Please Don't Lie (Crystal River, #1)

by Christina Baker Kline

Could she have saved Jenna from spiraling deeper into addiction?

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Wild Heartsong, helped her frame an answer: What you gain from life is shaped by your willingness to embrace what lies ahead.

Love it

“What do you like about it?” “There’s no one for miles. I’ve got you all to myself.”

Creepy to day lowkeu

When Hayley described the phantom threat of fire that often sent her into a panic, Emily programmed both of their phones to ring to the opening beats of “Ice Ice Baby”—a sonic bit of irony that never fails to make Hayley smile.

I get it the traums follows Nd csn express in eays unknowkngly

“That’s a whole phenomenon. Sights and sounds and smells and tastes can help us avoid triggers.”

Olivia Blackwood turned Jenna’s death into a cause célèbre. Her podcast gained hundreds of thousands of followers seemingly overnight. Each week she devoted an episode to a new question: Why did Jenna throw an engagement party at her parents’ house when she knew they hated her fiancé? Why did Jenna’s parents object to her fiancé so much that they threatened to disown her if she married him? Why did Jenna really dump him after her parents’ death?

News moguks always distory the truth fir better revkews ughhh

Even more painful, she couldn’t help but feel that maybe Olivia Blackwood was right about her: she did abandon her sister

Hayley started to believe the printed syorues and replace those w her own mdmoeire if tge evrnt and thus ix so cinfusing anf manipulafuve and influential....

careful to keep her sister’s struggles private. Someone close to Jenna had to have been Olivia Blackwood’s source. For weeks, Hayley cowered in self-exile in her West Village apartment, hiding from the gossipmongers who accosted her online—and sometimes in person. Only Emily and Melinda, Hayley’s cubicle mate at Domicile and the one new friend she’d let into her life since the fire, could coax her out for the occasional coffee or cocktail.

Perhaos branhdon was THE source

tightly. She’s surprised to find her arms are shaking.

The bodyknows

Taylor Swift’s voice drifts through the speakers, singing about red flags and reckless love.

As per usual

“Last I heard you’d hightailed it to Florida. Rumor has it your father couldn’t move far enough in the other direction.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Fishing in his pocket, Brandon throws a couple of bills on the table. “Let’s get out of here.” “It does matter,” Hayley says. “Why would someone talk to you like that?” “It’s nothing,” Brandon says sharply. “Leave it.”

Why is brandin not lkked issthdre sinething hedid ijn town orwhat is hi pazt

unfiltered honesty, stirs something in Hayley. She imagines speaking her mind so freely with Brandon, but the thought makes her stomach clench. Years of tiptoeing around her detached father and sidestepping her mother’s barbs have left their mark. Her need to smooth things over with Brandon, she knows, is a 38reflex born of deep-seated insecurity. She wonders, not for the first time, what it would be like to shed that weight.

Hmmmmm is she kind of scsred of brandon

But does he have to be so hostile?

“Didn’t like the guy.”

How could he tell from one interaction??? Dies brabdon know tyker from befire

“I can be an asshole sometimes. It’s just . . . I don’t know. Weird things trigger me. Strangers.”

Volatile

He felt threatened by Tyler. Whatever the reason, Hayley senses

The sadness Brandon won’t speak about surrounds them. The walls pulse with it. Hayley is afraid to push, but she wants to know.

Why is she afraud of her husband almost submissive and subordinate and gas to ask for permission not free to make her own decisions and even ideas

Why?

Yes why

“I suppose. But take it slow. Your old friends haven’t done you any favors.”

Ewww ses kindof asikng hisnoermission to hace fruends

You and Brandon, is it like ‘opposites attract’?” “In some ways, I guess. What about you and Tyler?”

Yes brbdon us so abrasuve ahdcurt

My bad comes back in return. Didn’t know you’d bought so much too.

Ughh j helowkey steaing frim hr anx blaming hr for a one timeeourchase too clode to home

Tyler could help with the mundane stuff. Stack firewood, shingle the smokehouse roof.”

promises. But I’m . . . open, I suppose.” Hayley smiles with relief. “That’s all I ask.”

Ughh rs so domineering andi hate ur

Opposites really do attract. Glancing out the window from

Tyler and Brandon have moved apart. They’re standing across the pit from each other.

DO the Have a history

“You were arguing about something,” she ventures. “I saw you from the window.”

“What would we have to argue about? I just met the guy.”

Yesh rigt...

“Psilocybin.

“What’s that about? You need room to grieve. I have to ask, Hayley. Is Brandon really there for you the way you are for him?”

Truth

“Have you ever asked Brandon what really happened? Why his family left so suddenly?” 112 Hayley’s stomach tightens. She has always

“I was being an asshole,” he says, sitting beside her and putting his hand on her leg over the covers.

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“The less you know, the better you’ll sleep at night.” Hayley and Emily exchange a look. What is she talking about?

alone. But she can’t brush aside Cheryl’s anger at Brandon.

“If I were Brandon, I might be jealous.” Just then, Hayley spots Megan through

“Well . . . their whole thing is that eating wild game is better for the planet than eating farmed meat.”

“It’s Megan.” With a start, Hayley recalls the giddy good cheer, the drinking, the shrooms, the game. The kiss that changed everything. “She left her laptop here. She’s writing a whole fucking book about you.”

Hmmmm is she sorling w olivua

Just like Melinda. Just like . . . Olivia Blackwood.

“He persuaded you to move to a place that’s way out of your comfort zone. You’re making the best of it, but it isn’t easy. And your money is funding this very expensive property.” Megan hesitates before continuing. “I just think it might serve you to examine Brandon’s motivations. Have you been 174paying close attention to your finances? Do you feel like you have a handle on where the money is going?”

I agreee brabdom is a red flag

“Come on, Hayley. You can’t be this gullible. The woman is writing a book about you. Wake

Despite her resolve to start making changes today, she knows that living in nature means living on nature’s schedule. She can’t exactly kick Tyler out right before a winter storm. What does she expect him to do, freeze to death in his truck? But she can make it clear that he’ll need to ride out the storm alone at the cottage.

Ofcccc they are stuck akl tigether due tp aeatger

“Brandon didn’t even try to stop that car,” Cheryl says, leaning closer. Hayley fights the urge to pull back from her boozy breath. “Before he died, Rick told me he could see the rage in that boy’s eyes, even as the car spun out of control. Your husband wanted my Rick dead.”

Yes brahdon is dajgerous

“Why don’t you ask him what he did to my husband? I’d love to hear his answer.”

“He’s a looker! Did Brandon marry a woman just like his mommy? Faking it in the fancy house so hubby won’t guess she’s banging the help in the cottage?”

What kind of person would kill and gut a coyote and leave it on your property? It isn’t just the act itself that’s so unsettling; it’s the message behind it. The dark, twisted echo of Brandon’s nickname.

Bc brandon us creeoy abd unwelllllol

What else are you hiding from her? What else, what else, what

Local Resident Fatally Injured in Orchard Accident Cheryl Snyder, 66, Dies Following a Fall from a Ladder

Oh no dud beabdon hace somsthing ti di w rhus bc sge wpild expose brabdon of what abd whi he is

You were right about Brandon. He’s been lying since day one. He was Olivia Blackwood’s source. I’m shattered.

i knew is!!!

It’s my trauma, she told herself. I’m reading signs where there are

Phahtom

“He threw her down the stairs. She was trying to warn me, I think. Emily

God brandon issso dageruslike wowe