Jodi Thomas > Quotes

“When trees burn, they leave the smell of heartbreak in the air.”
― Jodi Thomas, Welcome to Harmony

“How many times must hope die before tears were too deep to bear?”
― Jodi Thomas, To Kiss a Texan

“At this rate I never want to talk to you again. Stay mad at me, Allie. It allows us to communicate in other ways.”
― Jodi Thomas, Twisted Creek

“Be my wife, all my life.”
― Jodi Thomas

“That's all any of us can do. Try. sometimes I think it's not the winning or the losing, or even the right and wrong of things, it's the trying that makes us keep on living and hoping.”
― Jodi Thomas, Welcome to Harmony

“You go to school everyday. Folks who think they've learned everything they need to know are usually dumber than chickens.”
― Jodi Thomas

“Triumph comes through perserverance.”
― Jodi Thomas, Welcome to Harmony

“Carter placed her fingers over his hand and signed a single sign.
“I love you too,” she answered.
“How did you know what I said?” He moved his fingers along her arm trying to convince himself she was truly with him.
“I listened with my heart.” Her gaze locked with his.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“Again, please,” she whispered.
(Allie to Wes)”
― Jodi Thomas, To Kiss a Texan

“He couldn't just take her home, bed her, and wait for children to pop out. Somewhere in between, he'd have to talk to her.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“She kissed him as though there would be no tomorrow, and he kissed her back as if he believed they'd be together forever.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“What about me?” Wes snapped. “Don’t I get a vote?”

Daniel shook his head. “She’s willing and you’re breathing. I pronounce you man and wife.”
― Jodi Thomas, To Kiss a Texan

“The dreamer whispered, Just once let something happen.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Secrets of Rosa Lee

“Did you tell her it was just until all was safe, or did you promise her forever?” Victoria shook her head. “Sounds to me like you’ve got some proposing to do before you’re really a married man. Maybe a few days alone will loosen your tongue and make that knee of your bend easier.”
― Jodi Thomas, To Kiss a Texan

“Every day is different, every day I'm on an adventure. If I get bored, you can bet that in the story I'm writing, bullets will fly.”
― Jodi Thomas

“No.” Allie stood her ground. “I’ll not go in.“

“Me, neither.” Jason slid from his horse. “If Allie ain’t going in, I’m not going in.”

Wes glanced skyward. How was it possible for his near mute wife to pick up an echo? After four years in the Army, leading men, and two years of pushing cattle to market, it took Allie to make Wes realize that a leader wasn’t a leader unless he had a follower.

“All right, where would you like to sleep tonight?”
― Jodi Thomas, To Kiss a Texan

“I think there may be some kind of law about a woman buying more than she can carry.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“How do you know what a rock star feels like, Ada May? Have you ever been a rock star? I don't think so,' Beth Ann said.
'I was just guessing.'
'Well, not me. I'm not saying I feel like something when I don't have any idea what that feels like and neither do you.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Secrets of Rosa Lee

“What’s the matter, Rea?” he said, still sounding half asleep.
“What makes you think . . .?”
“You wouldn’t have called this late unless you need to talk. Give me a minute to pull my jeans on and I’ll go out in the hallway so I won’t wake the other guys.”
Reagen heard several men moan or swear in the background. When times were good, Noah had a room to himself, but when times were bad in the road game he’d sometimes bunk on the floor in someone else’s room.
“I’m listening,” he said after a minute.
She wanted to hear his voice more than talk, but that would sound strange, so she told him about her dream and how frightened she’d been.
“I wish I were there to hug you, Rea. We could cuddle up. You could tell me everything while I slept.”
“I wish you were too.” Neither one said anything for a few breaths, and then she whispered, “I miss you so much sometimes. They’d probably never be as close as they’d been in high school. He was a different man and she’d changed as well, but she still missed the Noah who was half kid, half man.
“What are you wearing?” he whispered, and for a moment she swore she could hear him smiling.
“Shut up.”
He laughed. “Just asking. Who knows, one night I might get lucky and you’d be just out of th shower.”
“You never give up trying to make me blush.” Her bad mood had vanished.
“Come on, Rea, give me a break. I’ve been wondering what you like naked for years. If I ever get too old to wonder, I hope you just shoot me.”
“Go to bed, Noah.”
“Good night, Rea. Maybe when you go back to dreaming, you’ll dream of me.”
“Not likely.” She closed the phone, thinking how he always had enough magic in his pocket to change her mood even if he didn’t have enough to change his dreams.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“Bailee had watched them come in and out of the sheriff’s office the week she’d been in jail. She, Sarah, and Lacy had sworn daily that if any one of the three won the lottery to become a husband, the other two women would help their friend become a widow as fast as possible.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“She pulled a chair to the tiny table "I'm starving."
"So am I," he answered, but when she glanced up he was looking at her and not the food.”
― Jodi Thomas, When a Texan Gambles

