Honeymoon Phase

“When I forgave you for not showing up and we started hanging out again, I realized that’s what love is. It’s tolerating things you might not like from someone you care about because you know their essence. You know them at their best and their worst and you love them through it.”

“Keep pushing, keep micromanaging, keep not taking no for an answer. And don’t ever let anyone dull your shine.”

“Friends don’t let friends soap up alone.”

“I want your answer, Addison. I need to hear you say it, because once you say you want the same thing . . . once I get a taste of you . . .I won’t want to stop.”

“We’re better together. You’re in this with me and it’s going to hurt if you lose me now or if you lose me fifty years from now when we’re old and gray and sitting on my front porch looking at our grandkids and marveling over the life we made. And if it’s all the same to you, I’d like option two.”

“Trust me, Addison Monroe, when I kiss you with intention, you’ll know it.”

“It’s climbing a fucking pole. How hard can it be?”

“The fact that you even have to ask just proves how big of a fucking wall you still have up between us.”

“That’s my future wife you’re gaping at, so I’d appreciate it if you look the fuck away.”

“Looking at me like that will only get you fucked.”

“Oh please, you make bread from scratch and run an entire fucking lumberyard of dudes like it’s nothing. You’re ultimate wifey material.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Roe. You’ll love it up there. Fletcher Mountain . . .It feels like finding a secret that the whole world should know about, but you’re the only lucky one.”

“I’m not lost at all. I have a growing new business and a girlfriend who tells me she loves me and my cat all the time. I’m in fucking heaven.”

“It’s fucking exhausting to live with the what-ifs.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you today, but you need to chill the fuck out because I’m going to do what I came here to do and no man—well-meaning or not—is going to stop me.”

“I saw you as someone I wasn’t willing to lose, and with who I was back then, if I would have taken you to bed, I would have definitely lost you.”

“I’m really grateful to you, Jo. I don’t know most of the details of this wedding and I already know it’s going to be one of the best days of my life.”

“Luckily, you two kids started off as friends, so your hearts opened to each other slowly over time. You always knew it was in safe hands. Which is why none of us were really that shocked to find out you got married on a whim without telling anyone first.”