That Summer

Diana travels to the cottage in Truro (Cape Cod) and searches for a job in Provincetown. She is hired as a waitress at a restaurant called the Abbey, where the owner, Reese Jenkins, tells her that the Cape is a special place and brands her a “washashore.”

Diana settles into a happy routine of work and gets to know the other workers at the Abbey. She becomes close with Ryan, the gay host who is estranged from his parents. She adopts a dog that she names Willa. One morning, she is awakened by the arrival of Michael Carmody, a man who has been hired by Dr. Levy as a caretaker for the property. She is suspicious of Michael, but Willa decides that she likes him.

Diana begins to bump into Michael all over Provincetown, and he repeatedly asks her to go on a date with him. Diana refuses his advances even though her coworkers confirm that he is a good man. Meanwhile, Diana learns to gather clams and oysters and decorates the shells by painting them.

In March, the heating in Diana’s cottage breaks, and she is forced to call Michael to refill her oil tank. He sees her decorated oyster shells and suggests that she sell them to tourists in the summer. Diana tells him that she will be gone by the summertime. He can tell that something bad has happened to her in the past and vows that not all men are like whoever hurt her. The two kiss, and Michael bargains with Diana for a date. Diana feels safe and comfortable with him.

The narrative switches back to the present day. Daisy buys bagels in New York and remembers when she first met Hal’s father, Vernon Shoemaker, when she traveled to Bryn Mawr to give him a cooking lesson. She recalls that Vernon’s kitchen was dirty and full of takeaway food boxes. Daisy cleaned up the kitchen and taught Vernon to cook rib eye steak. Vernon was reluctantly impressed and offered Daisy Hal’s phone number. A few weeks later, Daisy and Hal went on their first date.

In the present moment, Daisy travels to the house where her brother Danny lives with his husband Jesse and their various foster children. Danny’s behavior seems strange to Daisy, and she privately discusses it with Jesse, who also is unsure what is wrong with Danny.

Daisy returns home from Danny’s house to find Beatrice in a bad mood. Their house is the same one that Hal grew up in. When Daisy first moved into the house, it was sparsely furnished, and Hal allowed her to choose whatever she wanted to fill the rooms.

Now, Beatrice searches through the freezer for a bag of dead mice that she had been hoping to use to practice her taxidermy skills. Daisy is furious at her daughter for keeping the mice in the kitchen. They argue, and Beatrice accuses her mother of thinking her a disappointment. Soon afterward, Hal returns home from Brad Burlingham’s funeral. Daisy cooks dinner and receives an email from Diana, who is coming to Philadelphia on a work-related assignment. The two agree to meet up.

At school, Beatrice encounters Cade Langley, a popular jock who invites her to eat lunch with his friends. The group discusses parties and asks Beatrice about her experience at boarding school. She tells them that she was expelled for painting the word “rapist” on a boy’s door, and the group reacts badly to this announcement. Cade invites Beatrice to the movies. Beatrice and her friend Doff discuss Cade’s motives, and Beatrice is confused about whether she could grow to like a boy who is the epitome of the privilege and entitlement she hated at Emlen.

Daisy visits the apartment that Diana claims to be renting in Philadelphia and gives her new friend a cooking lesson. Daisy confides in Diana about her problems with Beatrice, and Diana asks her about Hal, whom she remembers went to school with Danny. Daisy relates that Danny doesn’t like to talk about his time at Emlen; Daisy imagines that his reluctance stems from the fact that during his time there, he kept his true sexual identity as a gay man a secret. Daisy invites Diana to dinner at her house.

After Daisy leaves the apartment, Diana hurriedly cleans the entire place. She leaves and goes to the nearby Airbnb that she has actually rented for herself. While there, she wonders about the harm a person can inflict on purpose and by accident. She thinks that because of her own actions here, the other Diana’s life (Daisy’s life) will never be the same.