Jed returns home years after his mother is murdered and falls for the same woman his dad had an affair with. Jed has questions. He remembers falling for a beautiful woman when he was just a kid. She was sexy, vivacious, and had a beautiful smile. Marcella a neighbor and friends of his parents would hang out at his family's Cape Cod cottage during the summer. She was quiet and distance but always had a smile for young Jed. She spent time lounging in a swimsuit on the deck of his family's swimming pool. As an adult years later he travels back to Cape Cod to help his sister Callie who delivered his niece per-maturely, and is suffering from post-partum depression.
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While rummaging through the closets he finds a box tucked deep in the back, inside is the swimsuit that belonged to his neighbor. More than twenty years have passed since his mother's murder, a homicide that was never solved. On top of that his father died from a heart attack soon after her untimely death. The swimsuit nags Jed and he decides to play detective. He needs to know why the swimsuit is in the closet and vows to find someone who has answers.
He starts poking around asking questions and learns his father had an affair with the woman and that she is likely the reason his parents were fighting the night his mother was murdered. Continuing his research he looks Marcella up and finds himself lusting after her the same way he did as a teen. It seems that Jed's lust for Marcella is something he needs to get out of his system. It is also kind of creepy, as if he was trying to one up his dead father by sleeping with the same woman. Callie hires Marcella's daughter Toni as a nanny to help with her baby. There are days Callie is so stressed that she can't focus on the baby or her young son. Jed is there and helps as much as he can in a show of support for the only family he has left. He didn't know the swimsuit was in the closet when he arrived. His intentions to help Callie were genuine.
Marcella and Jed start an affair of their own, while her teenage daughter fantasizes about Jed. She is nineteen and makes sure her shorts are of the daisy-duke (short and tight) variety in her efforts to get Jed to see her as a woman and not a kid. Marcella suffers guilt over her affair with Jed, and the one she had with his father. She still loves loves her ex-husband Anthony who was unable to deal with her deception and the hurt caused from her affair with Cecil. Maricella continues to look out for herself. She can be really spacey at times, but make no mistake she is cunning Cougar.
There are many twists and turns in this story as it weaves in out of the past, telling and secrets of a love affair that ripped two families apart.
Jed gets his answer. His dad kept the swimsuit to remind him of Marcella. Jed finds Marcella irresistible and comes to terms with the fact that his father had been in love with her, too. His mother's homicide was not solved. Marcella didn't seem to care about how she hurt others or she would not have picked up with Cecil's son regardless of how much Jed reminded her of her former lover.
Best part of story, including ending:
I did not like that fact that the murder of Jed and Callie's mother was not solved.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Jed turned down Toni's advances.
Opinion about the main character:
I disliked that Jed was more into pursing an affair with Marcella than finding out who killed his mother.
