Tell the truth, but tell it slant.

Some truths cannot be handed over directly, because the person receiving them will flinch before they have heard them. Coming at it from the side, through a story, a question, a smaller piece first, is not dishonesty. It is giving the truth a shape that can be carried. The whole of it still arrives, only at a speed someone can take it in.

Think of something true you have been meaning to say and keep postponing. Look for the angle that lets the other person reach it themselves rather than receive it. Check that you are softening the approach and not the substance.