“I'd been thinking about how close Jack and his mum seemed, their love for each other active and unashamed. But then, that's what tends to happen, loved ones rally for the initial drama, attracted to the shock, and then slowly people wander away, disinterested in the long grind towards rehabilitation.” RelationshipsFamily Book:If You Knew Her Source: If You Knew Her
“I ordered a third pint, skillfully avoiding eye contact with the barman when Ange arrived. It had been four months since I last saw her. Four months since she'd got the phone call from the police. I'd been gone a week, and had ended up under Waterloo Bridge, apparently trying to find a building site I thought I was managing. I'd been out of work for a year. Without a word she drove me to a cheap hotel in Worthing, a few miles from home. She'd already dumped my clothes inside. In the Green Man, Ange's blonde hair was longer than I remembered. I wanted to tell her she looked pretty but she curled her lip when she saw me, as if I smelt bad, and she didn't look pretty anymore.” RelationshipsRegretDepressionHopelessnessAlcoholic Book:If You Knew Her Source: If You Knew Her
“She's about to lift her fist to knock against the window, but she pauses because the person sitting next to Jack is stroking her husband's leg with beautiful long white fingers. Jack looks down at his leg and interlaces his fingers with the woman's. She pulls him towards her and he gives in easily. Cassie watches, paralyzed, as they come together in a way that looks inevitable, the pressure too great to not put their lips together, for his hands not to hold her face as he kisses it, her red hair cascading between his fingers like lava. He's kissed Cassie like that so many times. She touches her face, almost expecting to feel his hands there, where they should be, holding her face, not holding [the woman's]. Cassie can't move. It's as though her mind has been cleaved clean away from her body. She watches them push and pull against each other, watches as [the woman] smiles behind her kissing mouth and her fingers fall to Jack's fly, like they've been there before. Cassie's heart dilates and contracts painfully, like the organ itself has been thumped hard. The force shoves her backwards, and she grips the window frame to stop herself falling.” RelationshipsCheatingBroken Heart Book:If You Knew Her Source: If You Knew Her