The Deal

At Briar, Hannah Wells earns an A on a brutal ethics midterm, while Garrett Graham, the school’s star hockey captain, fails badly enough to endanger his academic eligibility. Hannah is balancing classes, a diner job, and rehearsals for a winter music showcase, and she initially refuses when Garrett asks her to tutor him. But Garrett is desperate: hockey is central to his identity, his future, and his determination to rise above the shadow of his abusive father, former player Phil Graham. After repeatedly pursuing Hannah, he finally convinces her to make a bargain. She will tutor him for one week before the makeup exam, and in return he will fake-date her at an upcoming party so her crush, Justin Kohl, might start noticing her.

The tutoring arrangement begins awkwardly, but Hannah quickly discovers that Garrett is not stupid or lazy. He learns fast, takes her criticism seriously, and surprises her with how hard he works once he focuses. Garrett, in turn, realizes Hannah is sharper, funnier, and more guarded than he first assumed. Their banter becomes easier, and their time together expands beyond philosophy. Garrett listens to Hannah sing and is stunned by her talent; Hannah sees how much hockey pressure and family damage sit beneath his cocky public image. At the same time, Hannah is dealing with a worsening rehearsal partnership. Cassidy Donovan keeps trying to reshape their duet for the showcase to flatter himself, while songwriter Mary Jane Harper refuses to push back.

As Hannah and Garrett grow closer, the fake-dating plan starts to work. Justin notices Hannah more, and Garrett coaches her on how not to seem too available. But Garrett’s own feelings are changing. He grows jealous when Logan shows interest in Hannah, and Hannah begins to trust Garrett in ways she never expected. A late-night study session turns into pizza, television, and an accidental sleepover in Garrett’s bed. The next day Justin is clearly interested, but Garrett disrupts the moment and insists his strategy is still necessary. Soon after, what begins as teasing about whether Hannah can kiss becomes something much more intense. Their first real kiss shocks both of them, and Hannah’s panicked attempt to prove it meant nothing only makes clear that kissing Garrett feels different from anything else in her life.

At Beau Maxwell’s party, Hannah goes with Garrett to attract Justin, but the evening mostly exposes Garrett’s own jealousy and protectiveness. Justin asks Hannah to study and get coffee, which seems like the success Hannah originally wanted. Yet she is already more emotionally tangled with Garrett than she admits. After Garrett earns an A-minus on his makeup ethics exam, the academic crisis that brought them together is resolved, but their connection is not. At Dean’s birthday outing, Hannah trusts Garrett enough to drink carefully under his watch for the first time at a party. She relaxes, sings karaoke, and lets herself feel safe around him. But the night turns painful when she unexpectedly runs into Devon, an ex-boyfriend whose presence revives old fears about her sexuality and past trauma.

That crisis becomes the turning point of the novel. Drunk and upset, Hannah ends up at Garrett’s house and tries to sleep with him, but he refuses to take advantage of her. The next morning, she asks him again, this time sober, and when Garrett pushes for the real reason, Hannah finally tells him the truth: she was drugged and raped at fifteen, and since then she has felt broken and unable to orgasm with a man. Garrett does not treat her confession casually or exploit it. Instead, he listens, comforts her, and agrees to help her only on terms that feel safe to her. Their intimacy develops in careful stages. A first attempt at sex triggers memories of the assault, and Garrett recognizes that trust, not attraction, is the barrier. He slows down, follows her pace, and helps her reclaim pleasure without forcing a result. Over a series of encounters, Hannah is able to experience sexual release safely with him, and the process deepens both her trust and Garrett’s love for her.

Meanwhile, Hannah’s feelings for Justin fade. When Garrett confronts her about still planning a date with Justin, the argument finally forces both of them to define what they are doing. Garrett admits he wants a real relationship, Hannah realizes she wants the same, and they agree to be exclusive. For a time, they settle into a happy rhythm of dating, studying, music, and hockey. Then Hannah suffers another blow when Cassidy Donovan and Mary Jane remove her from their duet only weeks before the showcase. Rather than collapse, she pivots to performing one of her own songs with cellist Kim Jae Woo. Garrett and her friends rally around her, and Hannah starts to trust herself as a solo performer instead of waiting for Cassidy’s chaotic production to define her.

The novel’s family conflict sharpens over Thanksgiving, when Hannah goes with Garrett to Phil Graham’s home because Garrett cannot face the visit alone. The dinner confirms everything Garrett has implied about his father’s cruelty. Hannah also realizes Phil’s younger girlfriend, Cindy, is likely being abused. Garrett eventually confronts Phil directly, recognizes the same fear in Cindy that he saw in his own mother, and quietly offers Cindy help if she decides to leave. Shaken afterward, Garrett worries that he might somehow be like his father, but Hannah refuses that comparison and reassures him that his restraint and care prove otherwise. In the emotional aftermath, they have sex and say “I love you” for the first time.

The next crisis comes after a hockey game, when Hannah unexpectedly runs into Rob Delaney, Aaron’s best friend and one of the men who helped discredit her after the rape. Garrett learns who Rob is and attacks him, earning a suspension. Though Hannah understands why Garrett snapped, the incident gives Phil a new weapon. He corners Hannah at the diner and blackmails her: if she does not break up with Garrett, Phil will cut off Garrett’s tuition, car, insurance, and living expenses, likely ruining both school and hockey for him. Believing Garrett would sacrifice everything for her, Hannah decides to protect him by ending the relationship herself. She lies cruelly, claiming she wants to slow down and date other people. Garrett, unaware of Phil’s threat, is devastated and believes Hannah used him while keeping one foot pointed toward Justin or some better option.

Separated and miserable, Hannah throws herself into the winter showcase. Backstage, Mary Jane apologizes and admits Cassidy manipulated and then dumped her. Hannah channels her heartbreak into her solo performance and delivers such a powerful song that she earns a standing ovation and wins the scholarship. Garrett attends and confronts her afterward, telling her he knows she lied about the breakup. Over Christmas break, Hannah confides the truth to her mother but still cannot bring herself to tell Garrett. On campus she tries to maintain the fiction by pretending to move on, only to discover that Garrett has been warning other men away from her because he never believed their breakup story. Furious, she storms into the hockey locker room, and the confrontation finally forces the truth out.

Once Hannah explains Phil’s blackmail, Garrett reveals the threat was hollow. His grandparents left him a trust fund that becomes available when he turns twenty-one, enough to cover school and expenses. He is hurt that Hannah did not trust him with the truth, but he also recognizes she acted out of love. He has already begun severing Phil’s financial hold on him, and Cindy has left Phil as well. With the lie exposed, Hannah and Garrett reconcile fully and reaffirm that they love each other.

In the closing stretch, they are openly happy together. Hannah’s friendship with Justin settles into something harmless, while her worlds of music, friends, and hockey merge more naturally with Garrett’s. Garrett continues leading Briar through the postseason, and in the epilogue the team wins the Frozen Four championship in Philadelphia. By then Garrett has told Coach Jensen and his teammates the truth about Phil’s abuse, and their support helps him break his father’s hold for good. When Garrett sees Phil outside after the championship, he refuses to give him any more power. He celebrates with Hannah, boards the bus with his team, and moves forward toward a future defined by love, loyalty, and his own choices rather than fear.