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Summary
Chapter Twelve
Laurel recently divorced from Belly and Steven’s father, who is a college professor. He moved out of their home one summer while the rest of the family was away at Cousins Beach. Although he was emotional about the separation, Laurel was not. Belly sees her father on weekends and stays at his apartment. She notes that it smells like mildew. He lights incense to try to get rid of the smell even though Belly is allergic to incense.
Chapter Thirteen
One afternoon, Laurel questions Belly about Conrad. She wonders if he has started doing drugs. She confides that Susannah is worried about him. Laurel asks Belly to let her know if she hears anything concerning him. However, Belly doubts that Conrad could be experimenting with substances more serious than drinking beer. She teasingly calls her mother a “narc” and says that she’s one to talk.
Chapter Fourteen
The next flashback reveals what Belly meant by the teasing comment at the end of the previous chapter. One night during the summer Belly is thirteen years old, the kids realize their mothers are smoking marijuana in secret when they notice the smoke wafting from one of the bedrooms. Conrad informs them that Susannah has been smoking to cope with the courses of chemotherapy she’s been undergoing since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Laurel and Susannah come downstairs, laughing and searching for snacks. Belly and Steven share a horrified look because they’ve never seen their mother behave this way.
The kids confront the women who admit they have been smoking to help alleviate Susannah’s chemotherapy symptoms. Jeremiah looks stricken and very concerned about his mother’s health. Earlier that afternoon, he and Belly eavesdropped on their mothers discussing Susannah’s condition. Susannah was concerned about having a mastectomy and told Laurel she would rather die than lose one of her breasts. Jeremiah and Belly walked away from the women’s conversation and walked back to the beach without discussing what they heard. There, Steven noticed how quiet they were and accused them of having their first kiss. Jeremiah ignores him and walks into the ocean while Conrad defends him. Although Belly and Jeremiah were not intimate in the way that Steven had suspected, the moment bonded Belly and Jeremiah and she remembers it as the moment when they became as close as they are now.
Chapter Fifteen
In the present day, it has been raining for several days at Cousins Beach so Jeremiah, Steven, and Belly decide to go to the movies. They head to the mall, which is the location of the single movie theater in town other than a drive-in. The film that’s showing is a romantic comedy, and after a few minutes, Steven walks out in disgust. But Jeremiah stays and continues to watch with Belly, even offering to switch seats with her when a large man sits in front of her. He also buys a soda for them to share, and they use Twizzlers as straws. As Jeremiah smiles at her warmly, Belly wonders if he wants to kiss her. However, she quickly dismisses the thought and reminds herself that she has a crush on Conrad.
Analysis
Belly resents her parents’ divorce because of all the ways it disrupts her life, but she avoids confronting those feelings whenever possible. When Belly’s father moved out of their home, he took the family pet with him. It was a cat named Claude, and Belly feels his loss more keenly than the loss of her father. The cat’s presence was once felt all over their home, and without him it feels that something is missing. This is one indication that the divorce has been difficult for Belly. However, she neglects to spend too much time thinking about it. Instead, she becomes annoyed with mundane details, such as her father’s new beard. Also, one reason that Belly welcomes the summer months is because she no longer has to spend the weekends staying at her father’s small apartment. The summer house is a refuge from the cares and concerns of Belly’s “ordinary” life, including her parents’ divorce.
Although Belly deeply cares for Conrad, her romanticization of him blinds her from the red flags that others notice in his behavior. Laurel questioning if Conrad could be doing drugs is a warning sign that foreshadows his troubles and suggests that his behavior is strikingly different. However, Belly dismisses her mother’s concern and even teases her about it. All indicators, from the girlfriend who left him to the football team he quit, show that he is withdrawing into himself. He has even become sterner with Belly than he was in the past. Conrad is clearly struggling, but Belly is too preoccupied with her crush on him to entirely recognize and understand his feelings. Her crush, at this point in the book, emphasizes her immaturity in that her infatuation focuses on her own perspective and ignores Conrad’s needs.
Just as Belly avoids confronting Conrad’s negative qualities, so do almost all of the characters avoid acknowledging Susannah’s worsening condition. Laurel’s concerns about Conrad lead to a flashback of the kids discovering the two mothers have been smoking marijuana the summer Belly was thirteen. The teenagers have been reluctant to face Susannah’s condition or discuss her breast cancer openly, so the overhead conversation stuns Jeremiah into silence because he’s likely never heard his mother talk so openly about her feelings on her cancer. The teenagers do not discuss Susannah’s frequent naps and absences, for example. In the present day, Jeremiah worries his mother could suddenly disappear at any moment, indicating that they still don’t talk about her illness, which is most likely the biggest conflict in all of their lives. These concerns fester in Jeremiah, still largely unaddressed.
In the present day, Belly and Jeremiah spend one rainy afternoon on what may or may not be a date. Their interaction seems very much like a romantic connection, but neither seems to want to openly call it that in another occurrence of fearing a change to the familiar. They sit and watch a romantic comedy, and they share a soda using Twizzlers as straws, the way they used to do when they were children. As they hold their heads together over the cup of soda, Belly wonders if the other moviegoers assume they are on a date, so even to Belly, this scene seems romantic. Then as Jeremiah looks at her with a smile, Belly wonders if he wants to kiss her. However, she won’t let herself fully explore the notion. She quickly remembers her crush on Conrad and that Jeremiah has only ever been a friend. He’s supposed to be the pal she watches movies with, not the boy she kisses. The scene emphasizes the idea that time marches on and changes happen regardless of whether we acknowledge them or not.
