This Secret Thing Quotes

“If no one knew what to do, she thought, then nothing you did could be wrong.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“She had fled school and run home. But the journey to actually get home had taken far longer than she had anticipated. She was glad to finally arrive.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“There are other gaps I’d like you to fill. You promised me you would when you’re ready. Think you’re ready now?” Casey gave her a scolding look. “Using your injury to guilt me into spilling my guts.” She tsked in mock disapproval. “That’s low, Mom.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“She wondered if that was what love was: not sex and not attraction and not romance—not any of those things. She wondered if it wasn’t just this: sitting in a hospital together, showing up without being told you were needed. Knowing that Sprite was what you always wanted when you were upset.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“wondering what her mother had intended her to do with the drive. She had cued Violet with the three taps on the table in the jail. It had been their code. When they were around someone else and she wanted Violet to listen, her mother needed only to tap three times to say This is important, to make sure that Violet was paying attention.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“Your disadvantages are not your determiners,” she heard her instructor say in her head. She tried to believe that as she prepared to attack.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“He calls you funny because he doesn’t know how to describe you. He doesn’t know where to put you, because you’re different from other girls. But once he figures it out . . .” Polly’s voice faded away, and she looked out the driver’s side for a moment.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing

“This was the thing people did not tell you about when you got married and had kids: how important your female friends would become. You thought your friendships in grade school or college were important, but they paled in comparison to the friendships you would form with other mothers. No one told you how you would need them to talk to, to process with, to understand what your husband and kids could not. No one understood the release that would come from laughing till you cried with another person who knew you, understood you, accepted you. No one would tell you how hard that person would be to find.”
― Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, This Secret Thing