Just for the Summer

Emma returns to the cottage where Maddy is reading on the front porch. Emma confronts Maddy about Justin, who mentioned Maddy threatened his life if he hurt Emma. Maddy admits that she’s protecting Emma because she’s already been through enough trauma for a lifetime. Emma believes her trauma was resolved during the four years of therapy she did during high school, but Maddy points out that Emma never unpacked her suitcase during those years and still lives that way to this day, “ready to take off on a moment’s notice” (118). Their conversation is interrupted by a phone notification. Justin has sent Emma an exit interview about their date, asking her to rate his performance and how likely she is to go on another date with him from 1 to 10. Emma selects 10.

Justin returns to his apartment where Brad has been watching his dog. When Brad asks about the date, Justin admits that Emma is “not a woman [he] wanted to end things with after four dates” (122). Brad ruins Justin’s post-date high by asking if he’s told Emma about taking over care of his siblings in a few weeks—which Justin has not done. Brad attempts to convince Justin to see his mother more often before she leaves, but Justin’s anger at his mother for the situation is too great for him to put aside, and he dismisses the conversation.

Emma and Maddy have their first workday at Royaume Northwestern. Their tour guide, Hector, warns them to steer clear of the chief of surgery, Dr. Rasmussen, because of his terrible moods. Eventually, they cross paths with Dr. Rasmussen, who happens to be Neil. In small talk with each other, Neil gives Emma permission to garden around the cottage and offers to take the material costs off next month’s rent. Neil is in a great mood, likely because of Amber, but after hearing of his intimidating reputation among hospital staff, Emma and Maddy further worry about their jobs should his and Amber’s relationship deteriorate.

Emma visits Neil’s mansion to speak with Amber. His housekeeper, Maria, is already annoyed with Amber’s infiltration of the home. Emma finds Amber painting the living room walls with a mural of roses. When Emma works up the courage to confront Amber about the conflict of interest in dating her landlord and coworker, Amber assures her that he’ll be different than her past relationships. Emma is surprised to hear that Amber has been going to virtual therapy for two years because “never, in [Emma’s] whole life, had she gone to therapy” (134). Emma begins to hope that her mother really has changed and that this time will be different.

When Emma meets Maddy at the pontoon, Maddy doesn’t believe Amber has changed. When she tells Emma to warn Neil about Amber’s instability, Emma becomes defensive and storms off. Usually, when Emma becomes upset, she retreats into herself, but when Justin calls her and invites her to dinner with him and his little sister, Chelsea, she accepts. At Justin’s childhood home, Emma tells Justin about her day, Neil being her coworker, and her interactions with Amber and Maddy. During a brief interaction with Justin’s 12-year-old sister, Sarah, Emma witnesses the girl’s hate-everything mood. Emma mentions never going through this stage in childhood because she couldn’t afford to act out. She tells Justin about her coping mechanism of making herself small and compares her self-isolating tendencies to being on a small island. While she has space for Maddy and Amber on the island, many other people in her life end up stuck on the opposite shore. Even when Emma wants to allow more people in, there’s no space in her life that allows for it. Justin understands this and accepts it as a part of Emma.

After watching Frozen, Justin puts Chelsea to bed, and he and Emma snuggle up to watch The Sopranos. When Justin acts strangely after answering a few texts from his mom, Emma pries. Justin reveals that his mother is leaving for prison next week because she got caught embezzling money—writing fake checks from her employer—during the year after his father’s death. She has been given time to get her affairs in order, but by next week, Justin will take over care of the house and the kids.

Sensing Justin’s anger, Emma attempts to broaden his perspective by encouraging him to choose empathy. She mentions that his mother could have been dealing with postpartum depression—as Chelsea had been born five months before the start of the crime—or PTSD and complicated grief at the time. Emma uses a metaphor of how water expands when it enters a crack and freezes to explain how his mother could have had cracks before his father’s death, but the circumstances after could have widened those fractures and caused her to behave out of character to cope. This perspective causes Justin to rethink his recent behavior and resentment toward his mother. When his younger brother, Alex, returns home, he’s excited to see Justin has a girlfriend. Alex agrees to take over babysitting so Justin can drive Emma home.

While Emma and Justin wait for Maddy to arrive with the pontoon, they attempt to kiss but are interrupted by Amber and Neil emerging from his mansion. Amber invites Emma and Justin to goat yoga on Saturday, but Emma declines because she works a 12-hour shift that day. Moment ruined, Justin helps Emma onto the pontoon with Maddy and watches from shore as they sail toward their island.

The following week, Justin prepares for his second date with Emma. His mother has been cramming in as many activities with her kids and Leigh as possible and she leaves for prison tomorrow. Justin visits Brad and Faith’s place to pick up a Toilet King T-shirt in case Emma checks the “Stupid Shirt” option on the latest pre-date survey he’s sent. Benny is also present, and he and Brad mention their latest idea of potentially renovating Justin’s mom’s house once he moves in. Justin agrees to the idea and is grateful when they also offer to babysit and dog-sit if he needs it.

Maddy drops Emma off to meet Justin. After a long talk last week, Maddy has apologized and promised to give Amber the benefit of the doubt. Maddy enquires about Emma’s date with Justin. He’s bringing her to Stillwater for wine tasting and antique shopping. Amber hasn’t attempted to make plans with Emma, which Maddy disapproves of. Maddy calls Justin the epitome of “If He Wanted to He Would,” while also saying “if Amber wanted to, she would too” (173). Justin brings Emma a rosebush, since the roses her mother gave her have died, and urges her to plant it. While Emma accepts the gift, she acknowledges internally that she’ll be leaving it behind to thrive without her.

After dinner in Stillwater, Emma and Justin visit many antique stores. In each, they attempt to find a creepy doll. In the third, Emma becomes sentimental over a creepy doll with a half-closed eye, blond stringy hair, and a detached arm with missing fingers. Their date is interrupted when Justin receives a call from Leigh and his mother, who have been overserved and need a ride back home because they’ve both been banned from Uber and Lyft. Though Emma has expressed that she never meets the parents of the men she dates, she agrees to pick the women up.

On the ride home, Leigh and Christine explain how they’ve been banned from both rideshare apps. Leigh’s ex was a Lyft driver who banned both women after their breakup, and they were banned from Uber earlier this evening for sneaking baby raccoons into the vehicle. Emma is entertained when the women produce the baby raccoons from beneath their T-shirts. When Christine begins to cry while thinking about going to prison the following day, Emma comforts her with her experience working in a women’s prison for three months. Emma admits she met many cool women in the prison. She mentions that they have a cosmetology school inside, and inmates are given ample time to read—a hobby Justin has mentioned his mother enjoys.

Justin drops Leigh and Christine off and then brings Emma home. Emma begins to have real feelings for him that she can’t explain. She wants him to tell his friends and family about her despite never feeling this way in any previous relationships. Justin kisses her on the forehead instead of the lips like she wants, leaving Emma wanting more. After he leaves, Emma admits to herself that she feels excited about Justin but also knows they’ll never work out, because she doesn’t want to raise kids and prefers the spontaneity of her current lifestyle.

Justin and his siblings say tearful goodbyes to their mother before Leigh drives her to the intake. Justin becomes overwhelmed and angry at the world after she leaves. He believes his new responsibilities mean the end for him and Emma because she’s expressed zero interest in kids or staying in Minnesota after her contract ends. Benny and Brad arrive and surprise Justin with a few days at a family suite they’ve booked for him and his siblings at the water park in the Mall of America. They plan to care for his dog, set up his room, and renovate the house while he’s away.