Against a Wall Quotes

“She’s the prettiest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Her blue hair’s up in a ponytail, and she’s wearing her thin gold nose ring. She’s in her socks. They’ve got cats on them. Floating cat heads with party hats. I’m pretty sure I recognize her jeans. I’ve been ogling her ass in them since high school.

I’m gonna marry this girl.

We’re gonna live in our cabin up on the mountain and have babies and dogs coming out of our ears.

“Why are you smiling?” she asks, suspicious. She’s gone back into her shell. That’s all right. She let me in. I’ll coax her out again soon enough.

“Thinking about how many babies and dogs we’ll have.”

“Babies?”

“Um-hum,” I drawl. I love to watch her squirm. “Twins run in my family, obviously.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“No one has the patience for old grief. After a while, you’re supposed to keep it to yourself. Shove it under the bed or the back of the closet. Holding on to it is unhealthy, right?

But grief’s not an animal on a leash. It stays, regardless of how tight or loose you hold on. It settles in. It walks alongside you.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“You trapped Phat Thom for me.” My buzzy brain is puzzling something out. “You’re with a mighty hunter, babe. I keep tellin’ you.” He does. I turn to face him. He blinks, surprised, and angles himself to face me, too. He frowns. This isn’t the reaction he expected. To be honest, I never expected this either. I take his hands. He tilts his head. The sun glints off the fishhook on the brim of his hat. I smile. “Will you marry me?” I ask. “All it took was a freakin’ giant turkey?” he says. He scoops me into his arms, and twirls me and kisses me, whooping and hollering. Phat Thom is going nuts, flapping and squawking. I laugh and shriek, and Cash’s voice rings through the meadow as he says, “Yes, baby. Yes. No take backs.” And I know then I never will.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I just walked ten miles in the pitch dark for you. I could get eaten by a bear. I WOULD get eaten by a bear for you. Voluntarily. My lips are softening. Little fizzes are going off in my chest like sparklers. I bought all your pictures like a stalker but I don’t care and you can’t have them back. There are dots, but I interrupt them. Why? He replies immediately. You know why.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“This woman owns me, and she has no idea.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“What the hell is wrong with people?” “Late-stage capitalism,”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“And just because you regret the way you made it through something doesn’t mean you can’t also be proud as hell that you did get through.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“We’re both naked. Cash and I. A wave of panicked shyness overtakes me, but it’s dark, and we’re kissing like we’re sharing secrets, like we haven’t seen each other in a hundred years, and we have to say everything at once.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I feel strange.

Nothing’s resolved. You can’t fix the past.

But still—

It’s like the memory—at least this one—was the beach at the end of the day, messy with piles of sand and holes and footprints—and now it’s the morning, and it’s all still there, but smoothed out. For now.

Nothing’s made right—you can’t change the past—but somehow, something has still been remade.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Cash Wall comes from the richest family in town. The bridge into town is named after them, for heaven’s sake. His father breeds racehorses. His older brother, Kellum, is the acting sheriff since Del Willis was put on administrative leave. His mother is the chair of every committee. And he complains about the price of a cup of coffee.

