After school pickup one day, Meg and her daughter, Audrey, are driving home when they see Jack, the twin brother of Audrey's boyfriend, up ahead. Seeing a group of boys on the other side of the road, Meg stops her car to wave him across the street just as an SUV comes hurtling down the road and slams into Jack. The driver - a high-school teacher in the process of texting - did not see Jack crossing the road.
Meg can't help but blame herself for this horrific accident. Guilt-stricken and desperate with grief, Meg throws herself into helping Jack's family as he rehabs from his injuries. But the more she tries to absolve herself of what she feels responsible for, the more she alienates her own family. The ripple effects that follow tear at the ties that bind her to those she loves the most, causing her to risk losing everything she holds dear to her heart.
Meg is in her early forties, working as a real estate agent and married with a teenage daughter named Audrey. After picking Audrey up from school one day, she stops to let Jack, another student, cross the street. Another driver wasn't paying attention and ran into Jack, seriously injuring him.
Meg feels guilty and responsible for the accident since she had indicated to Jack that it was okay to cross. Jack is the brother of Audrey's boyfriend, Sam, which makes her feel even worse, especially because it brings back members of her best friend, Paige's death in a car accident when they were sixteen. As she tries to deal with her feelings and emotions, she tries to do all she can to help Jack's family, maintain her own household and keep up with her demanding job.
This is the first book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay. I found it to be an interesting storyline ... the afteraffects on an active teenage boy after such a devastating accident. It is written in first person perspective from Meg's point of view in present tense. As a head's up, there is some swearing and adult activity.
I wasn't crazy about Meg and couldn't relate to her. She blamed herself for EVERYTHING ... Paige's accident almost 30 years ago, Jack's accident and more. Though she did stop and indicate to Jack that it was okay for him to cross the street in a non-crosswalk area, Jack could/should have paused and looked before continuing to cross the street ... so he would have seen the car that struck him coming. It was the other car that hit Jack but the way Meg went on, you'd think it was hers. She felt her husband didn't take her job seriously but instead of telling him how it made her feel, she sucked it up and seethed inside. She was a nag to and smothered her daughter. She and her husband had different ideas about how to parent their daughter but she either sucked up her annoyance or overrode him rather than talking about it. And then she started making some dumb decisions that I didn't think were realistic.
As I did enjoy the writing style, I look forward to reading others by this author.
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