Every Summer After

The effect of miscommunication in relationships is another key theme that the novel explores. Fortune employs the romantic trope of the love triangle to set up the novel’s central conflict when Percy sleeps with Charlie. However, Fortune subverts the trope: Rather than romantic attraction precipitating the incident, the breakdown in communication between Sam and Percy is what causes the situation to arise. Unlike most love-triangle setups, Percy is not torn between Sam and Charlie; she would choose Sam every time, but she misinterprets Sam’s intermittent and frosty communication as rejection, and this causes her to seek comfort in Charlie.

For the most part, young Percy and Sam have an easy relationship and are comfortable talking about most things. They discuss difficult or traumatic things, like the death of a parent; private and potentially embarrassing things, like menstruation or wet dreams; and hopes and desires, like Sam’s desire to be a doctor or Percy’s writing. However, when the element of romance enters their relationship, the accompanying insecurities impact their otherwise easy communication.

From early on, Sam feels insecure about Charlie’s interactions with Percy. Charlie’s constant flirting discomfits him, as does the fact that Charlie was Percy’s first kiss. As a teenager, Sam is unable to express how he feels about Charlie’s behavior around Percy, so the theme of miscommunication in relationships extends to Sam and Charlie’s fraternal relationship too. As an adult, Sam is able to see and address this jealousy, and this helps him to build a closer relationship with Charlie.

Mason also gets caught up in teenage Percy and Sam’s miscommunication. Percy’s interactions with Mason are fueled by her misdirected feelings for Sam after he rejects her. Though Percy knows deep down that she doesn’t truly love Mason, she is unable to effectively express her feelings and ends up becoming his girlfriend.

Sam’s jealousy over seeing Percy with Mason, and his fear of losing her, cause him to mask his feelings and emotionally withdraw. Sam’s tendency toward shutting down continues when he and Percy become a couple; he cuts communication with her when he is overwhelmed by the workload at college.

In turn, Sam’s inability to express how much Percy means to him fuels her insecurities. After she breaks up with Sam, Percy changes. Miscommunication seeps into her and Delilah’s friendship, and Percy’s bitterness over her breakup with Sam causes her to push Delilah away. Miscommunication and an inability to express herself continue to affect adult Percy’s friendships too; though Percy considers Chantal a close friend, she has never confided in her about her past with Sam. After sleeping with Charlie, Percy also begins to have panic attacks that recur intermittently over the next 12 years. Percy’s repression of her feelings for Sam and her guilt about sleeping with Charlie are the root cause of her panic attacks; bottling up her emotions detrimentally affects Percy’s mental health.

The core of the conflict, both in Percy’s heart and between her and Sam, is miscommunication. Confession is the only remedy for both conflicts. When Percy and Sam tell the truth, she about sleeping with Charlie and he about already knowing this, they create a fresh start and the opportunity to build an adult relationship based on truth. In the epilogue, Percy says that she and Sam “can still speak to each other without speaking” (303), but they no longer rely on this innate bond as their main method of communication. Instead, they’ve “snapped at each other, […] flung accusations around, and […] yelled” (303). Although their communication may seem dysfunctional at times, the fact that they can externalize their emotions and be direct with each other shows progress and maturity. By figuring out how to communicate effectively, Sam and Percy are able to overcome their past pain and establish a happy, trusting relationship.