Summer, #1
The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
Contents
chapter ten
Overview
Laurel urges Belly to call her father, highlighting the distance created by their divorce and the summer’s separations. Belly refuses and reflects on how the beach house belongs to the mothers and kids, not the fathers. This sharpens themes of loyalty, belonging, and Belly’s resistance to parental expectations.
Summary
Laurel asks Belly to call her father and report how she is doing. Belly resists, dismissing the idea that he is worried, and counters that Steven is not being made to call.
Laurel calmly explains Steven will soon spend two weeks with their father looking at colleges, while Belly will not see him until summer’s end. Laurel hands Belly the phone and leaves the room to offer privacy, a gesture Belly interprets as part of Laurel’s unfailingly reasonable approach to their divorce.
Left alone, Belly decides not to call. She believes her father should reach out first and reflects that fathers, including her own and Mr. Fisher, have never truly belonged to the summer house. To Belly, the house is the domain of the mothers and the kids; the fathers only ever visit.
Who Appears
- Belly (Isabel Conklin)Narrator; resists calling her father and reflects on divorce and who belongs at the summer house.
- LaurelBelly’s mother; reasonably insists Belly call her father and offers privacy.
- Belly’s fatherAbsent; subject of the call Belly refuses, symbolizing emotional distance after the divorce.
- StevenMentioned; scheduled to tour colleges with their father, contrasting Belly’s separation.