Summary

The novel is narrated in first-person past with chapters narrated by both Belly and Jeremiah. The book begins with a daydream 16-year-old Belly is having, though at first the reader is not aware of the daydream. Belly was at Cousins with her mom, brother, her mom’s best friend, Susannah, and Susannah’s two children, Jeremiah and Conrad. Belly had spent every summer of her life at Susannah’s beach house, and the previous year she had finally started dating her lifelong crush, Conrad. Belly and the boys jumped into the pool, but then Belly’s best friend, Taylor, roused her from her daydream and brought her back to reality where she was not in Cousins, she was not with Conrad, and Susannah was dead from cancer. Taylor wanted Belly to enjoy hanging out with her at Marcy’s pool, but Belly was...