Pucking Around

Ilmari feels anxious because Rachel isn’t sitting next to him. He offers his seat mate money to switch seats with Rachel, growing angry when the man makes disrespectful sexual comments about her. Finally, Ilmari offers his first-class seat to Rachel’s seat mate in coach and wedges uncomfortably into the smaller seat next to Rachel. He calls her “Rakas,” an endearment in Finnish, but doesn’t tell her what it means. He holds her hand and thinks about his attraction to her, but she assumes he is worried about his scans. Ilmari is alarmed to realize that he dreads the scans being clear as much as he dreads that they might reveal an injury, because clear scans would indicate an end to his time with Rachel. Rachel reveals she, Jake, and Caleb are together.

Ilmari’s palpable disappointment makes Rachel defensive, and she fears that he is judging her. To emphasize that she is still interested in him, Rachel makes suggestive comments until Ilmari grabs her face, although he doesn’t kiss her. He warns her that she cannot “manage” him, expresses no interest in a non-monogamous relationship, and ends their flirtation.

Ilmari reels from Rachel’s revelation that she is in a relationship with Caleb and Jake but still wants him, too. The concept of polyamory feels “wholly foreign” to him. He also likes Jake as a teammate, which complicates his feelings of jealousy. As they wait for a taxi, the seat mate who refused to move asks Ilmari for an autograph, revealing that Ilmari offered to pay him to switch seats. Rachel asks Ilmari to teach her phrases in Finnish, and he uses her ignorance of the language to articulate his affection for her. They arrive at the clinic, and Rachel says Doctor Halla’s name for the first time, just as the man approaches. This causes Ilmari to freeze, because Doctor Halla is his father.

Rachel is confused when Ilmari and Halla speak in Finnish. They reveal that Halla is Ilmari’s biological father, but that Ilmari was raised by Juhani Kinnunen. Ilmari refuses to allow Halla to treat him. Halla reveals that he hid his relationship with Ilmari from Rachel so that she would bring his son to Cincinnati. Rachel reprimands Halla for this trickery, then chases after Ilmari.

Rachel catches up with Ilmari and explains that Halla tricked her. She cares about him and would never hurt him on purpose. Still, she encourages him to take advantage of Halla’s expertise, emphasizing that she will support whatever decision Ilmari makes. He asks her to kiss him.

Rachel quips that trading a kiss for the scans isn’t ethical, but Ilmari doesn’t care. Even though they’re standing on the street, they kiss enthusiastically. At the clinic, Rachel and Halla discuss Ilmari’s treatment, and Halla presses for them to have dinner together. Ilmari agrees. The tests reveal a labral tear that is already mending. Halla prescribes as much rest as possible. Ilmari is glad for the information, but his mind is on Rachel.

Rachel attends an awkward dinner with Halla and Ilmari. Ilmari rejects Halla’s overtures at conversation. After dinner, Rachel and Ilmari return to his hotel to retrieve Rachel’s bag. Tension simmers between them as Ilmari invites her into his room.

Rachel enters his room, the decision feeling monumental. They have sex. Rachel hopes that Ilmari will enjoy group sex as well.

Rachel reflects that each man in her relationship offers her something different. She tells Ilmari that she loves all three of them and that he can’t push Caleb and Jake away without pushing her away, too. Ilmari wants to see their dynamic together, and Rachel explains their relationship, articulating that she thinks Jake is in love with Caleb. Ilmari has no desire to have sex with Caleb or Jake, and Rachel emphasizes that he will not be asked to do anything he doesn’t wish to do. They agree to try a relationship.

Caleb massages Jake’s leg, causing Jake to make sexual sounds. Jake starts to consider his shifting feelings for Caleb, and they also discuss Ilmari’s imminent arrival with Rachel, which makes Jake nervous. Things are awkward between Ilmari, Caleb, and Jake, and Jake emphasizes that Ilmari must at least be friends with the two men. Ilmari tells them about his secret labral tear. Jake banters with Ilmari and insists that he stay for dinner.

After dinner, Caleb proposes group sex, with Ilmari as voyeur, to confirm that Ilmari can “handle sharing,” which Ilmari admits that he isn’t certain he can do. Ilmari is uncomfortable at first, then surprises Rachel and Caleb by requesting to touch Caleb, fascinated by his genital piercings. Jake enters and exclaims in shock.

Jake feels jealous that Ilmari is touching “his” Caleb. Rachel and Ilmari reassure Jake that Ilmari isn’t attracted to men, and this was just curiosity, but Caleb is smugly pleased by Jake’s show of jealousy. Jake confesses to his own jealousy at how openly Rachel can love multiple people and admits that he desires Caleb. The confession is difficult and confusing for Jake but feels right. For the first time, Jake and Caleb have oral sex without Rachel being involved. Jake enjoys the resulting feeling of emotional closeness and believes that the group of four will work out.

Rachel and Ilmari have sex at his house, then trade stories of their tattoos. He discusses his mother’s death and his subsequent adoption by their neighbor, Juhani Kinnunen. She inadvertently reveals that Halla has been reaching out. Ilmari reacts angrily as Rachel explains her own past with forgiving her father after her parents’ divorce, emphasizing she only cares about Ilmari’s happiness. Jake and Caleb arrive unannounced with ice cream. The four watch hockey footage together, and Rachel reflects that she wants Ilmari to be part of the family they are building together.

Rachel talks with Tess about her relationship developments, which Tess teases her about good-naturedly. Rachel confesses to feeling the weight of secrets amongst the four of them, which Tess attributes to their relationship’s clandestine nature. Based on Rachel’s past, Tess predicts that the press will eventually find out and Rachel will leave the relationship. Rachel doesn’t want to burden the men with her past, but Tess argues that engaging with a partner’s history is part of all adult relationships. Rachel goes to Ilmari’s house and tells him to run a Google search on her past.

At the beach, Rachel presses the men to discuss major relationship concerns, including marriage and children. Of them all, Jake is most enthusiastically ready for these steps. Rachel’s apprehensions about the future stem from her fear that public scrutiny of their unconventional relationship will “ruin all [their] lives” (482). Ilmari asserts that they just need time to establish their relationship’s foundation. Caleb feels anxious and excited at the thought of being a family.

After the excursion at the beach, Caleb and Rachel shower together, and Rachel urges Caleb to tell Jake that he loves him romantically. She doesn’t believe they can build a strong relationship without Caleb’s honesty on this point. He counters that Ilmari needs to act more like part of their “team” and move in with three of them. They turn it into a bet; the first to get Ilmari or Jake to say “I love you, too” wins. She summons Ilmari with Finnish endearments. The trio have sex, and Ilmari admits that he likes group encounters.

During a Rays game, Jake plays exceptionally well. Afterward, he seeks out Rachel and kisses her even though they are at work. Their busy schedules have left Jake feeling out of sync with her, and he seeks physical closeness to amend this. They begin to have sex in a storage room. Ilmari enters and they all have sex together: the first encounter with Jake and Ilmari together. Afterwards, Ilmari commends Jake on his game, establishing a moment of friendship.