“While the women talked, he did what he often did in the presence of people he didn’t particularly like; he began planning Martha Q’s funeral.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“Carter stretched his arm out and relaxed into the softness of his own bed a moment before a scream three inches from his ear frightened him out of a few years of his life.
He was up, fumbling for matches as the scream came again, echoing off the walls. It didn’t occur to him that he was totally nude until after the match flickered to light.
Bailee stared at him with huge frightened eyes, and he stared back until the match burned his finger.
They were in blackness once more. Silence. He listened. She didn’t even breathe.
“I’m sorry,” he finally managed to stammer as he reached for his clothes only to find them gone from the peg where they were kept.
He stumbled over what might be a rug where no rug had ever been before and opened the top drawer of his dresser. Lace and silk greeted his touch, not cotton as he’d expected.
He pulled open the second drawer. The same.
At the third drawer he decided he must have somehow crossed through the wrong passage. This wasn’t his home. Nothing was in the right place.
Trousers flew from nowhere and slapped him across the face. ”Thank you,” he mumbled as he untangled them from around his neck.
“You’re welcome,” came a whisper from the blackness.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Texan's Wager

“In his daydreams he was busy planning how to ask Kate to marry him someday. He thought, as a fourth-generation undertaker, it might be proper to say simply, “Kate, how would you like to be buried in the Wright family plot beside me?”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“Times like this are like muddy water, Rea, you just got to keep moving through it until you get to the other side.”
― Jodi Thomas, Welcome to Harmony

“He’d try to keep it light. “Kate, if you’re going to call my border collie your baby every time you see her, maybe we should marry and make the poor dog legit.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“He had no idea about the 'loving deeply' part. Scarlet was the one love he'd had. They'd married the weekend after they'd discovered they both like sangria. He'd thought they were waltzing through life and it turned out she was line dancing.”
― Jodi Thomas, One True Heart

“Ronelle knew Dallas would not stay to eat. She often reminded Ronelle never to eat anything at potluck dinners or bake sales. One person hating the town could wipe out the entire population with poison. Looking around, she saw everyone eating and had a horrible thought. If they all died, that would leave only her mother and her in town. While her mother stopped to talk to Willie Davis, Ronelle slipped a piece of corn bread into her pocket. It would be all in crumbs by the time she got home, but she planned to eat it. Just in case.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“Reagan Truman’s cell phone clamored in the darkness. It took several rings to find it.
“Hello,” she mumbled, hoping she didn’t wake her uncle in the next room.
“Rea, this is Noah.”
“It’s late, Noah.” She pulled she string on an old Tiffany-style lamp that was probably five times her age. Something was wrong; not even Noah called this late.
“I know, Rea. But I need to talk to you.”
She shoved her hair out of her face and tried to force sleep away. “All right, what’s up?”
“I’m in the hospital, Rea. I was hurt tonight in Memphis.”
“How bad?” she laughed nervously. She’d almost asked if he was still alive. There was a long pause on the line. “I don’t know. Bad. Broken arm, two ribs, but it’s my back that has me worried.” He didn’t speak for a moment. When he began again, he sounded more like a frightened boy than a man of twenty. “I’m hurt bad enough to maybe kick me off the circuit. When I hit the dirt, I was out cold. They said I kept yelling your name in the ambulance, but I don’t remember. All I remember is the pain.”
“Noah, what can I do? Do you want me to go over to your folk’s house? I think they’re in town. I could call your sister, Alex.”
“No, I don’t want them to worry. I know mom. She’ll freak out and dad will start lecturing me like I’m still a kid. I don’t want them to know anything until I know how serious it is. They’re still not telling me much yet.” He paused, and she knew he was fighting to keep his voice calm. “Rea, I got to face this before I ask them to. If it’s nothing, they don’t even need to know. If it’s crippling, I got to have a plan.”
She understood. Noah had always been their positive, sunny child. The McAllens had already lost one son eight years ago. She’d seen the panic in their eyes once when Noah had been admitted to the hospital after an accident. She understood why he’d want to save them pain.
“What can I do?”
He was silent for a moment, and then he said simply, “Come get me. No matter how bad it is, I want you near when I find out.”
― Jodi Thomas, The Comforts of Home

“crossed my mind that maybe all of life isn’t lived in the present. Maybe a tiny part of it is lived in the heart.”
― Jodi Thomas, Twisted Creek