Rachel Hawthorne

“The quickest road to trust comes by building a bridge of common experiences.”

“I loved my parents and wanted to make them proud of me - but no longer at the cost of my own happiness.”

“And then the squirrel ran up my legs searching for nuts.' I nearly spewed my coffee and my eyes went wide as I jerked my head around to stare at Daniel.He gave me a wry grin and chuckled. 'I thought that would get your attention.”

“Deception may give us what we want for the present, but it will always take it away in the end.”

“But I'd learned the hard way that you can't tell by looking if a guy is destined to hurt you. From the outside, they all look nice.”

“Have you ever wanted something so badly, thought you’d die if you didn’t get it, then when you finally did get it, you wondered what all the fuss was about?”

“And his kiss wasn't at all like his smile. It wasn't crooked or one-sided. It was quite simply... perfect.”

“Dylan wrapped his arms around my middle and pulled me closer to him. Perhaps the true reason Hollywood made scary movies. So guys could have an excuse for holding a girl close.”

“Do you and Zach have trouble living together?''No. Must be a chick thing.' 'And you're sexist.''I'm sexy.”

“That sounded so incredibly romantic. Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet had thought the same thing in Titanic. And look how that had ended.”

“No point in playing if your goal is to lose.”

“The thing I've found about exciting is that it's like fireworks. A big burst of color. It takes your breath away, and then nothing. But something that's always there, while it might not be as exciting, like the stars in the sky, they can still steal your breath.”

“I can't believe you'd rather hold handle bars than a girl."He angled his head thoughtfully."I hadn't considered that.""Maybe you should."He hopped over,gingerly swinging his bad leg over to the other side and settled down behind me on the seat."You got rules on how I can hold you?""Nothing distracting while I'm driving," I tossed over my shoulder, meeting his gaze."We don't need another accident.""And when you're not driving?""The Kate-have-a-good-time fund is getting low.Maybe you should think about making a deposit.”

“Dolly Parton to my..well, ;et's just say that the greatly endowed wagon had passed me by.”

“Do you need anything?""I would say just you but that sounds way too corny.”

“I'm not confused anymore.I know what I want.""Me,too.What I've always wanted since I first saw you.""Why didn't you kiss me again after that first time,that night on the deck?""You didn't give me any hints that you wanted another one."i wiggled up a little closer to him and looped my fingers behind his neck. "What would a hint entail?"He held my gaze."Exactly what you're doing.""Then why aren't you kissing me?"He touched his nose to mine."It's cold out here.What if our lips freeze together?""I'll chance it.”

“I'm trying to figure out how much I need to deposit into the Kate-have-a-good-time fund," he said."It's pretty empty.You might have to make a substanial deposit." I couldn't believe how breathless I sounded,like I'd been running beside a snowmobile instead of riding on it.His grin grew."I'm still strapped for cash.""You're torturing me,you know thst? Did you take lessons from Sam?""I'm torturing you?Geez,you've been torturing me since the day we got here.”

“The weather,I finally thought.The weather was always a good topic of conversation. "That was some blizzard we had last week,wasn't it?" I asked, since he'd been at Cynthia's instead of with us.We could talk about the blackouts,the shrieking winds-He perked up, looked around. "There's a Dairy Queen in town?I didn't know that.Where is it?"I heard Allie snicker.Sam took up for his friend. "It's an understandable mistake.”

“But I just couldn't seem to get excited about the fact that we were sorta having a date.I mean, he'd asked me to go skiing with him, and so here I was, and my heart should have been pounding.But it wasn't.I could have been going to the grocery store to pick up a bag of potatoes for all the thudding it was doing.”

“I finally got it.Allie and Sam..heavy duty secret handshake going on.”

“I've totally fallen for him. Really bad.I don't know how I'm going to go back to Texas,Kate.""On an airplane."She scowled at me. "I'm serious.I don't want to leave him.”

“It's just that,well,I'm gonna pull a Brad on you.""You're going to start totally ignoring me?”

