In the summer of 1996, Tess Murphy’s mom gave her two rules to abide by: keep quiet and stay out of trouble. Her mother landed a new job as a cook at an affluent Virginia estate and didn’t want anything to risk the opportunity, least of all her outspoken teenage daughter. What no one saw coming was Tess falling deeply in love with the boy next door, high-society Grant Alexander. Over a few wondrous and heat-filled months, Tess and Grant’s love blooms so ferociously it feels utterly impossible that anything can keep them apart, until tragedy strikes. Now, more than two decades after their epic teenage romance, Tess and Grant are both running for governor of Virginia, and secrets from that summer threaten to shatter their families, their political futures, and the memory of the first love that shaped their lives.
