Chapter 40

Harriet narrates her new daily life in Montana with Wyn: visits to Gloria’s house, shared brownies and laughter, and nights among Wyn’s high school trophies before returning to their downtown apartment. Their Save the Date hangs on Gloria’s fridge, signaling forward motion and communal joy.

A maple syrup tasting leads Harriet and Wyn to buy a smoky, campfire-flavored bottle for Gloria’s birthday. The taste stirs Gloria’s grief for Hank, and Wyn comforts her. Witnessing this, Harriet recognizes the honor of loving so deeply that ordinary moments can open old joy and pain together.

Spurred by gratitude and reflection, Harriet buys bottles of the syrup for Parth and Sabrina, Cleo and Kimmy, and both her parents. She contemplates her father’s years of quiet sacrifice and her mother’s displacement, wishing to give them back some sweetness they were denied.

Harriet revisits memories that formed her “happy place”: the cottage, early college friendships, Cleo’s farm, meeting her goddaughter Zora, and a cross-country move with her mother. On that trip, her mother says she only wants Harriet’s happiness; Harriet gently insists her mother must also claim her own, reframing their relationship.

In the present, Harriet keeps tentative contact with Eloise, hopes for more, and imagines their wedding at a rustic ranch and Sabrina’s Vegas bachelorette. Ultimately, she locates safety not in any single place but in returning home to Wyn, anticipating him on the other side of the door, the certainty of “you, you, you.”