The largest website for English phrases and quotes

The largest website for English phrases and quotes

Category: J.P. Delaney

All these men who loved Emma, I think. For all her problems, men were fixated on her. Will anyone ever feel like that about me?

emma-matthews, j-p-delaney, obsession, romance, the-girl-before

I loved Emma.’ The words, so flat and final, explode into the air. ‘But she lied to me. I thought perhaps I could have the love without the lies. With you, I mean. Do you remember your application letter? How you talked about integrity and honesty and trust? That was what made me think it might work, that it might be better this time. But I’ve never loved you the way I loved her.

breakup, comparison, confession, declaration-of-love, hurtful, j-p-delaney, the-girl-before

I feel a thrill of excitement at this first tiny glimpse of self-revelation, of intimacy.

intimacy, j-p-delaney, opening-up, revelation, the-girl-before

We’re all connected now, I think as I send it off into cyberspace. Everyone and everything.

all-connected, connected, internet, j-p-delaney, the-girl-before

I will take what I can from Edward. And then I will let them fade into history, all the characters in this drama. Emma Matthews and the men who loved her, who became obsessed with her. They’re not important to us now.

characters, drama, edward-monkford, emma-matthews, ending, j-p-delaney, jane-cavendish, moving-on, obsession, the-girl-before

I know it must look odd, given that I didn’t even know Emma. But it seems to me that almost no one really knew her. Everyone I speak to has a different version of what she was like.

conflicting-accounts, different-perspectives, emma-matthews, j-p-delaney, personality, the-girl-before

Sometimes it’s as if I can shrink away to nothing. Sometimes I feel as pure and perfect as a ghost. The hunger, the headaches, the dizziness—these are the only things that are real.

anorexia, description, emma-matthews, ghost, hungry, j-p-delaney, mental-illness, the-girl-before

It’s the sketch Edward did of me before he went away, the one he said was fine but didn’t want to keep. It’s as if he’s drawn me not once but twice. In the main drawing I have my head turned to the right. It’s so detailed, you can see the tautness of my neck muscles and the arch of my clavicle. But underneath or over that there’s a second drawing, barely more than a few jagged, suggestive lines, done with a surprising energy and violence: my head turned the other way, my mouth open in a kind of snarl. The two heads pointing in opposite directions give the drawing a disturbing sense of movement.Which one’s the pentimento, and which the finished thing? And why did Edward say there was nothing wrong with it? Did he not want me to see this double image for some reason?

art, creepy, different-perspectives, disturbing, j-p-delaney, the-girl-before

But don’t you see, I say, I don’t care. I don’t care what you’ve done or how bad you are. Edward, we belong together. We both know it. Now I know your worst secrets and you know mine. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? For us to be completely honest with each other?

acceptance, declaration-of-love, edward-monkford, emma-matthews, honesty, j-p-delaney, relationship, secrets, the-girl-before, unconditional-love, we-belong-together

But I know he loves me. I know he needs our games, that they answer some deep-seated hunger in him.

games, j-p-delaney, mind-games, relationship, the-girl-before

There’s a kind of purity to a relationship unencumbered by convention, a sense of simplicity and freedom.

love, love-quotes, romance, romance-book-quotes, sex

The same goes for Edward Monkford. Yes, based on what you’ve told me, it seems Emma was the real narcissist, not him. But there’s no doubting he’s an extreme controller. What happens when a controller comes up against someone who’s out of control? The combination could be explosive.

control, controller, controlling, edward-monkford, emma-matthews, j-p-delaney, narcissist, out-of-control, psychology, the-girl-before, toxic-relationship