A Couple of Years Later

The chapter opens with Susannah’s imagined letter blessing Belly’s future wedding and urging happiness. Belly replies in narration from the present: she is not thirty, but twenty-three, and after breaking up with Jeremiah she lived with Anika and studied abroad in Spain, where her life broadened.

While in Spain, Belly begins receiving monthly handwritten letters from Conrad. She does not respond at first, but the letters persist and maintain a quiet tether between them. A year later, they see each other at Belly’s college graduation, and Belly realizes their feelings are still real.

On Belly’s wedding day to Conrad, rain pours as they run barefoot to the car. At the venue, Belly spots Jeremiah with a date; they exchange a warm, brief acknowledgment, signaling peace between them. Conrad and Belly drive to the empty beach, hold hands, and run into the ocean, declaring this their true beginning—“We are infinite.”

The narrative then presents Conrad’s letters from Spain: he returns Belly’s forgotten polar bear Junior Mint, sends Sour Patch Kids, jokes about her not replying, and teases her about a Spanish boy, Benito. He shares an awkward but improving Thanksgiving with Laurel, Steven, their father, and Jeremiah, admits he thinks of Belly constantly, and recalls last Christmas at the summerhouse as his best.

Finally, Belly’s single reply confirms she remembers that Christmas and demands to see the ridiculous Fisher family portrait. Conrad keeps her note in his wallet for years. Later, they store all the letters together, and the family photo hangs in their living room, signifying their shared past and secure future.