Kiley Reid Quotes

I think it best we went our separate ways, and that those paths never crossed again.

Emira had met several "Mrs. Chamberlains" before. They were all rich and overly nice and particularly lovely to the people that served them. Emira knew that Mrs. Chamberlain wanted a friendship, but she also knew that Mrs. Chamberlain would never display the same efforts of kindness with her friends as she did with Emira: "accidentally" ordering two salads and offering one to Emira, or sending her home with a bag filled with frozen dinners and soups.

I don't need you to be mad that it happened. I need you to be mad that it just like... happens.

You're not better than anyone," she said, "when you hang up your own coat and take your plate to the trash. I've been those girls helping out tonight. I fucking am those girls helping out tonight, and you're not making anything easier by giving them less to do. It's like eating everything on your plate 'cause you think someone else won't go hungry if you don't. You're not helping anyone but yourself.

I'm probably gonna start looking for a one-bedroom or a studio."

"Oh, for real?" Emira was shocked, and then she was jealous, and then she wondered, Is that what we're supposed to be doing right now? Cause if it is, I ain't there.

But...I don't know. I know it's weird" - she tried to explain - "but people do pay other people to act like part of the family. That doesn't mean it's not a transaction.

You're not the first black woman Alex has hired to work for her family, and you probably won't be the last.'

'Okay...?' Emira sat down. She didn't mean to sound flippant, but she doubted that Kelley could really tell her anything she didn't already know. Emira had met several 'Mrs. Chamberlains' before...It wasn't that Emira didn't understand the racially charged history that Kelley was alluding to, but she couldn't help but think that if she weren't working for this Mrs. Chamberlain, she'd probably be working for another one.

Emira realized that Briar probably didn't know how to say good-bye because she never had to do it before. But whether she said good-bye or not, Briar was about to become a person who existed without Emira. She'd go to sleepovers with girls she met at school, and she'd have certain words that she'd always forget how to spell. She'd be a person who sometimes said things like, "Seriously?" or "That's so funny" and she'd ask a friend if this was her water or theirs. Briar would say good-bye in yearbook signatures and through heartbroken tears and through emails and over the phone. But she'd never say good-bye to Emira, which made it seem that Emira would never be completely free from her. For the rest of her life and for zero dollars an hour, Emira would always be Briar's sitter.