The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine Quotes

“She wore a summer dress and it smelled of Hawaii- of the ocean, sun, teriburgers and plumeria. I squeezed her dress in my hand, wanting to be back there.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“It’s hard for me to say now if I would have called her classically beautiful, but she was that star in the sky that you can’t take your eyes off, even if it’s surrounded by brighter ones.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“You should have told me earlier. It was an expensive lesson,” I said. “It drained my emotional bank account.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“You taste salty-" Matilda licked her lips "-like pretzels."
It was an intimate gesture. I brushed her lips with mine, and it brought me back to that magical night at the estate bowling alley when I treaded carefully with my lips.
"You taste sweet," I said. "Like sugar."
"Like guava." Matilda grinned playfully.
"I missed you." It came out before I could think about it.
"I missed you squared, times seven, plus four," Matilda replied.
It reminded me of something Matilda would have said at the estate- childish in a way. She was a completely different woman than the girl I had met on the tennis court, yet in some ways still the same. I needed to love the woman she was becoming, not just the girl she had been.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“It was then that I noticed the hibiscus tree. Its magenta flowers were in bloom, brilliant and full with fertile golden centers. The tree was incongruous with its surroundings- the dirt, the man weathered from the sun and life.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“She held a violin delicately tucked in between her soft neck and athletic shoulder, and she was dressed in a white goddess-like gown that pooled on the floor. Wide gold cuffs covered her wrists, dangly earrings hung from her ears and an ornate headband haloed her sharply bobbed black wig. Her eyes were outlined in a smoldering, liquid black, and her lips were the color of blood.
She was dressed as Cleopatra.
Is there a moment in every relationship when it becomes life-threateningly dangerous? When you realize that your heart is so comfortably resting in someone else's hands that should they decide to drop it you would never fully recover? In the case of my relationship with Matilda Duplaine it was at this very moment.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“I put my hand over Matilda's, caressing the little blue veins that swam just below the skin and squeezing the chunky black pearl-and-diamond ring that adorned her middle finger. Happiness washed over me. We were in a magical place between warm sky and cool grass, between a soft cashmere blanket and a glittering sky. There were so many stars they seemed to rain like confetti at a celebration, and I felt as if Matilda and I were its guests of honor.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“There was something about those birds in the glass aviary that was foreboding and sad. They could fly, but they had no sky. The one who had escaped- the homing pigeon- was mourned, but shouldn't he have been celebrated? He had freedom; he had escaped his predictable route between Malibu and Bel-Air and was now flying in bigger and brighter skies, with a flight plan that was spontaneous and new.
And then there was the girl: I had forced myself to forget her but was only successful for an hour or two, and then she would creep back in, the way a spider returns to a musty corner of a room to spin her web.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“I learned quickly that once Los Angeles decides to sprinkle you with its stardust, it shakes so generously you glitter.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“I was beginning to realize something about myself: I preferred to live in hope than take a risk—a risk that may have quashed it. I needed to change that.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Supposed to’ is a terrible phrase because it’s always followed by something nice that didn’t happen,”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Lily’s father had been rich, so her mother had probably been pretty. That was how the world worked.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Let me know if you want more flowers, because Daddy says they don't have flowers in Manhattan. Why would you want to live in a place with no flowers?”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Sometimes what isn't there is more important than what is.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Just then, the reel snapped off the projector and the screen went black. We stood under the chandelier for one last moment. It cast stars on the floor below us, and we were surrounded by so much velvet I felt like a diamond nestled in a jewel box. But the stars weren't real, and I wasn't a gem. In fact, it was only then that I realized that pretty much everything about the gilded life of Matilda Duplaine was make-believe.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“She was the one to kiss me, nervously, because it was something she had never done before- with me or with anyone else. At first she just brushed her lips on mine, and she was on the precipice of doing something more, but she didn't quite know what to do. I took over then, leaning into her and kissing her. She tasted of tears and toothpaste, salt and sweet.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“It was that pause at the end of the evening when you savor every morsel of time, every crumb of it. I didn't want to leave, so I made a bold move. I leaned closer to Matilda, touching my lips gently in that place where her face met her ear. Her shoulder blades tightened together, and the wisps of blond hair on her arms stood straight up. It wasn't necessarily a kiss, but I would remember it as our first.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Strategically placed spotlights illuminated the garden, and when she moved in front of one I could see the outline of her body through her filmy nightgown. She was curvy and woman-like, but her aura exuded innocence.
