Just for the Summer

A few days later, Justin meets with his friends Benny and Brad at a local Minneapolis restaurant. Benny and Brad are both in serious relationships and have begun to plan group trips with their partners, Jane and Faith. Justin has started feeling like a fifth wheel lately and has declined their invitations to these trips. When Justin mentions his connection to Emma via Reddit DMs, his friends encourage him to date her to see if their Good Luck Charms will cancel out and prompt each other to find The One.

Emma receives a message from Justin, asking whether cotton swabs are bad for ears. This question prompts a wider conversation in which Justin presents his dating idea. Emma reveals she lives in Colorado and will be leaving in three weeks to work in Hawaii for three months. Over a phone call, they discuss potentially meeting up after she gets back from Hawaii.

After watching Forrest Gump, Emma and Maddy discuss Emma’s mother, Amber, who quit her job three months ago and whose phone has been disconnected again. Maddy doesn’t like Amber for many reasons, one being that she asks Emma for money often. Meanwhile, Emma’s relationship with her mother is complicated. Knowing her mother got pregnant at 18 with “no family, no money, no support” (29), Emma prefers to give Amber the benefit of the doubt. Maddy asks if Emma will request off for Maddy’s moms’ 30th anniversary. Janet and Beth, Maddy’s moms, are also Emma’s foster parents. Emma promises she will, but internally hopes it’s not approved. While she loves them and appreciates all they’ve done for her since they took her in when she was 14, she’s never viewed them as her real parents.

The following day, Emma receives a call from Justin, who is taking his dog on a walk. When he asks about her career as a travel nurse, Emma reveals that she’s wanted to be a nurse since age 10, when she learned she was good at taking care of people. This prompts Justin to ask who she cared for at such a young age, and while Emma mentions Amber, she avoids further conversation about her. While they discuss how they spent their day, Justin transitions to video call to show Emma the Minneapolis scenery along his walking route. He happens to capture a live proposal and Emma mentions how she’d prefer something more intimate as a public proposal seems too performative.

After hours spent on the phone with Emma the previous night, Justin must pick up his younger brother, Alex, from high school the following day. They grab McDonald’s on their way home, where Justin’s mother, Christine, is unloading dishes with Leigh, her best friend and Brad’s mother. Justin’s interactions with Christine are strained; she’s a former CFO who now works as a housekeeper and who will soon be going to prison. In a few weeks, Justin must leave his apartment and move back into his childhood home to take care of his siblings in her absence. Upon returning to his apartment, Justin calls Emma—“his favorite distraction” (46)—to iron out the specifics of their temporary dating deal. They agree on four dates, one kiss, and a breakup.

Justin sends Emma a humorous graphic that includes raving five-star reviews from four ex-girlfriends—including Faith—who went on to find the loves of their lives. Emma works up the courage to petition Maddy for a change in work assignments. While it takes some intense bartering, Emma convinces Maddy to postpone Hawaii to work six weeks in Minneapolis instead so Emma will have time to date and dump Justin. In exchange, Emma agrees to work six months in Hawaii afterward.

Emma and Maddy pack up and travel to Minneapolis, where they’ve rented out a historic cottage on an island in the middle of a lake. They will spend the next six weeks working in the Med Surg department at Royaume Northwestern Hospital. Maria—an employee of the cottage’s wealthy owner, who lives in a mansion close by—instructs them on how to operate the pontoon to travel across Lake Minnetonka to their island cottage. On the drive to the nearest grocery store, Emma stops to take a picture on a bench featuring a Toilet King banner and sends it to Justin.

Justin is shocked to discover Emma has switched her work assignment from Hawaii to Minneapolis. He calls her immediately after receiving her photo and they agree to meet the next day.

