Ashley

“A strange smile wavered just around his face, not yet in his face,”
― James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk

“I’d never slept with a woman before, though I’d spent most of my teens and college years obsessed with one or another. They’d all had boyfriends, or girlfriends, or else they were just patently not someone who would ever fancy me. When I told Edith this, she asked if I thought I’d gone for unavailable people because I knew I’d never have to face the reality that being with them would not solve all my problems. I told her she had no business saying something that perceptive.”
― Naoise Dolan, Exciting Times

“We’re going to sit down somewhere until this rush hour’s over. You and me, we’ve got to talk anyway, before we talk to Mama and Daddy. They don’t know yet. I haven’t talked to them yet.” And I realize how much Ernestine loves me, at the same time that I remember that she is, after all, only four years older than I.”
― James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk

“In the queue, Edith told me she liked how I’d done my hair. I was momentarily happy, but then she complimented the barista in the same animated way.”
― Naoise Dolan, Exciting Times