This Summer Will be Different

After Bridget falls asleep, Lucy calls Farah, who chastises her for thinking about work during her vacation. Farah is Lucy’s plus one to the wedding and jokes that Lucy might find a real date if she were less preoccupied with work. Lucy knows Farah is right. She has prioritized work over everything over the past year; Bridget has always been her best friend, but now she is functionally Lucy’s only friend. After ending the call, Lucy scrolls through her old texts with Felix. They have only exchanged four texts in total, all during the previous year. Lucy’s initial message apologized for “missing” Felix and thanked him for “everything.” Felix’s short responses end with a thumbs-up emoji, “the universal conversation ender” (72). As the sun sets, Felix pulls into the driveway of Summer Wind with bottles of Lucy’s favorite wine and an overnight bag.

Lucy watches Felix unloading groceries, noting that he’s bought her favorite butter from a local dairy shop. Felix asks if it’s all right that he’s staying, and Lucy says yes, even though she knows that she will struggle to suppress her attraction to him. Felix tells her that she can stay in his room while he sleeps on the pull-out couch in the living room.