At thirty-two, Jillian Parrish finally finds the courage to take charge of her life and discover what really lives in the dark space under her bed. Recently divorced, she takes her young daughter to seek refuge and solace on Pawleys Island, South Carolina—Jillian's only source of happy childhood memories. Summers spent at her grandmother's beach house were Jillian's sanctuary from indifferent parents until her best friend, Lauren Mills, disappeared.

Linc Rising, Lauren's boyfriend was a suspect in Lauren's disappearance. Although Jillian never doubted his innocence, her parents whisked her back home to Atlanta, and she never got a chance to tell him. Now a resentful Linc is back on Pawleys Island, renovating the old Mills house. As ghosts of the past return to haunt them, and Jillian's daughter begins having eerie conversation with an imaginary friend named Lauren, Jillian and Linc will uncover the truth about Lauren and about the feelings they have kept buried for sixteen years…