two steps ahead

“You'll need more help than Dave and Frank can give, just to get it down from the truck, over the lawn and inside,” she said practically. “Two steps ahead of you, M'lady. I stopped by the grocery store, so Dave knows to come home and help."

2013, Hadley Hoover, Storm Path, →ISBN, page 9

She dismisses Littlefinger’s advice to prepare for every possible outcome and see the world as a place of unimaginable horror. Littlefinger is telling her to be a little more like Cersei, always two steps ahead. The difference between Sansa and Cersei is that she has no desire to repeat what has been done to her as an act of vengeance.

2017 July 30, Ali Barthwell, “Ice and fire finally meet in a front-loaded episode of Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

Two steps ahead, I am always two steps ahead. This has been the greatest social experiment I've come to know, certainly the greatest of my entire life. It's alluring, It's compelling. It's gripping to bear witness to observe all these unwell, unbalanced, disoriented beings roam the internet in search of stories. In search of...ideas. Of conflict, of rivalries. Where people develop a distinctive desire for direct engagement where people feel involved with the stories and therefore become product of influence. Thirsty for distraction, from time spent from lackluster lifestyles spoiling their minds while stimulating at the exact same time.

2024 September 6, Nicholas Perry, “Two Steps Ahead”, in Nikocado Avocado

From the dryout farm, Tunney had moved down to the border, mooched around in cantinas for a while, then left the country two steps ahead of the sheriff of some Rio Grande jerkwater.

2015, Kim Newman, The Night Mayor, →ISBN

Desperately trying to keep two steps ahead of the bill collector, tenants frequently neglected to request permission for these sales, and they or those whom they duped into partin with their money usually suffered the consequences.

2017, James S. Donnelly, Jr, The Land and the People of Nineteenth-Century Cork, →ISBN