The Hookup Quotes

“If you were put on this earth to take care of me, what was I put on this earth to do for you?”
… “To make me happy.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“And love never really dies, but it does fade, as you well know.” He looked back at Izzy. “And when it fades, the part that remains teaches us how to love better the next time,” she said softly, putting her hand on his forearm.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“You never know what’s deep inside a soul. You just never know. And since you don’t know, you’re never, not ever, in the position to judge.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She was iron,” I whispered. “Iron and steel and granite and everything strong packaged up in feathers and goose down and kitten fur and everything soft.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“You named your cats after Charlie’s Angels?” he asked.
“They don’t fight crime. They mostly just shed, eat, nap and make me feel inferior. But they’re still beautiful.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“He wept when his father died and sobbed when he lost his mother, but way before that he told us only stupid men hide emotion. There’s strength in being who you are and feeling what you feel and not giving a shit what people think. He said one of the worst things a man could be is inauthentic. He told us never to willfully break a woman’s heart because there’d come a time when a woman would break ours and we’d feel what we’d made her feel and we wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. He loved us and he showed it. He was proud of us and he showed it.” Johnny Gamble talking about his father”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“We all gotta settle in with what we got and just rejoice if life gives us more or gives us better.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“You deserve to be the love of someone's life, not the one who followed that first act.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“Fuck,” he whispered, his arms spasming around me.
My voice got soft again. “Johnny, it’s okay.”
His voice got soft too. “I wish I met you before she fucked me up.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She shouldn’t have looked for the dreamers. She should have found a man who knows all the different types of motor oil.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“After drinks, we’ll come back to my place and I’ll fuck you stupid.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“Is she back?”
“Oh no. Hell no.” His forehead rolled on mine as he underlined a negative I thought I understood, but when he went on I would find I did not. “She doesn’t get this. She doesn’t get us. We’ve talked about her all we’re ever gonna talk about her. She doesn’t get to be a part of whatever it is that’s gonna be the me and you we become.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She was three years ago, Eliza. I loved her. That fact doesn’t change. I loved her and she wrecked me when she left because that was how much I loved her. I’m not going to apologise for that or deny it or walk on eggshells with you about it while we figure out what we got and why it’s so fuckin’ good and so fuckin’ intense and so fuckin’ everything.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“We fight wars over dirt and oil and ego when we should fight wars against men who force women to live that kind of life with their children.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“we take care of each other. And we look after those in our hearts and lives. So the Forrester Girls Club has a new member, baby. And he’s got a dick.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“He told us never to willfully break a woman’s heart because there’d come a time when a woman would break ours and we’d feel what we’d made her feel and we wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She was iron,” I whispered. “Iron and steel and granite and everything strong packaged up in feathers and goose down and kitten fur and everything soft. She was the most precious gift I’ve ever received and will be until I have my own babies.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“The going will get tough, and you’ll stick. We’ll fight, and you’ll stick. Our world could rock, Eliza, and there’s one thing I’m certain about, you’ll stick.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“Ich liebe dich auch.” He kept looking at her. Then he busted out laughing. But while doing it, he curled his Eliza to his front and he kissed her.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“Thank God for you. Dave and you. Thank God Dad had you so he could give you to us. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have a lot of things, Margot. Too many to name. It’d take a week just to get through table manners. But there’s a new one now. And that would be, if I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t know how to love her like she needs me to do it.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“That’s the guy I am. Yours. Simple. That’s it. And you’re mine. Mine, Iz. And we take care of each other. And we look after those in our hearts and lives. So the Forrester Girls Club has a new member, baby. And he’s got a dick.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“There’s strength in being who you are and feeling what you feel and not giving a shit what people think.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“You didn’t get much from your dad, but even if it was forged through adversity he gave you the drive to find something better in your life. That’s yours. You work it. You own it. But he gave it to you. I’m not saying you should be grateful. You don’t thank a rapist for teaching you how to be more careful as you walk to your car at night. But you own the strength you earned by getting through that even if it’s all kinds of unfair you had to find that strength. He played a part in making you the Izzy you are, and you should be proud this is who you became when it could have gone another way entirely.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She doesn’t get this. She doesn’t get us. We’ve talked about her all we’re ever gonna talk about her. She doesn’t get to be a part of whatever it is that’s gonna be the me and you we become.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“So I needed to stop obsessing, ordering, thinking. I needed to just let things . . . Be.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“stability was people, not places and things.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“I WOKE UP to the sound of a ceiling fan. I did not have a ceiling fan.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“She left. I wasn’t Sleeping Beauty, unconscious and unmoving, waiting for her to return. Life happens and it happened. I met you.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“Love never really dies, but it does fade. And when it fades, the part that remains teaches us how to love better the next time.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup

“The front door flew open.

  His gaze went there and he saw Margot swan in, Dave at her back carrying a pie.

  She stopped, did a sweep of the place with her eyes, it halted on Izzy in his kitchen and her expression shifted straight to sheer bliss.

  “Eliza!” she cried. “My darling girl! Could you be more adorable in that dress?”

  As Johnny rolled up to his feet holding Brooks to him, Margot swept in, latched onto Izzy and hugged her like she was her favorite daughter who’d married a Russian who’d whisked her off to the cold of Siberia and she hadn’t seen her in a decade.

  “Totally . . . dig . . . this chick,” Addie murmured.

  Johnny moved their way as Margot let go of Izzy, assessed Addie, and Dave moved into Iz and gave her a hug, muttering, “Great to see you again, child.”

  “You too, Dave,” she said back.

  “You must be the sister,” Margot decreed.

  “That I am,” Addie replied. “And you must be the awesome Margot.”

  Margot arched a brow. “Awesome?”

  “Izzy thinks your da bomb.”

  “Did she use that vernacular?”

  “No, she said, ‘I can’t wait for you to meet Margot. She’s class on a stick.’”

  Margot’s face grew smug and she aimed a look Izzy’s way, murmuring demurely, “Darlin’.”

  Izzy was blushing.

  Johnny waded in.

  “Let’s finish this up. Dave, this is Addie, Izzy’s sister. And guys, this is Brooks.” He lifted the baby a couple of inches. “Addie’s boy.”

  “Oh . . . my . . . word! Look at that handsome child!” Margot lifted both hands his way. “Give him to me immediately, Johnathon.”
― Kristen Ashley, The Hookup