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Summary
Part 4: Chapters 39-43
Chapter 39: LUCY, August 2017
Standing at the front of the church for Bree’s wedding, Lucy finds Stephen in the congregation and sees that he is staring at her. She sees Jillian and then notices Jillian’s engagement ring. The scene shifts back to post-graduation 2014 when Lucy moves to the East Coast, abandoning her writing aspirations, in order to be with Stephen as soon as possible. Lucy takes the first job she can get, a position at Suitest that pays just enough for her to get an apartment with Bree. She and Stephen celebrate by having a video sex date while Alice is gone.
Chapter 40: STEPHEN, May 2014
Alice brings Stephen breakfast in bed. He finds the food unappetizing and Alice irritating, and they bicker. Stephen goes to the library to study. He laments how dependent Alice is on him and asks when the lease on the apartment is up, making her suspicious. She tells him there is no lease, simply an agreement with her grandfather to keep paying the rent. Stephen is relieved, since this means he will be able to leave in July after completing his law review applications.
Chapter 41: LUCY, June 2014
Stephen invites Lucy for drinks the week after she moves to the city at a bar called Lucy’s. Tired of sneaking around and Stephen’s needing to stay at Alice’s apartment, Lucy leaves the bar in anger at Stephen and disappointment in herself for not following Dr. Wattenbarger suggestion to avoid Stephen. She knows that Stephen lies to her, but her attraction to him wins, and they reconcile at her apartment. They sleep together. Afterward, Stephen charms Lucy by talking about their future in the city, sharing space and having time together. When he leaves to go home to Alice, she helps him tie his tie, and he suggests that they see each other in Long Island that weekend, when she will be home for her birthday. On his way out, for the first time, he tells Lucy he loves her.
Chapter 42: STEPHEN, June 2014
Stephen meets Alice in Washington Square Park. Alice has just gotten a facial, and Stephen thinks about how unattractive she looks. She is taken by surprise by his breaking up with her and is enraged that he seems to feel no emotion about the end of their relationship. Although Stephen has a bag packed to take to his father’s house for the weekend, he decides to go to Lucy’s instead. Bree is out of town, and Lucy is wary at his arrival. The previous weekend, when they met in Long Island, she made him stop having sex with her, setting an ultimatum of no more sex until he moves out of Alice’s apartment. He tells her he has broken up with Alice and that he loves her, and she softens toward him. He holds her, telling her that this time he wants their relationship to work.
Chapter 43: LUCY, August 2014
Stephen drives Lucy to the Hamptons for a weekend with his family at his grandfather’s place there. Lucy feels guilty over not going home to be with her family instead. Her parents asked her to come because Hickory, her childhood dog, is dying and will be put to sleep that weekend. While they are driving, a conflicted Lucy turns up the volume to hear “Zombie” on the radio, but Stephen says he hates the song. At the house, Stephen’s family express surprise over Lucy being yet another girlfriend, making her uncomfortable. Stephen tells her they can have sex in the outdoor shower after everyone is in bed, as they did in the summer of 2012. Lucy is sad at the thought of Hickory dying. Musing on the nearness of his birthday, she realizes it is August 16, the anniversary of Macy’s death.
Analysis
Fleetwood Mac’s songs form a motif throughout the book, bonding Lucy to CJ and to her Baird friends, all fans of the band, which famous for its music but also its relationship drama. As Jackie tries to convince Lucy to move to L.A. with her rather than following Stephen to New York, she quotes the song “Dreams,” one of a series of songs two members of the band wrote about breaking up with each other. Jackie uses the lyrics as an indictment of Stephen’s behavior as a player, only caring about Lucy when he is chasing her, never really wanting a genuine relationship with her. Jackie sees that Stephen does not value Lucy when he has her, only when he cannot get her. She calls on Stevie Nicks, the song’s singer and author, as a source of wisdom Lucy will accept given their mutual love of the band, explaining that Lucy should know by now that Stephen will not make her happy. “Dreams” is an important symbol in this section, both for the literal meaning of its lyrics and also the song’s allusion to the tumultuous romantic relationships the band is known for.
In this section of the book, Lucy finally begins to see Stephen for who he is rather than who she wishes he were. In the scene at Lucy’s bar, she sees how his attempts to talk her out of being upset over his deceit about his plans to leave Alice are like a lawyer’s arguments, built to create a logic for her to fall into, not necessarily to reflect the truth. In that moment, she understands that Stephen views the world in terms of his own benefit, not in the way others base their behavior on emotions like love and shame. This realization does not stop her from letting him back into her life or bringing him home that night to have sex, but it does represent a turning point in her character and her behavior toward him. Understanding that he is moved by cost/benefit analysis, not emotional appeals, she stops him the next time they begin to have sex and refuses to sleep with him again until he has left Alice. The Lucy of earlier chapters does not have the willpower or the critical insight to affect Stephen’s behavior, but by this point in the novel, she is coming to understand how to control him, rather than just being controlled by him.
Lucy’s decision to spend another weekend in the Hamptons with Stephen rather than coming home to be with her family for the last days of Hickory, her beloved childhood dog, shows how her obsession with Stephen has separated her from her family and her values. Unlike Stephen, Lucy loves dogs, especially Hickory, the puppy she named for her favorite climbing tree. However, at this point in the story, Lucy is wrapped up in her romance with Stephen, as shown by her distraction during the phone call with her parents, planning her weekend outfits even as they break the sad news to her. Lucy sees Hickory’s death as something that has to fit into her parents’ schedule, since they are going to Bermuda the following week. Their continued love and care for their pet is evidenced in the way that for months they have carried her back end in a sheet since she cannot use her hind legs. This loving gesture undermines the implication that they are putting their needs above Hickory’s. Lucy feels ashamed of her selfishness in not going home to be with Hickory, showing that even though she chooses Stephen above her family that weekend, her selfishness in this instance is still starkly contrasted with Stephen’s continual refusal to put others’ needs above his own.
