In the Likely Event

“He was…hot. Like, pull-the-fire-alarm, jaw-dropping levels of hotness. A fine layer of dark scruff covered a square jawline. Even the cut and the purplish bruise that split the right half of his lower lip didn’t detract from his face, because his eyes…wow. Just…wow. Those crystalline baby blues stole every word out of my head.”

This description of Nate fulfills the requisite characterization of the typical romantic hero. However, Izzy takes a moment to focus on the cut and bruise on Nate’s lower lip, and while the source of these injuries will remain a mystery for the moment, she will later realize that they are the result of domestic violence at the hands of Nate’s own father. This description not only highlights Nate as the romantic hero, but it also opens the door to exploring his troubled past and his childhood trauma, both of which make him determined to protect those he loves. It is this need to protect people that causes many of the issues in Nate and Izzy’s relationship.

“After three years, this is how it happened? Not because he’d come back, or apologized for disappearing off the face of the earth, but because once again, we’d proved to be the magnets that fate could never quit playing with?”

Izzy’s thoughts on meeting Nate again after their first meeting 10 years prior hint at the many events and changes that they have endured over the years. Izzy’s accusation that Nate disappeared forms part of the tension that remains between them, though the explanation for his disappearance is still lacking. However, the fact that he is in the Special Forces offers one potential suggestion as to how a man might disappear from a woman’s life. More hints are revealed in Izzy’s thoughts about how fate continuously plays with them, for her musings suggest that their relationship has not been a simple one.

“‘Relatives only,’ the paramedic in back said, already hooking her up to something. ‘I’m assuming you’re her…’ He glanced up.

Don’t leave me.

‘Husband.’ I moved, climbing up into the rig in one step. ‘I’m her husband.’”

Determined to keep a promise not to leave Izzy, Nate lies to the paramedics in order to ride with her to the hospital. This lie later proves to be beneficial to Izzy when she attempts to remember details about Nate, such as his name, and is able to look at her medical records and check his signature. Later, Nate’s “husband” status becomes a running joke amongst Nate, Izzy, and Nate’s military buddies, creating a bond that only grows into a stronger connection as the two spend more time together. It also can be viewed as foreshadowing, because Izzy and Nate do eventually marry by the end of the novel.

“To sit here, to see her and not touch her, not demand to know whose ring was on her finger, was a hell I wasn’t sure I could live through, and yet, I’d endure it without faltering if it meant I’d get to see her one last time.

Afterall, she was…Isabeau.”

It still has not been revealed why Nate and Izzy broke up, but there is clearly a connection between them that is unbroken, and it is revealed in this train of thought that Nate entertains, for despite their long estrangement, he still feels a sense of possessiveness about Izzy that her engagement ring suggests she doesn’t return. These thoughts are also designed to build romantic tension in the plot and foreshadow a conversation later in the novel that will reveal all.

“Honey, you know how long we’ve waited to take this trip, so if you’re not in any life-or-limb danger, there’s not really a reason for us to come back, is there?”

Beginning to address the theme of Abandonment Through Disappointment, Izzy’s mother makes this statement as Izzy lies in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery to remove her damaged spleen. Izzy has just been in a plane crash, and her parents have decided that this event does not warrant interrupting their vacation. This moment shows the origins of Izzy’s sense of abandonment, as well as the indifference that she has always received from her parents. This exchange foreshadows Izzy’s issues with Nate, and it also explains why Nate is shocked to learn that Izzy goes on to work in politics, dropping her own ambitions to act in accordance with her parents’ wishes.

“I should have moved, should have scooted to the other end of the couch, but instead, I tucked my legs up and curled into him for the simple reason that there was nowhere safer in this world.”

Izzy has a nightmare and finds herself comforted by Nate. This moment shows that there is still an innate degree of trust between them, and the scene also suggests that Nate has comforted Izzy in this way before. This moment also gives credibility to the idea that Izzy and Nate have never broken the bond between them, and it implies that whatever has caused them to go their separate ways is fixable.

“Was I losing it? I’d seen some shit on deployment, and it wasn’t like the plane crash hadn’t screwed my head in ways I tried not to linger on, but hallucinations? I wasn’t that screwed up, was I?”

Hinting at the theme of The Myriad Effects of Psychological Trauma, Nate questions his own sanity when he spots Izzy in a bar in Georgia. This question shows that Nate is already aware of the potentially hallucinatory effects of the trauma that he has suffered in the last few years, and he is also aware of how profoundly such trauma can impact a person’s mental health. This thought becomes ironic at the end of the novel when it is revealed that Nate has been having delusions of full conversations with the deceased Julian Torres.

“The possibilities, Izzy. That’s what we are. Possibility.”

When Nate first resists defining the relationship between himself and Izzy, this is how he convinces her to accept his choice. He wants her to feel free to live her life while he is deployed so that she won’t look back and feel as though she missed out on something important by waiting for him. However, he leaves it open for them to see each other again, and on the surface, this choice seems to give them the best of two worlds: that of lovers and that of young, single adults. However, Nate doesn’t realize that by returning to Izzy’s life sporadically over a 10-year period, he’s engaging in a relationship that shapes Izzy’s life despite his reluctance to do so. This is part of the issue that Izzy and Nate must face at the end of the novel.

“‘You would get my dedication to my profession, wouldn’t you?’ Serena said with a sigh. ‘Hell, your dedication to yours is the entire reason Izzy ended up in Senator Lauren’s office. Are you going to end your deployment early?’”

Serena’s words to Nate reveal a truth that Izzy wasn’t ready to reveal. Nate has wondered why Izzy would give up her dream of doing legal work for nonprofits to enter the political arena, and he comes to the unflattering conclusion that she did it to please her parents. However, Serena gives him another motive and reveals a second issue that has come between Izzy and Nate: his dedication to his military service.

“Dad wants a politician in the family more than he’s ever wanted us.”

This quote offers another glimpse at the theme of Abandonment Through Disappointment, for Serena’s thoughts regarding her father’s desire for political influence reveal the full extent of his selfish obsession with his own business interests. Nate has already suggested that Izzy’s choice of becoming a congressional aide has more to do with her father’s desires than her own. This statement underscores Nate’s opinion even as it provides Izzy with a logical reason for becoming engaged to Jeremy, since his family is heavily involved in politics.

“‘I think it’s bullshit that they only got to see each other at dawn and sunset.’ I glare at the screen.

‘They win in the end,’ she replied with a laugh, tucking one leg under her and turning to face me on the couch, her knee brushing my thigh.

‘Doesn’t mean the years they spent like that weren’t bullshit.’ I shook my head.”

Nate and Izzy’s discussion about the plot of Ladyhawke creates obvious parallels between the relationship of the fictional characters in the movie and the growing relationship between Nate and Izzy. Nate complains that the curse that kept Isabeau and Navarre apart was unfair, while Izzy suggests that the fact that they had a happy ending made their ordeal worth the trouble of overcoming. This same line of thought can also be applied to Izzy and Nate, for Nate keeps Izzy at arm’s length throughout their relationship, only pulling her close when Julian dies before pushing her away again. Yet they do eventually find their happy ending, just like Isabeau and Navarre.

“Nate had boarded our flight with a split lip four years ago. What had he said about the wound? About the split knuckles?

It won’t exactly be the first time someone has swung for me, and at least this time I’ll be armed. He’d been talking about his father.”

Izzy is at the funeral for Nate’s mother when she learns the truth about the domestic violence that affected his childhood. Although Izzy doesn’t immediately connect this information with Nate’s determination to protect her, she does understand that Nate’s desire to never be like his father has dark roots in a childhood filled with violence. This moment gives Izzy insight into Nate, and it helps her to understand him better.

“Pierson was thrilled to make it, but I knew this was just a stepping stone for Torres and Rowell…and for me. That long-ago thought I’d had on the plane with Izzy, that it would be cool to make Special Forces, was now a very real, very actualized dream. I was damn good at what I did, and I had to admit: I wanted to be the best.”

Nate’s reflections on the Special Forces shows his determination to be the best at what he does, and this focus on perfectionism goes back to his childhood and his father’s abuse in the home. Touching on the theme of The Myriad Effects of Psychological Trauma, most of Nate’s personality has been shaped by the moments of trauma that powerfully define his life. To be the best in the military is to give himself the tools he needs to protect the people he loves and to prove that he is better than his own father. At the same time, Nate’s choice to join the Special Forces takes him away from Izzy once again.

“Nate waited on the tarmac, looking back toward the terminal. I held my breath. If the last twenty-four hours had taught me anything, it was that seconds counted.

And my heart noted every single one of them as he stood out there, completely exposed.”

Izzy has expressed her fear that Nate might be killed in action as part of his military service. However, knowing that it can happen and seeing Nate place himself in direct danger are two different things. For the first time, Izzy experiences firsthand the danger that Nate faces every day, and she has the same reaction that he had to her arrival in Afghanistan. She doesn’t like it.

“‘I’m a trophy to my parents, and a memory to you, and…’ She rubbed the empty finger on her left hand. ‘Serena is the only person in this world who’s been there for me unconditionally, the only person who’s never deserted me, and I’ll be damned if I leave her to die. If I go, there’s no one left here who cares about her. We both know what will happen to her.’”

Touching again on the theme of Abandonment Through Disappointment, Izzy expresses her reasons for needing to help Serena. Clearly, Izzy’s determination goes beyond just a sense of duty to her sibling. In this moment, Izzy feels abandoned by her parents, the man she loves, her coworkers, and her former fiancé, and she refuses to abandon the one person who has never made her feel abandoned.

“‘I have to let him go, don’t I?’ The words were stuttered and broken. ‘It doesn’t matter if he did it on accident or on purpose—I can’t keep living like this, Serena. I have to let him go.’”

After Nate doesn’t show up in Palau as promised, Izzy asks these questions of her sister, implying that the end of the relationship is a direct result of Nate’s actions. While this does align with all of Izzy’s accusations against Nate since her arrival in Afghanistan, it is clear that Izzy never truly lets Nate go. However, this moment does show why Izzy accuses Nate of forgetting her and abandoning her just like everyone else.

“He shoved the remains of the tag beneath his shirt and withdrew his hand from the counter.

Revealing a diamond ring.

The diamond ring.

Oh God. I couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t enough air in the world to fill my lungs, to oxygenate the blood that my heart refused to pump.

‘I’m the one who carried you with me every goddamned day.’”

Nate reveals to Izzy that he always carries the engagement ring he once offered to her. This revelation is important because it reveals that Nate once proposed to Izzy, and the ring also represents Nate’s love for Izzy and his heartbreak over losing her. At the same time, it shows Izzy that Nate never forgot her or abandoned her. This is an important first step to allowing them to clear up the differences that still lie between them.

“But then Julian…died, and I realized that it just as easily could have been me. It should have been me. And I knew that I’d wasted too much time protecting you when I should have been giving you a choice, and I’m so sorry.”

Nate’s speech here has two purposes. The first is that he has finally seen the error in his determination to keep Izzy at arm’s length in a misguided attempt to protect her from his life in the military. The second is that it reveals the death of Julian, his best friend in the military, and the guilt that Nate carries as a result. Not only does this moment reveal the event that led to the end of Nate and Izzy’s earlier relationship, but it also foreshadows the impact that such dark guilt has on Nate’s mental health.

“The city was in chaos beyond the defenses of the Green Zone, and we weren’t faring too much better in here either. Panicked people were dangerous people, and though the evacuation was going pretty steadily, who knew how anyone within would react to the sight of one of those white-flagged pickup trucks.”

Nate describes the chaos in Kabul as the Taliban takes control of the city. This scene is based on the actual historical events that occurred on August 15, 2021, when Kabul fell to the Taliban. Rebecca Yarros uses this reference to recent history to enrich her setting and to increase the tension in the plot as Nate goes out of his way to keep Izzy safe and to help her escape the country.

“‘I think doing this’—he gestured around us—‘was never really your dream. It was always mine, and I’m not denying that you carried me this far, but man, you are going to lose that woman once and for all if you don’t let it go.’”

Torres gives Nate an out in this conversation, but he also provides insight into Nate’s state of mind, showing that Nate ultimately chose to join the Special Forces as a tribute to Torres, not because he wanted such a career for himself. This insight takes on more meaning when the narrative finally reveals that Torres died three years previously and never actually advised Nate to join the Special Forces. The Torres who gave that advice to Nate, as well as the Torres who now urges him to get out of the military for Izzy’s sake, is the one who represents the suppressed aspects of Nate’s subconscious mind.

“The panic was palpable, and as flights began to take off again, that energy transformed into pure desperation. Desperation to find missing family members. Desperation to obtain a visa long since submitted for. Desperation to get a seat on any plane that was going anywhere but here.”

Izzy describes the atmosphere at the airport after the fall of Kabul into Taliban hands. This atmosphere is marked by the same things that caused Izzy to go to Afghanistan: an urgent need to get her sister to a safe place. As Izzy waits for her own flight, she also waits for word on her sister’s safety and possible arrival at the airport, putting her in the same position as many of the evacuees whom she tried to help and is now observing.

“I hadn’t been the only person Nate had been carrying with him.

The tag read TORRES, JULIAN.”

When Serena boards the plane and gives Izzy the dog tags that Nate wore taped and hanging around his neck, she notices for the first time that they aren’t Nate’s dog tags. They belong to Julian Torres, the young man who died three years ago from a snake bite during the final training for the Special Forces. This revelation not only reveals to Izzy that Nate’s guilt over Julian’s death is a heavy burden, but it reveals that all the conversations Nate had with Torres were a figment of his imagination.

“I smiled as his mouth met mine, then sighed when he deepened the kiss and kept going all through takeoff. By the time we lifted our heads, we were far above the clouds.”

Yarros brings her characters full circle by having them meet on a plane once again. However, this meeting is much sweeter than the first, for rather than ending with a plane crash, the scene concludes with a smooth take-off that neither character notices, for they are locked in a passionate embrace. This moment also represents a drastic difference from the tension of Izzy’s previous flight, fleeing from Afghanistan, and the tension that surrounded Nate and Izzy on their last meeting.