Because of You, Well, Us

BECAUSE OF YOU, WELL, US follows two characters: Kate and Chase. Through alternating viewpoints, readers follow these characters through their last year of high school and college years.

After the death of her mother, Kate spends the summer with her aunt, which is the longest amount of time Kate has been away from her best friend, Chase. In her absence, Chase realizes he has feelings for Kate, and tries to figure out the best way to tell her without ruining their almost lifelong friendship. What Chase does not know is that Kate has feelings for him too. Initially, she spent the summer with her aunt to handle losing her mother, but it turned into figuring out a way to try and stop her feelings for Chase. However, when Chase finally tells Kate how he feels, she becomes scared of what could happen with their friendship, and they go months without talking.

By fate or by chance, they attend the same college. They end up meeting just after winter break, and they end up sleeping together, and this has some unforeseen consequences that neither of them were expecting: Kate becoming pregnant, and then losing the baby. Both of them have different ways of healing from that loss, and the last third of the novel follows them as they deal in their own ways.