Emma receives a call from an unknown number that turns out to be Amber. Amber is in Boston visiting an old friend named Renee and happened to find Stuffie, Emma’s treasured stuffed unicorn doll from childhood. Amber offers to mail it to Emma but becomes distant upon hearing Emma’s current residence is Minneapolis, Amber’s childhood city. After the call, Maddy presents Emma with a DNA test and encourages her to take it. Amber has told Emma that her father was a married man with whom she shared a passionate one-night stand in Miami. She’s always cautioned against a DNA test because he had claimed to never want kids, so Emma would be an unwelcome surprise. This time, however, Emma agrees to take the test.

Justin sends Emma a SurveyMonkey questionnaire about their date. Her picks include a surprise activity and meal of Justin’s choice at lunchtime with an everyday casual attire dress code. The next morning, she wakes to a carefully constructed Evite from Justin. Maddy’s and her morning routine is disrupted by multiple power outages as they learn that only one appliance can be used at a time. They also nearly wreck the pontoon as Maddy drops Emma off at the mainland dock.

Justin becomes a nervous wreck the moment he lays eyes on Emma. He fumbles the initial hug and nearly spills the specially ordered Starbucks salted caramel cold foam on her. Justin brings Emma to Benny and Jane’s place to play with the kittens Jane is fostering. Emma declares the date her best yet. Conversation turns to their least favorite foods and Emma names carrots while Justin names pappardelle. Justin asks about Maddy and Emma reveals that she’s her foster sister, but Maddy’s parents never adopted Emma because Emma always hoped her mother would come back.

When Justin pries further, Emma admits that Amber never did return. Emma reveals the nature of her childhood, outright calling Amber’s behavior neglect. She shares that her mother became a flight attendant and left Emma $20 while she went away for a weekend. Amber ended up being gone for three weeks and Emma became so hungry that she ate all the carrots in her neighbor’s garden and turned orange when the beta-carotene gave her carotenemia. She ended up in foster care when the neighbors called 911. While Emma laughs off the ordeal, Justin is horrified by it.

Justin brings Emma to a family-run place called Hot Plate, where she notices a distracted-looking woman on a bus bench. Emma introduces herself to the woman, Lisa, who believes she’s in California and is hoping to meet up with her daughter, Samantha. Emma distracts Lisa with conversation while Justin uses Lisa’s phone to notify a worried Samantha of the woman’s whereabouts. After Samantha arrives to collect Lisa, Emma and Justin continue with their date. Justin tells Emma about his father’s death: He was hit by a drunk driver on his way to work. When Justin drops Emma off with Maddy and the pontoon after their date, he’s saddened to hear she’ll be working long shifts the next four days. They’re interrupted by the arrival of Amber on a yacht.

Maddy is unhappy to see Amber, but Emma cries with happiness. Her mother’s arrival makes her feel like a little girl all over again, rushing into her mother’s arms. She notices her mother smells like roses, which she associates with good times. Whenever the rose scent begins to fade, Amber typically disappears soon after. Amber introduces Emma to Neil—the yacht’s owner and the cottage’s landlord. Neil invites everyone over, as he plans to grill lobsters. Justin offers to stay with Emma so Maddy doesn’t have to suffer in Amber’s company. Before taking the pontoon back to the cottage, Maddy urges Emma to speak with Amber and convince her to leave before she does something to upset Neil and ruin their rental arrangement. Emma is unwilling to ask Amber to leave, as it’s been two years since she’s seen her mother. While Emma is happy to see her mother, her arrival also causes her stress. Emma is exhausted from the cycle of worrying about Amber when she’s gone and navigating the chaos when she’s around.

Amber brings Emma a Bloody Mary with a carrot stick poking out. When Amber isn’t looking, Justin removes the carrot. A majority of the evening is spent with Amber engrossed in Neil and Emma simultaneously yearning for her mother’s attention while feeling relief that “she had a distraction” (105). When Justin asks why Amber came, Emma is reminded of Stuffie. She questions Amber, who reveals it’s in her bags, which are still on Neil’s yacht. Neil asks Justin to bring Amber’s luggage to his mansion where she’ll be staying.