Home > Work > The Twelve Dates of Christmas
1 " There is only a hairsbreadth between adoration and animosity and when the gap closes it is rarely pretty. "
― Jenny Bayliss , The Twelve Dates of Christmas
2 " People confused nostalgia with love and end up getting divorces or having affairs and all sorts. No, I think if you haven't kept in touch for twenty years there's probably a good reason. "
3 " A bigger pool doesn't necessarily mean a better swim. "
4 " Just for a moment she let herself imagine: This is what it would be like to be loved by Matt. Another voice in her head whispered a warning: Stop it, Kate, this path isn’t for you. "
5 " I don’t want to waste any more time, Kate,’ said Matt. ‘We’ve wasted enough already. I love you. And you bloody well love me too, I know you do. So, stop being such a stubborn arse and—’ Kate leaned over and kissed the words right out of his mouth. "
6 " He was right. She had been hiding. Because it was easier to hide away and never meet anybody than to potentially meet someone only to have a relationship fail again. "
7 " A man is like an optional extra; you should only take one on when it is beneficial to do so. It's like refraining from the fourth plate at the all-you-can-eat curry buffet. Just because it's there, doesn't mean you have to have it. "
8 " Despite herself, Kate’s heart leapt at the sight of him. She told herself she was just pleased to see a friendly face after her disastrous date but the ache of longing in her chest was becoming harder to ignore. "
9 " The scarlet women are always the most alluring! "
10 " But here, next to him in the warm dark, she felt suddenly and inexplicably self-conscious, as if her body language might divulge a secret she’d fought to keep even from herself. "
11 " And Kate could no longer deny that she loved him. As impossible and implausible as that love might be, it was love and there was nothing to be done about it. "
12 " because that’s what people in love do: they protect the hearts of those they love, even if that love will never be returned. "
13 " her? She found herself haunted by ghosts of a life that could have been. "
14 " Home wasn’t her house, or this tiny village. Home was inside of her, in her heart, where Matt lived. "
15 " And here is where I want to be, with you. "
16 " All was silent but for the sound of the lovers breathing and the beating of their two hearts made whole. "
17 " steep, "
18 " She smiled to herself; the first coffee of the day was a joy unlike any other. "
19 " She’d kissed a lot of boys since then. Hell, she’d kissed a lot of boys this month. But still, nothing ever quite matched that first stolen kiss behind the pear tree. "
20 " There’s nothing wrong with staying in, if it makes you happy,” said her dad. “But you’re hiding. And that’s not the same thing at all. "