Possibly YA book read in 2011/2012, main characters name is Lainey (or Laney) and she spent 10-15 years dreaming about her imaginary friend

[libraryofallyse]

It might not be YA, but I read it when I was a senior in high school. The main characters name is Lainey (Laney?), she has a strained relationship with her family and she moves back to the house she grew up in (can’t remember why). Since she was like 7, there’s been this boy in most/all of her dreams that ages along with her and she thinks of him as an imaginary friend and the older she gets, the less he’s in her dreams. She’s in her early 20’s and when she picks up a newspaper she sees the guy from her dreams in a photo about an art gallery opening in town. I don’t remember how they meet, but he always knew it was her. They were friendly enough when they were kids and he’s like a year or 2 older than her and she had drowned in the lake/pond behind the house and he saved her life when they were kids. Doing so like, linked their souls together (I really don’t think there was any fantasy element other than that) but she had completely blocked out what happened because of the trauma, but he never forgot and always knew he was talking to/seeing her in his dreams at night. I can’t remember too many more specific details since it’s been like 13/14 years since I read it

[Kajehas]

libraryofallyse wrote: "It might not be YA, but I read it when I was a senior in high school. The main characters name is Lainey (Laney?), she has a strained relationship with her family and she moves back to the house sh..."

This has elements in common with Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart. The heroine's name is Bryony, not Lainey, though.

Touch Not the Cat