Otherwise Engaged Quotes

“I drop the book and step away warily, like its a feral animal. I throw a pillow at it so I don't have to see its cover. I was prepared to hate the passage - and I do, sort of. But what I wasn't prepared for was to be so overcome by it, too, to feel charged with Dahlia's pull, to come away with an understanding of her power. And it's too much.”
― Lindsey J. Palmer, Otherwise Engaged

“He cracks a copy's spine to show me the dedication: "Mollymoo, this is for you." I feel the same welling up that I feel whenever Gabe signs a card this way or whispers the nickname in my ear. I snatch the book away to examine it further. But its weight in my hands reminds me that this isn't some private love note; it's a public declaration, the opener to a story that's all about Gabe's ex-girlfriend. In what way is this "for me"? How is it a gift? And what will Talia think when she reads the dedication? How about everyone else?”
― Lindsey J. Palmer, Otherwise Engaged

“I think of Gabe writing a 300-page tribute to his ex-girlfriend, which will soon be published for all the world to read. I think of Talia, who is apparently back in the picture, or maybe has been in it all along. And Charlie, trying his darnedest to be back in the picture, too, as usual knowing exactly where my tender spots are to probe at. And me, falling for the fantasy that a wedding dress can be some kind of chrysalis, metamorphosing me from a regular person with all my regular person problems into a beautiful butterfly, fit to fly away from it all. How naive I am, how stupid. ”
― Lindsey J. Palmer, Otherwise Engaged