7
" Yet she lays out this family plan the way you’d say, “After yoga, I’ll go to Lia’s for the mani-special and then wax on about hairstyles and hemlines until dinner.”
If I were gifted at making long-term plans, which by now we all know I’m not, and if I was at all hopeful, which we all know that I can never be, although it crosses my mind that it’s entirely possible these are all just huge, f*&king, temporary setbacks and nothing more, even though it’s been going on for over three years now, since Holly died, and I met Lincoln Presley. Events that could be construed as somehow inevitably related. Yes, perhaps there’s an expiration date on the said pursuit of unhappiness. Perhaps, things will eventually go my way after I actually discover what that way is supposed to be. "
― Katherine Owen , This Much is True (Truth in Lies, #1)
17
" You know what they say about air and water when it comes to fire, don’t you?” she asks.
Now, I’m curious. She hasn’t spoken for the last ten minutes of the drive. “What?”
“Too much air blows out the fire. Too much water destroys it.”
I nod trying to determine what she’s really comparing us to. “The idea would be to keep the flame going, right. For years?” She nods. “Like a relationship. Like a marriage.” She cringes at the word marriage. Noted. “So you need the air—to stay constant—to fan the flames of the fire, and you know, grasshopper,” I smile at her and catch sight of the corners of her mouth turning slightly upward in response to the endearment, “a hot enough fire will burn water, so you have to be careful with the water too.”
“That I do know,” she says softly. “So that’s the truth about air and water.” She sighs deep.
“Which is?”
“It’s hard to maintain the balance to keep the fire going. You have to fan the flames without putting it out with too much water. But too little water will burn the fire right up. Too much fire. Too much destruction. We’re out of control.”
“You’re talking in circles,” I say.
“No. That’s us,” she says with certainty. "
― Katherine Owen , The Truth About Air & Water (Truth in Lies, #2)