Is there a word that’s like entitlement, but for when a guy chews straw and acts like his truck doesn’t cost sixty thousand bucks?”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“It doesn’t stop him from popping the question, but at least he does it less frequently. He used to do it basically every time we had sex or there was a nice sunset or something.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I never thought I’d get her. It’s a miracle, plain and simple, and undeserved at that. I’m a lucky man. I’m gonna make Glenna Dobbs happy every day of her life. Or if she wants to mope around in her black hoodies, that’s cool, too. As long as she shoots me those shy smiles.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Listen up.” His voice booms. Everyone shuts up. “I’m gonna find who pushed her, and this right here is gonna be child’s play. You got me?” I’ve never heard him sound so serious. “Anyone lays a hand on her again, I’ll fucking end you. You say the name ‘Del Willis’ around her again, I will end you.” He enunciates each of the last four words. “Is that fucking clear?”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I want her to choose me when she could choose anything.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Then, as soon as he sees Toby on his phone at a table in the empty dining room, he clears his throat, smirks as smarmy as I’ve ever seen, and announces, “Sorry for the inconvenience, man. Just ate Glenna’s sweet pussy until she called my name instead of God’s. Apparently, she’s never had it so good, but don’t be too hard on yourself, my dude.” Cash has been walking and talking, and when he passes Toby, he claps him hard on the shoulder. “You like to run your mouth to tear a woman down. I got other skills.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“She ducks her head down and shouts, “Catch me!” “Dina, shit, hold up—” There’s an oof, a trilling laugh, a growl, and the sound of a palm connecting with a backside.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“The silver lining is that people have stopped busting my chops. I confronted Dad about the phone calls, and I check in every day, and he says they’ve stopped. I have no idea if he’s blowing smoke up my ass or not, but he seems more chill. Then there’s the added bonus that having Cash around drives Toby nuts. The downside is that Toby’s decided to turn up the PDA with his new girl, Samantha, to twelve. And I don’t care. I really, really don’t. I don’t want him back. I don’t miss feeling the way I felt with him—at all. But I know he’s doing it to mess with me, even though he’d never admit it, probably not even to himself. I have to act like it’s fine. I’m chill. And that’s too much like how it was being in a relationship with him. Playing it cool reminds me of how long I had shit in my mouth and didn’t say a word. So I’m constantly flustered, clumsy, hot, and cranky. I can’t possibly seem like a woman with a new boyfriend, but people buy it ‘cause Cash Wall says it’s so. And of course, if he showed the slightest bit of interest in me—out of guilt or pity or whatever—I’d fall over myself saying yes, please, sign me up. And that’s exactly what it looks like I did. It sucks, and tonight, Cash wants to take it to the next level. It’s Friday, and he’s taking me out on our first fake date. We’re going to Birdy’s Bar. Everyone under thirty goes to Birdy’s on Friday night. I’ve never been. I’m getting ready. On the one hand, I don’t want Cash to think I’m putting forth an effort. On the other, I don’t want everyone in town to gawk at me all night, thinking I really need to put forth more effort. So, I’m wearing a teal, silk cami and my best-fitting jeans. I swapped my nose ring out for a diamond stud and curled my hair in big, beachy waves. I’m going the whole nine yards with primer and foundation and concealer and bronzer and blush and highlighter and powder and setting spray. Toby would hate it. Goes against his oft-stated “natural beauty” preference. It’s been so long since I’ve done my face in”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Why don’t I know anything anymore? I’m pretty sure I used to know it all.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Cash is the whole stereotype.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I mean, he got me shot, and I’m sitting here in terrible pain thinking, “This is one good-looking guy.” Biology is an idiot.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“No one has the patience for old grief. After a while, you’re supposed to keep it to yourself. Shove it under the bed or the back of the closet. Holding on to it is unhealthy, right? But grief’s not an animal on a leash. It stays, regardless of how tight or loose you hold on. It settles in. It walks alongside you.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I don’t know. I’m making these awesome goat cheese, turkey, and roasted red pepper sandwiches, but I know I’m going to sell out of the chicken salad—and it’s thirty percent mayonnaise, store bought, and has no flavor. There’s definitely an analogy there. People like chicken salad, and they like Cash Wall. He’s mayonnaise.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I’m checking out the framed dried wildflowers and photo collages. And then I see something that belongs to me hanging from her mirror.

“Hey. Those are my truck nuts.”

She blinks drowsily and looks in that direction. “Oh. Yeah.”

“You took my nuts.”

She squints up at me. “Sorry?”

She’s not sorry at all.

I laugh. “Yeah. Seems about right.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I don’t really mind. He’s a pushy dude. The flip side of that coin, I’ve discovered, is that he can take a lot of push back, and he never gets butthurt.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“I don’t let him finish. “You are so full of yourself. Can you even hear what you’re saying? Cash, I can assure you, you have had exactly zero impact on my life except for some minor inconveniences and a firm belief that money can’t buy sense, tact, or common decency.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“How is it your business, Toby?” She tucks herself a little closer to my side. Attagirl.

“We’re friends. And clearly, you’re struggling.” He lowers his voice to maximum patronizing. “Glen, you can always come to me, no matter what. I’ll always care about you. You know that.”

If I punch him in the pretentious goatee and break his jaw, what are the odds that Glenna gets so mad she never talks to me again?

I could just slap him. No one could blame me, not even Glenna. He’s got a face that begs to be slapped.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“He tightens his grip again, and his lips brush my earlobes as he says, “‘Cause every time I got you to look at me, after I got home from practice, I’d lock my door and stroke my cock, picturing your face.”

My pussy spasms.

Bad pussy.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Town was too small, but the mountain was big. I was alone both places, but on the mountain, it didn’t hurt. It healed.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“Cash’s friends are clumped around him, making a Venn diagram. They’re on one side, I’m on the other, and the table is the bit in the middle.

At least I have elbow room.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall

“That’s the thing about living in a small town. Your worst high school memory just hangs out at your place of work, wearing the exact same cologne he did on the day of your greatest public humiliation.

On the bright side, the burn of the epic embarrassment has mostly worn off from repeated exposure.”
― Cate C. Wells, Against a Wall