A suspenseful, gripping novel about families and friendships torn apart at the seams by obsession, secrets, and betrayal with relentless twists and turns that hurtle forward to a shocking confrontation. When Ruth, a wealthy divorcée, offers to host the Hillside Academy kindergarten meet-and-greet, she hopes this will be a fresh start for her and her introverted daughter, Marley. Finally, they’ll be accepted into a tribe. Marley will make friends and Ruth will be welcomed by the mothers. Instead, the parents are turned off by Ruth’s ostentatious wealth and before kindergarten even begins, Ruth and Marley are outcasts. The last guest to arrive at the meet-and-greet is Gemma, a widow and a single mother to her daughter, Bee. Ruth sets her sights on the mother-daughter duo, and soon the two families are inseparable. Ruth takes Gemma and Bee on Aspen vacations, offers VIP passes to Cirque du Soleil, and pays for dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants. For Gemma, who lives paycheck to paycheck, Ruth’s largesse is seductive, but as the years go by, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s accruing an increasingly unpayable debt. When Ruth’s affair with a married Hillside dad is exposed, and she’s publicly shunned, Gemma uses it to sever ties with Ruth. Six years later, when Gemma finds herself embroiled in a scandal of her own—Ruth comes to her defense. Their renewed friendship rehabilitates their reputations, but once again, Gemma starts to feel trapped as Ruth grows more and more obsessed with their relationship. A relentless page-turner, Did I Say You Could Go is the story of friendships steeped in lies and duplicity. It’s about two families who, when pushed to extremes, cross the line with devastating results. “Lightning-fast and completely compelling, Did I Say You Could Go hooked me from the opening line and kept me turning pages deep into the night. I devoured this thriller that centers around the close-knit, intersecting lives of two families—and the razor sharp line between friendship and obsession. Twisty and unsettling in all the best ways.” —MEGAN MIRANDA, The New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest and All the Missing Girls "Chillingly perfect . . . a suspense-filled winner." — PEOPLE “Suspenseful. . . excellent. . . there’s catfishing, sabotage and other dirty dealings. . .Gideon delivers the goods.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "A novel steeped in suspense . . . like a string quartet passing the melody around . . . propelling readers through the pages." — BOOKLIST Melanie Gideon is the bestselling author of the novels, Valley of the Moon and Wife 22 , as well as the memoir The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After . Her books have been translated into thirty-one languages. Wife 22 is currently in development. She has written for The New York Times , the San Francisco Chronicle , The Times (London), the Daily Mail (London), and other publications. She was born and raised in Rhode Island and now lives in the Bay Area. Chapter 1: Ruth RUTH Is that her ex? Over there by the apples? In the faded Red Sox baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes? Ruth Thorne ducks behind a banana display. The last time she saw her BFF was over a year ago at Rite Aid. Ruth had run in to get some dental picks, and there was Gemma waiting in line at the pharmacy. Ruth hid that time, too, in the toothpaste aisle, hoping she’d overhear the pharmacist murmur the name of Gemma’s medication. All she discovered was her co-pay was fifteen dollars. A wave of déjà vu rolls over Ruth. Did she dream this moment into reality? She’s thought of nothing but Gemma for the last week and now here she is, practically trembling with anxiety as her hand dips into the pile of Galas, searching for the unbruised gems. Ruth gets out her phone and refreshes the San Francisco Chronicle ’s home page. The article is still the number one most-read story and has 998 comments. With Gemma standing only twenty or so feet away from her, she reads it anew, as if through Gemma’s eyes. Has she been obsessively refreshing the page for the last week like Ruth? Study Right, Oakland and Test Prep Center, Involved in Cheating Scandal Gemma Howard, the owner of Study Right, claims she had no idea that one of her most popular tutors, Julie Winters (Harvard, BA English, 2017), had a profitable side business taking SAT and ACT tests for nine of her clients. Gemma rolls her cart down the produce aisle and stops at the nectarines. Ruth knows her favorite variety are the Diamond Brights, but they’ve come and gone already; she’ll have to settle for the Honey Blazes. Gemma tears a plastic bag off the roll and tries to open it, biting her lip in frustration. Finally, she licks her finger, and the edges of the bag separate. Gemma glances up, doing a quick check. Has she been made? Ruth squats, her heart thumping wildly. Quads firing, she continues reading the article. “?‘Julie Winters was a so
