That Summer

The narrative returns to the present. Daisy returns home, still reeling from Diana’s revelation. Part of her wants to think it is a lie, while another part of her is sure it must be true. She wonders whether Danny would really have let her marry a rapist and remembers that Danny left the party early on her wedding day. She remembers Hal’s recently deceased friend Brad and wonders whether he was also involved. She then starts to wonder whether Brad’s suicide might really have been a murder.

Daisy calls Danny and asks him to tell her what happened at the bonfire 30 years ago. Danny tells her that Hal had sex with a girl at the party but hesitates to tell her whether it was consensual. He tells her that he thought he was in love with Hal and was terrified that his sexual identity as a gay man would be discovered. Danny says he has tried to be a better man than he was that night and insists that he tried to tell Daisy about Hal before they married. When Daisy hadn’t been receptive at the time, he had instead talked to their mother. Daisy finishes the call with her brother and rings Beatrice’s school to take her out for the rest of the week. She tells her daughter that they’re going to her mother’s house and that she shouldn’t tell her father anything. Daisy promises to keep her daughter safe.

The narrative goes back in time to just after Diana learns about Brad’s suicide. She begins to have trouble sleeping and tells herself to forget about the two other men she has not yet confronted. The newspapers start to carry stories relating to the #MeToo revelations, and Michael suggests that this could be a chance for Diana to get some closure. Diana struggles with her decision for a while before deciding to act. Instead of approaching Hal directly, however, she decides to approach Daisy, the wife of her rapist and the sister of the boy who watched it all happen. She researches Daisy and resolves to try and confront Hal without hurting any other women.

The narrative returns to the present. Daisy and Beatrice drive to Judy Rosen’s house. Beatrice asks her mother what is going on, and Daisy skirts the truth but admits that Hal might be in trouble. At her mother’s house, Daisy asks Judy whether Danny ever told her anything about Hal, or about the party on the Cape. She tells her mother that Hal raped a girl. Judy makes excuses for Hal, saying that he was only 18 at the time and had had too much to drink. She insists that Hal is a good man. Daisy accuses her mother of refusing to believe the truth about Hal and of being happy that her daughter was someone else’s responsibility. Judy and her partner Arnold remind Daisy that Hal is Beatrice’s father and that she must think about her daughter. Daisy calls Diana, who apologizes for lying. Daisy decides to drive to Diana’s cottage to see her in person. Finally, she calls Hal directly.

This marks the first chapter told from Hal’s point of view. The narrative goes back in time to 1987, when Hal and his friends have finished school and are spending the summer living together on the Cape, drinking and trying to sleep with the local girls. Hal and Danny stay with Hal’s parents, and Hal teases Danny about his lack of sexual conquests. Hal jokingly asks his friend if he is gay, and Danny aggressively denies it. Hal suggests that the girl he has been talking to all summer would be perfect for Danny and tells the other boy that he is happy to share her at the party that night. At the bonfire, Hal flirts with Diana and gives her drinks, and when Diana stumbles into the dunes, he tells Brad to follow her before fetching Danny. In the dunes, Brad holds an unconscious Diana down, but Danny refuses to have sex with her. Hal decides to go first.

The narrative skips to 1990, and Hal is at an Emlen reunion. Hal is drunk, and an older man tells him that the drinking will catch up with him. The man tells Hal to find a good woman to keep him grounded. The narrative then skips to Hal and Danny’s 10th Emlen reunion in 1995. Danny asks Hal if he ever thinks about the party and the girl, and Hal struggles to remember. Danny tells him he is in a relationship with a man, and Hal congratulates him, but Danny turns the conversation back to the girl, declaring that Hal raped her. The two argue, and Hal refuses to feel guilty.

In 2019, the Monday after the dinner party, Hal receives a call from Danny asking what they are going to do about Diana. Hal shows no sign of worry, instead telling Danny that there is no evidence of their past wrongdoing. When Danny asks if Hal feels any remorse, he doesn’t answer. Hal returns home to find the house empty and realizes that Daisy must know about Diana. His phone rings and Daisy asks if there is anything he wants to tell her. He demands to know where she is, and Daisy tells him to meet her at Diana’s house in the morning.

Daisy arrives at Diana and Michael’s cottage. Daisy tells Diana that Hal is on his way. The two women drink coffee on the platform above the stairs to the beach, and Daisy leans on a loose post that Michael has never quite gotten around to fixing. Daisy begins to tell Diana about how she and Hal met, about how dazzled she was by him and how flattered she was to be desired by him. She realizes that Hal hurt people and limited her own freedom in life. She worries that she has been a bad role model for Beatrice, but Diana comforts her. Diana says she is not going to tell the police what happened, and Daisy wonders what Hal could possibly do to atone. Diana tells Daisy the whole story of that summer and her life since then. Both Dianas wonder what will happen next and what kind of justice would be right for Hal. Daisy tells Diana about an Indigenous American tradition of ending a marriage by saying “I divorce thee” three times. Diana tells Daisy not to blame herself and that she is glad they became friends. Hal arrives and it begins to rain. Diana suggests that Daisy and Hal go for a walk on the beach and warns them to be careful on the slippery deck with the loose post.

Alone with Hal, Daisy accuses him of raping Diana. He defends himself but apologizes to Daisy for not telling her, claiming that he has always acted to protect her. Daisy accuses him of controlling her and demands a divorce, declaring that she never wants him near her or Beatrice again. She yells that he took her name away, that Daisy is not her name. When Hal reaches for her, Daisy imagines ducking so that Hal will stumble and grab onto the loose post before sliding off the deck and falling down the six flights of stairs to the beach. Her thoughts fly through memories of their life together in an instant before she decides that death would be too easy for Hal. Instead, she imagines another life, where she and Beatrice live near Diana, without Hal. She thinks the phrase, “I divorce thee,” and does not duck. Instead, she simply walks away, leaving Hal watching her.

It is August in Cape Cod, and Beatrice wears a yellow bikini as she navigates a paddleboard across the bay. She is unsure about what has happened between her parents, Diana, and her Uncle Danny. She and her mother are staying in Cape Cod for the summer and the next school year, but Hal has been visiting them on the weekends. A boy a few years older than her paddles close and begins to talk to her. He asks her if she wants to hang out at the beach together. She gives him a noncommittal answer and paddles away.