ladybugmagnet
Every summer, Marionette Laurent returns to the Outer Banks with the hopes things will feel like they used to.
Before grief, before addiction, before one night between her and Rafe Cameron shattered everything.
Once inseparable, Marionette, her brother Louis, Sarah, and Rafe were the kind of friends who though summers would last forever. But after Lilian Cameron, the mother of Rafe and Sarah died everything changed. Rafe spiraled into drugs and his anger led to terrifying betrayal that fractured the group.
Now eighteen, she's back in the Outer Banks trying to hold everyone together while quietly struggling on the inside, wrestling with anxiety, heartbreak, and the lingering hold Rafe still has over her. Because no matter how much he's changed, no matter how much he hurt her, she can't imagine loving anyone else.