The Girl From Widow Hills Quotes
"Nearly twenty years later, and this was the refrain now echoing in my head as I carried the box up the wooden porch stairs."
"Her words were cliché at best, an untruth at worst—a story crafted in hindsight."
"In that moment, holding the fine bracelet, I felt something snap tight in my chest, bridging the gap, the divide."
"My mother used to call us both survivors. For a long time, I believed her."
"The twenty-year anniversary was less than two months away. Would there be more media coverage, regardless of whether they tracked me down?"
"The feeling of always, always being watched."
"People tended to fill in the blanks however they wanted. It was not my job to correct them."
"She reminded me of those girls I watched in high school and college, asking each other Are we going out and What do we want for lunch, automatically including herself—and therefore me—in a partnership."
"I’d made a mistake. These were things I should’ve asked."
"I wasn’t sure whether this was an option or not. What the rules were when you found yourself inside the orbit of a dead body."
"A story about you doesn’t necessarily belong to you. It belongs to the writer. To the witness. To the teller."
"The only people who showed up for her were the ones who wanted something from her in return: a piece of the story or the money."
"But then, at the end, they wanted to see it, the physical manifestations of their generosity and hope."
"I realized that some of those same good people felt they were owed something. That there was a scorecard, always, being kept. And I had not reciprocated what had been owed."
"But that was the problem: You had to get ahead of it."
"I was living clearly in the after, now. After Sean’s body had been found at the edge of my property. After the past had found me again."
"There was a line, and you had to stay on the right side of it."
"We had to leave. My mother didn’t like it, either. Didn’t like the version of her reflected in their questions."
"This was the detective, this was how it worked—the story planted by someone else, growing into its own thing, its own mess."
"I had to be the one to share the news, not let her find out like Bennett had, tainted with the feeling of betrayal."
"But now that was in danger. I could see it coming, that slide, threatening to bring me back to the start."
"I can't possibly remember everyone. And as I told them, the recordings don't save past a day."
"I understand if you want to leave this all behind you, but I feel some responsibility toward you."
"I'm sorry to hear about everything going on. It must be very stressful."
"This is what I had come for, after all. To tell him. To find the truth."
"I had to go now, before they got closer, before I was trapped."
"I wasn't sure what to make of him here. Once someone knew the truth, there was always some ulterior motive to interactions."
"Everyone wants to be a part of the story. Sell your words, your friends, your soul."
"You can find anything if you look hard enough."
"I needed to know the truth. I needed to come face-to-face with myself, and with her."
"All I could see out back was her silhouette, illuminated, until she stepped inside."
"Because there was still the chance that this was the drugs and the wine; that this was the nightmare."
"The familiar laughter I’d heard at the hospital; that voice leading the detective to my office."
"I had been wrong. My mother was not an opportunist but a predator."
"You become the stories you tell—I’d learned that much from my mother."
"The truest type of story is the kind you tell all alone, to yourself."