Susi Wiliam spent her youth paying for a single mistake-falling in love too early and becoming a mother before she was ready. Sixteen years later, she is determined to protect her daughter, Monica, from repeating the same painful path.But Monica refuses to be anything like her mother. She dreams of freedom, independence, and a life carved from her own choices. With their opposite personalities constantly clashing, the only steady force between them is Stuert-Susi's husband, Monica's father, and the quiet anchor of their fragile home.When Stuert becomes the victim of a sudden and suspicious accident, their already strained world fractures beyond recognition. Susi loses her partner. Monica loses the only person who understood her. And both lose the thin thread holding them together.As grief twists their hearts in different directions, Susi finds solace in the last man she should be confiding in...and Monica falls into the arms of the one boy she was forbidden to love.Secrets multiply, wounds deepen, and old resentments rise to the surface. Each day pushes mother and daughter further apart-far enough that they may never find each other again.Unless love, forgiveness, and truth can rebuild what tragedy tried to destroy.