False Step Quotes

“The world didn’t stop turning, no matter what happened. Even during the darkest tragedies life went on, unaware and cruel, completely unconcerned with whether you could manage to catch up.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She loved having secrets. She loved that no one in her life knew everything about her. She was a puzzle, and only she had all the pieces.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She'd isolated herself. She'd become smaller to make room for his presence.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“Funny how the lens of childhood always cast adults with so much freedom and strength. She’d been far freer as a child. Happier too. And she’d damn sure been more determined. Now it felt as if all her strength went into making it through the day. Just one more day. They added up eventually, or so she kept telling”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“But mothers couldn’t be cowards. It wasn’t allowed. No one told new moms that, but the realization flowed into their bones with the hormones.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She'd done everything wrong. She'd tried to improve her unhappy life with one man by turning to another.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“That was the reason she couldn't look at her father any more. Not because he disgusted her, but because she disgusted herself. So she didn't want to see her father or see herself in him.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“Still, her career was one of the few pieces of her life that felt just right - the rest of the puzzle no longer fit back together, the pieces bent or swollen out of shape.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“Veronica had always thought of her mom as the boring one. The constant. The default parent who cooked and cleaned and laid down ground rules. But had she wanted more? Had she ever taken more?”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“The news is almost on.” “Right.” She glanced at the muted TV screen and held back a sigh. “I think I’ll get some sleep. It’s been a crazy couple of days. There’s still leftover stir-fry in the fridge if you want it. I’m sure there are a few pieces of pizza too.” His head tipped down toward his phone again. “Yeah. Thanks.” “And could you take Old Man out for a quick walk?” He grunted. Veronica retreated to the bedroom and the new book awaiting her. She’d been trying to slow her reading to wait for Micah to catch up, but she felt too pitiful putting it off for him. And if she were being honest with herself, she was worried she’d have to put off her reading forever. She was three pages in when she tossed the book down and picked up her phone. I didn’t want”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She wasn’t this careful. Maybe Johnny had more to lose. Oh, she deleted texts from Micah eventually. But not right away. She needed to savor them first. But whatever Johnny was doing, he wasn’t sentimental about it, apparently.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“Children were naturally selfish. Their selfishness protected them from noticing the rough currents of life that pulled in all directions. But they noticed the rapids. They knew when they were being sucked under.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“And when she was alone, she’d be truly, blessedly alone. It would be so much less lonely than living with someone who’d ruined the love you’d once had.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She hated grocery shopping more than any other chore. Something about it felt insulting. Probably because it was basically doing the same chore four times. First you moved the groceries into the cart, then onto the checkout belt, then into the car, and finally into the house. Hell, it was really a fifth time if you counted putting everything away once you got to the kitchen.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She wasn’t above suspicion so much as below notice, and these days that was just fine with”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She didn’t want to be his wife. And he had zero interest in being a husband—or stepfather—to anyone. She’d never spent the night with him. Never tended him through illness or disappointment. This affair was a fantasy. She couldn’t love him. Not really. But she still turned her head and brushed her lips over his shoulder with a sigh.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“She was the one using him, surely. He was her drug, the antidepressant that stopped her from breaking apart and running away forever. Every week, if she was patient enough, Wednesday would come around again, and she’d get her fix, and she’d be fine for a little while.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“wasn’t love. She knew it couldn’t be love. But it was life, and she craved this knowledge that she was still alive. Still vibrant. Still a risk worth taking. With Micah she wasn’t a mom or a wife. She wasn’t the responsible one in the relationship. It wasn’t a relationship at all. It was just . . . this.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“You’ll get lonely.” “No. No, I don’t think I will. I have everything I want here and no one I have to cater to. I don’t have to pretend about . . . well, anything. It’s not even worth talking about, sweetheart. I’m not lonely. At all. I’m just relieved. And I like cooking for myself. I make whatever I want.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“It was Johnny’s big night. Veronica wouldn’t cause trouble. She wouldn’t kick Trey out. But God, how had this become her crowd?”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step

“It turned out that frantically gluing the broken pieces of a marriage back together didn’t make for the tightest hold. The seams had eventually given way and left her sitting in a giant, messy pile of hurt and anger and memories.”
― Victoria Helen Stone, False Step