For all her adult life, Roxy suppressed the impact of two traumatic eventsbeing abandoned by her mother at the age of twelve and being raped by her boyfriend, Spider, at eighteen. She never told anyone but her best friend about the rape. Though happily married to Carl, they both long to be out from under the thumb of Carls domineering father, for whom they both work. And shes convinced that her first playbeing staged at the community theater with her movie-star friend from high school in the lead roleis the ticket to that better life.
But now Spider is back, a successful land developer with a proposal to revitalize the town and solve the theaters financial woes. When he takes an interest in Jewel, Roxys eldest daughter whose paternity shes not entirely sure of, and engineers a big win for Carl in a private poker game, Roxy knows hes up to his old tricks. Shes determined to expose him before he can harm her family or her beloved theater.
Karen E. Osborne traces the treacherous path between good intentions and poor decisions rooted in the shame of toxic secrets.