In the past twenty-two days I had convinced myself that I was wrong, that it was curiosity or my quest for a story that fanned those sparks that had been dead in me for so long. But now, here, I knew it was a primal attraction I hadn't felt since Willa- the sleepless nights with her, the sleepless nights without her.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“She was wearing a long white Juliet-style nightgown. I was not exactly a ladies' man, but I had been with enough women to know that these weren't garments women wore to bed anymore.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“This isn't one of your movies, Father, this is real life. There are not a bevy of directors, writers, actors, designers and editors to set this film. It is yours alone.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“When's your birthday?" I asked.
"The twentieth of April."
"A Taurus."
"A what?" she asked.
"Astrology. Do you follow it?"
"Not only do I not follow it, I've never even heard of it."
I paused, wondering if the girl was kidding, but I didn't detect a note of sarcasm in her voice.
"I'm from Milwaukee- we don't believe things like that there, either. It's all hocus-pocus if you ask me."
"Milwaukee's in Wisconsin. Wisconsin's capital is Madison. Its state bird is the robin and it's known as the Dairy State because it produces more cheese and milk than any other state," she said, as if reading from a teleprompter. "This thing called astrology- what is it exactly?"
"That's a good question," I said. "It has something to do with the stars. I've never really understood it, either."
"You mean astronomy, then?"
"No, they're two different things- astrology and astronomy."
"So what are you in astrology terms?"
"A Scorpio."
"A scorpion. In other words, you're an eight-legged, venomous creature to be wary of?"
Her tone was deadpan.
"No poison here, just a nice guy from Milwaukee."
She let out a jovial laugh.
She was a curious creature, and I was intrigued. Her manner of speech was officious and old-fashioned. She was interested and reserved, insecure and confident, coy and bold. She was unlike anyone I had ever met.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“By the way, I couldn’t believe it when I learned about this thing called Federal Express. It seems nothing short of a miracle. I wish I could Federal Express you back here because I miss you, and Hawaii, and those days on the estate, and absolutely all of it. There’s no need for fifty kisses if you know the first one is the right one. Let me know if you want more flowers, because Daddy says they don’t have flowers in Manhattan. Why would you want to live in a place with no flowers? Miss you to infinity, Matilda I read and reread the note so many times the words blurred together.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“I have thought of you every moment for all these months, too, and I kept hoping you would come to me, because isn’t that what men in the movies do?”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Yes, so you’ve done a good thing. Inadvertently perhaps, but wayward intention never diminishes a good result in my eyes.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“My father and I had a very complex relationship,” Lily said. “He could be a tremendously good person, though he was capable of evil. I grew up in a world of powerful men who were very fallible, and I loved them anyway.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Some men—powerful men—make you feel like the world revolves around you, like you’re the brightest star in the sky, even if it’s just for a moment. My father wasn’t like that. He kept you in the waiting room, with no food or water or compassion until you scraped and clawed at his doors, dying to be allowed in. My father kept you thirsty, that was his secret.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Manhattan can be a very intoxicating woman, Thomas. Just remember she breaks the hearts of even the best of men.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“the best businessmen stop talking a full sixty seconds before they think they should.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine

“Remember when we only had Fridays?” Matilda whispered. “Life in between Fridays was like the wire between lanterns, and Fridays were the parts that glowed.” “But now we have every days,” I said. “Every day we have each other.”
― Alex Brunkhorst, The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine