Inês

“You don’t know everything.’ He was pronouncing everything very distinctly but his eyes refused to focus on me. ‘You think you do.’ ‘Everything about what?’ I was mystified. ‘The case?’ ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘No. Not saying. No comment.’ He had been so determined not to let anything slip when he was out with the team that he had retained the need for secrecy without being able to recognise whether it was needed. ‘Josh, you can say anything to me. You don’t have to be careful.’ ‘Could be given in evidence against me.’ He waved a finger at me, blinking. ‘So no.’ ‘OK,’ I said, frustrated. I could wait until the following day for a proper debrief, assuming he could remember anything by then. He slid away from the kitchen counter and crossed the room to where I was standing, not quite managing to do it in a straight line. He put his arms on my shoulders and leaned his forehead against mine. ‘The thing is, I can’t.’ ‘Can’t what?’ ‘You know.’ He sighed and I leaned away.”
― Jane Casey, The Close

“The distance between us narrowed until I could feel his breath on my mouth. The next second, the room exploded with noise and I came back to earth so fast it winded me.”
― Jane Casey, The Close

“Quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times, a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”
― Margaret Wise Brown

“When you look at him, you smile.’ I laughed. ‘Well, that’s not so bad.’ ‘Yes, but when he looks at you,’ Ruth said, ‘he looks sad.’ My smile faded. ‘Does he? What does that mean?’ Judy put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it, her nail varnish pearly in the light of the setting sun. ‘It means you’re going to break his heart.”
― Jane Casey, The Close