Practice Makes Perfect

The next day, Will weeds the flower bed of Mabel’s Inn. He calls his brother to sort through his confused feelings about Annie. He admits that he loves Annie, and Ethan urges Will to follow his heart despite his fear of failing relationships. Mabel overhears the call, and Will “let[s] her fold [him] in the most comforting hug of [his] life” (270).

Annie is confused about her feelings for Will. She hopes to visit her grandmother—who suffers from Alzheimer’s—for insight but finds her sleeping at her assisted-living facility. Rather than wake and confuse her, or burden anyone else with her feelings, Annie settles on crying alone. Mabel finds Annie and gives her permission to grieve for the first time over the parents she never got to know and to tell her siblings the truth about how she has been feeling. Mabel also urges her to follow her heart and not give up on Will.

During a boring shift of surveillance duty around Amelia’s house, Will researches the local community college. Despite being accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after high school, he joined the military instead, but he wonders what degree he would have pursued if he hadn’t. He is researching the college’s education program when an obsessive super-fan scales the perimeter fence and races up Amelia’s driveway with a box.