueled in the lamplight of her kitchen that night, savaging each other with accusations that could never be recalled. Now, he couldn’t remember half of what they’d said, only the colors and lights and seething tide of fear all around them. He could still taste the acrid burn of unfairness.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“The night was a runny, watercolor black, rain sighing high in the tree tops, rustling on the pavement.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“Ben tasted like wine; felt animal beneath her hands; chased away the shadows until her room was only darkness, only them, nothing wicked.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“It was hesitant at first, gentle. His fingers held tight at the base of her skull and she could feel the restraint in him, the leashed energy vibrating in the space between their bodies. He needed to shave and the stubble on his chin was prickly against hers. He smelled like he always had – aftershave, Calvin Klein cologne he bought at the grocery store, and something wild and frightening, like smoke; something that was unmistakably Ben to her – and it assaulted her brain, turning keys in padlocks and laying bare her self-control.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“I know.” Her smile twitched, wry. “It’s taken me a while to figure out that love turns some men into shitheads every so often.” Her green eyes were too knowing. “Ben cares. Ben is freaking the hell out that a dead body turned up at you and Clara’s doorstep. That spells – ”
“Don’t say ‘love.’”
Jess almost smiled. “It’s Ben’s shriveled, mutant, parasitic brand of love. But it’s still love.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“Calculated, focused destruction – the cold cruelty of an impartial predator – was devastating. A man in his forties, lean and sharp-eyed and jaded, could draw you in with such skill you never noticed that he was planning to cut you down all along. A man like that could play charades and spin lies effortlessly; they could let you go without a backward thought. A man like that was untouchable. Jade had always thought she’d been smarter than to be fooled so thoroughly.
But she’d been wrong.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“He felt her heartbeat against his shoulder, through his jacket, light as raindrops.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“She was this lovely little girl setting his world on fire.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“Ben tugged at the ends of Clara’s long hair. “Hey, Clarabelle. Gram said she’d let you have another cookie.” She leapt up in a rush, darting past him with hair flying.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains

“Nights like this,” someone had told him, not so long ago, “feel like the world’s waiting for something.” He was sure, in hindsight, that on that night on a back step with a shared bottle of grocery store Pinot Noir, the girl beside him had wanted the two of them to be that something special.”
― Lauren Gilley, Whatever Remains