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Laura Branchflower
Author
A White Picket Fence
Lina and Phil Hunter have shared an uncanny connection since they met as teenagers twenty-five years earlier. Conflicts arise in their marriage when they can’t agree on how to parent their middle daughter, sixteen-year-old Katie. When Katie sinks into a depression, Lina seeks out the help of a renowned child psychiatrist, Dr. Nick Drayton. Phil, a partner in a prestigious Baltimore law firm, has a short (four month) affair with an associate eleven years his junior. Sensing Phil’s distance, Lina begins paying more attention to their relationship, and he ends the affair. The marriage appears back on track until Phil learns that his ex-mistress is pregnant. Distraught with the news of both Phil’s infidelity and the pregnancy, Lina confides in Katie’s psychiatrist. As the story progresses, Lina is determined to forgive Phil and keep her family intact even as more details of the affair emerge. With each new feeling of betrayal, Lina turns to the psychiatrist, blurring the lines as to whether she or Katie is the patient. After meeting with Dr. Drayton to discuss Katie’s progress, Phil is convinced the handsome psychiatrist has developed unprofessional feelings for his wife. He demands to take Katie to future appointments. When the Hunters discover their teenage son has befriended Dr. Drayton’s son at a lacrosse tournament, and that the two boys will be attending the same private school in the fall, they are forced to find a new psychiatrist for Katie. The friendship between the boys results in further interactions between Lina and Nick Drayton. Lina continues to seek his advice and he eventually admits he has developed romantic feelings for her. He advises her not to trust his counsel when it comes to her marriage. On Lina’s forty-first birthday, a card arrives via FedEx. It is from Phil’s ex-mistress and contains pictures taken during the affair. It all becomes too real in Lina’s mind, and she asks for a separation. Within hours, she finds herself on Nick Drayton’s doorstep. Over the ensuing six months, Lina struggles to find her way without Phil. She begins working full time. Her relationship with Nick Drayton teeters between friendship and romantic. She gains independence for the first time in her life. With all that, her mind still can’t let go of the boy she fell in love with when their eyes met across a dance floor when she was fifteen. Ultimately, she decides a flawed version of Phil is better than a perfect version of anyone else.
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