“He kicked me out,okay?""How can a guy who only has one good leg to stand on kick you out?""He doesn't want me around.""I find that hard to believe, Katie.""Yeah,well,he threw snow at me and told me to leave."She looked astounded.As well she should be."Where did he get snow?" she asked.Okay,I'd obviously misread the reason for her astonishment.It wasn't that he'd thrown snow at me,but that he'd had snow to throw.”

“I'd made myself some hot chocolate, located a book with a lot of murder and mayhem,curled up on a loveseat near the fireplace, and was happily envisioning Joe as the corpse of this tale.”

“I'd actually spent some time in my bedroom moving around using only one leg,trying to raise my sympathy level when I got really frustrated with him.”

“Don't wait for life to tap you on the shoulder.Go out and tap it.”

“Tell me there's more to it than just adding water," he said.I gave him a pointed look. "Nope. that's all there is to it."he looked over his shoulder at the doorway that led to the living room, then back at me. "Matchmaking?"I grimaced and nodded."You don't look thrilled.""It's my love life, and everyone treats it like it's a community project.”

“If I didn't know better,I'd think she arranged this snowstorm just so we'd all have to stay indoors for a while.”

“Even if the cables hold,your heart might not.”

“She won't reveal your secret handshake.""It's not my handshake I'm worried about.""Pretend it is.Because as far as I'm concerned,thats all the two of you do. Shake hands.Even if I see you kissing? In my head,I'm going to tell myself that you're shaking hands.”

“Switch places," Sam ordered me. "What are we doing, playing musical partners here?""I didn't know we were playing with Foosball sharks here.We're starting over.”

“Do I have clueless tattooed across my forehead?" Narrowing my eyes,I leaned toward him. "Yeah,I think maybe you do.”

“My brother," I said with emphasis, in case the snow had blinded her and she hadn't realized exactly who she'd been standing there with.”

“Caught in a lip-lock that I thought might require the expertise of the mountain rescue team to break apart'.”

“He was more of a cut-a-wisebrack-and-run-for-cover kind of guy.”

“You're my favorite sister." I snorted. "Gosh,I'd hate to be your unfavorite sister. I might not survive.""Hey,Kate,you know I'm just teasing when I give you a hard time.""Yeah,right,and the teasing just keeps me laughing.”

“Hey, ya'll,can we go?" Leah asked. "The cute guys are gonna be taken by the time we get there.""No,they won't be," Sam said,"Because you'll be ariving with them.”

“Hot chocolate should be sinful, and I don't believe in sinning in half measures.”

“Cynthia ordered Guilty Pleasure-why was I not surprised?”

“What can I get you guys?" Another lie, maybe?”

“After all,how long could it take to fix a garbage disposal? He could have built her a freaking new one by now. With his teeth.”

“Great.My brother was an entertainer and I was a sleeping pill.”

“I never understood how much responsability came with love.”

“Flotaba en el agua cuando le pregunté:-Entonces, ese tatuaje de tu hombro, ¿Qué significa?-Todos los machos se hacen un tatuaje cuando están listos para declarársele a la chica que han elegido para ser su pareja. El tatuaje representa el nombre de ella escrito en la lengua antigua de nuestra especie.-¿Y a quien has elegido tú?Él me miro como preguntándome si de verdad era tan tonta.-¡Ah!”

“Me di cuenta que me estaba confiando secretos que podían destruirlo. Aunque quizá no se tratara de una cuestión de confianza. Puede que fuera un problema de autoprotección. De pronto, para mí, la plata había pasado de ser un accesorio a una fuente potencial de muerte.”

“En un abrir y cerrar de ojos, nuestra relación pasó de la fase <>, a la fase de <>”

“Love is strange. It has no rhyme or reason. It simply is.”

“It's easier to start over than to work to make something last.”

“This was insane!Yes, he was hot, but so was Nick. Yes, he was nice, but so was Nick. Yes, he sent shivers of anticipation through me. But so did Nick. Okay, so they weren't this strong. But they werethere. Parker terrified me. Nick didn't. Nick was safe, like a carousel.Parker was the tallest, fastest, scariest thrill ride imaginable.”

“You've been avoiding me," he said, talking to the sandwich.I laughed. He looked over at me. "Sorry. I just realized that you talk to a lot of inanimate objects.”