Chapter 2

Autumn explains that Phineas “Finny” Smith is the son of Angelina, her mother’s lifelong best friend and their next-door neighbor. The women were pregnant together; Autumn’s father worked long hours while Finny’s married, wealthy father denied paternity until a DNA test forced support, resulting in Angelina’s house next door.

Autumn and Finny’s mothers spent that summer together, imagining futures for the babies who kicked each other in utero. Finny was born September 21; Autumn followed a week later. Names reveal longing: Autumn’s carries obvious meaning, while Finny’s ambiguous origins disappoint him, hinting at his desire for identity amid fatherlessness.

They grow up in Ferguson among Victorian houses and family-run shops. Autumn is eccentric, bookish, and socially out of step despite being considered pretty by adults; Finny is athletic, gentle, and well liked. School moments highlight the contrast—her odd ambitions and habits versus his effortless acceptance and success.

Through childhood, Finny defends Autumn and chooses her first; they share projects, meals, holidays, and daily routines. Autumn’s memory orders the years by seasons and constant togetherness, with Finny’s father sending expensive, impersonal gifts. Their closeness forms the time Autumn calls Before, the golden baseline against which later loss will be measured.