Nina continued staring at Carrie but didnt say anything. How was it that this woman could shout out every thought running through her head? Why was it that Carrie Soto felt so entitled to scream?In that moment, Nina was not mad or jealous or embarrassed or anything else she might have expected. Nina was sad. Sad that shed never lived a fraction of a second like Carrie Soto. What a world she must live in, Nina thought, where you can piss and moan and stomp your feet and cry in public and yell at the people who hurt you. That you can dictate what you will and will not accept.Nina, her entire life, had been programmed to accept. Accept that your father left. Accept that your mother is gone. Accept that you must take care of your siblings. Accept that the world wants to lust after you. Accept accept accept. For so long, Nina believed it was her greatest strength - that she could withstand, that she could endure, that she would accept it all and keep going. It was so foreign to her, the idea of declaring that something was unacceptable.Nina thought of herself driving to someone elses house to scream on their front lawn while a whole partys worth of people watched. It was so impossible that she couldnt even summon a mental picture.But Carrie had this fire within her. Where was Ninas fire? Had it ever been there? And if so, when did it go out?Her husband had slept with Carrie last night and then Nina had taken him back this evening. What was wrong with her? Was she just going to accept it all? Just accept every piece of bullshit thrown at her for the rest of her life?

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid