Just for the Summer

Maddy returns home to find Emma and Justin cuddling in bed. She ran into Neil and Amber at the airport and caught a ride on Neil’s yacht. A storm is coming, so Neil offers Justin a ride back to his car. Justin is disappointed with Emma’s stiffness and assertion that she needs space. Justin gathers his dog and siblings and returns home. When Emma calls, he believes it’s to officially end their relationship, but she only asks to come inside. Emma has followed Justin home with her rosebush in tow and tells him she’s willing to stay longer and continue to date.

Emma spends two weeks sneaking into Justin’s house after the kids go to bed and sneaking out before they wake. Maddy has agreed to extend their Royaume contract for another six weeks, and they have moved into Justin’s old studio apartment for more convenience. Amber has yet to realize they’ve even moved, nor has she checked up on Emma since she got sick, which has made Emma realize that while she loves her mom, she doesn’t particularly like her. Early one morning before Emma has time to sneak out, Chelsea cries and wishes to sleep in her mom’s old room. Emma allows Justin to bring Chelsea to sleep between them and joins the kids for breakfast, where Sarah and Alex admit they know Emma’s been secretly staying the night. Emma enjoys the morning more than she expected to. They all make dinner plans and Sarah asks if Emma will re-dye her hair.

Emma spends the next week and a half integrating into Justin’s family by clocking driving hours with Alex, taking Sarah to dance, doing laundry, walking the dog, and tending to his mother’s garden. Her daily routine is disrupted by a call from Maria about Amber, who is acting recklessly. Emma arrives at Neil’s to discover Amber in hysterics and throwing Neil’s clothes off the balcony. Neil discovered Amber stealing from him and suggested they take a break. Emma becomes frustrated and asks her mother why she always ruins things when they’re good. Emma makes Amber a bath and starts cleaning up the house before Neil gets home. She is relieved to find Maddy outside bagging Neil’s clothes into trash bags.

Maddy calls Justin to help clean Neil’s place because Emma’s birthday is the following day and Maddy doesn’t want Amber’s mess to ruin it. After reinstating Neil’s closet, throwing out the flowers Amber left to rot around the house, and getting her cleaned and into bed, Emma goes home with Justin.

Emma wakes the next morning feeling much better. Justin and his siblings surprise Emma with a large breakfast and a birthday present: the newly restored Stuffie with his eye sewn back on, stuffing replaced, and matted fur brushed out. Emma loves feeling appreciated and “being a part of this family” (337). Maddy arrives to inform Emma that Neil and Amber have broken up. He offered to let Amber stay in his home if she agreed to treatment, but Amber refused, so he’s putting a down payment on an apartment for her. Emma finally realizes that Amber’s circumstances are Amber’s fault and were never her responsibility; she resents Amber’s unwillingness to get help.

Maddy and Justin convince Emma to make her DNA results public. The program informs Emma of a half-brother on her mother’s side named Daniel Grant who lives in Wakan, Minnesota. Though Amber has never mentioned having another child and has always told Emma that she has no other family, the DNA results also reveal several aunts and cousins on Amber’s side. Daniel reaches out to Emma and immediately reveals that his grandparents—Amber’s parents—raised him after she abandoned him when she was 18 and he was three. Emma reels at the sheer amount of lies Amber has told her about her family.

Justin and Maddy accompany Emma to meet with Daniel and his wife, Alexis. Daniel reveals that Amber’s parents died eight years ago despite her telling Emma that they’ve been dead since before Emma’s birth. Amber’s parents left Amber the family house, which she sold to Daniel for $500,000 three years ago. Emma realizes that Amber must have recently returned and attached to Neil because she’s already spent the money. Emma spots a picture of Amber in the family home, lounging on a chair and drinking a Bloody Mary. When she asks when it was taken, Daniel reveals it’s from the Fourth of July around the time Emma turned eight. This is the summer she was abandoned, had to eat the neighbor’s carrots to survive, and got put into foster care. Emma has a panic attack and asks Justin and Maddy to drive her home.

Justin and Maddy drop Emma off at Neil’s mansion to speak with Amber. Amber is apathetic toward Emma, which only intensifies Emma’s newfound resentment toward her mother and the “very real evidence that [she] was nothing to her” (355). When Emma confronts Amber about her lies, it becomes clear that Amber doesn’t care about all the harm she’s caused her daughter. Emma decides to cut Amber out of her life permanently and enters another one of her “small” moods. Her metaphorical island—which has been holding Amber, Maddy, and Justin—shrinks until it only holds herself. She decides to disappear from Maddy and Justin’s lives because she knows her flighty tendencies will inevitably hurt them as Amber has repeatedly done to her.

Justin and Maddy become worried that Emma will flee after the conversation with her mother. When they return to Neil’s, they discover his house is on fire. Neil is overjoyed about the disaster. He admits to Justin that he was not a great man in the past and believes Amber’s entry into his life was a test of his personal improvements, which he’s passed by remaining benevolent, patient, and understanding. He sees the house fire providing him with a clean slate in life. Amber has fled in a taxi, and Emma has taken an Uber to the airport. Maddy suggests that Justin go home and wait for her word. Meanwhile, Maddy plans to follow the location tracking of the AirTags she hid in Emma’s luggage.

Emma numbly takes up residence in a hotel room at the airport where Maddy eventually finds her. Maddy convinces Emma to allow Maddy to help her navigate her trauma and heal. While Emma is able to allow Maddy to help her, she can’t stomach asking the same of Justin because he already shoulders too much responsibility in caring for his siblings. Emma does, however, decide to say goodbye to Justin before they leave for their next assignment. When Emma asks where Maddy will pick for the next two assignments, Maddy says “somewhere you always should have been” (369).

The following day, Emma and Maddy pack up and go to Justin’s, where Emma ends their relationship and says goodbye. While Justin is devastated, he understands her reasoning. He and the kids need stability, and until Emma works through her trauma, she will not be able to provide that.

Maddy’s next two assignment picks station her and Emma in Wakan, Minnesota, for six months, where they live at the Grant House. Emma becomes closer with Daniel and Alexis and the rest of the Grant family, and Maddy begins dating Daniel’s best friend, Doug. Emma and Maddy’s friendship has become stronger as they’ve begun talking more openly about Emma’s trauma and the impact it has had on their relationship. Emma has also returned to therapy. She has been diagnosed with complex PTSD and is slowly developing her ability to love and eliminate her flight response to stress. Though Emma has forgiven her mom, she has continued avoiding contact with her.

Emma has worked on herself enough that she finally feels ready to confront Justin and “meet him where he was for once” (381). While she lives at Grant House, she considers home wherever Justin and the kids are. On her drive to visit Justin, Emma receives an unprecedented call from Sarah. Sarah has gotten her period at school, and rather than call Justin or Leigh, she calls Emma to pick her up. Emma purchases Sarah supplies and gives her instructions on how to use everything. On the drive to Justin’s, Sarah mentions how well the family has been doing since Emma left but adds that they all miss her. Emma apologizes for leaving and hopes they never felt abandoned by her. Sarah admits she didn’t feel abandoned because “[she] knew that if [she] ever called [Emma], [she]’d come” (387).

For the past six months, Justin has dragged himself out of the post-Emma depression and set up effective routines with the kids. Eventually, he has come to enjoy his everyday life, yet the pain of Emma’s absence still lingers. However, he does not blame her for leaving as he believes it was the right thing and practices empathy instead of anger toward the situation.

His work-from-home day is interrupted by Sarah’s arrival. When he asks who brought her home, she invites him downstairs where Emma is cradling Chelsea, who has skipped preschool for the day due to sickness. They’re given privacy and after awkward small talk, Emma asks what Justin is thinking. Adhering to their original promise of complete honesty, Justin tells Emma that while he’s happy she’s here, he wishes she hadn’t come. Internally, Justin only wishes she hadn’t come because he believes she’ll never give him what he actually wants—a committed relationship where she’ll stay forever.

Emma apologizes and starts to leave but confronts the old coping mechanisms urging her to withdraw and flee. She tells Justin everything she’s thinking—that she loves him, that she’s recovering from her trauma, and that she would stay forever if he asked her to. Justin asks her to stay, and she accepts. When Alex arrives home, the entire family has a cheerful reunion and celebration.

Two years later, Justin posts on Reddit asking if he is the asshole for proposing to Emma on a Toilet King billboard from his old studio apartment. None of his friends or family like the idea, but Maddy and Doug approve. In an update on the post, he shares that Emma has said yes to his proposal and loved the execution.