Ghosts

Nina and Max settle into the blissful early days of a relationship. They are more comfortable with each other but are still discovering new things about the other—though they both avoid discussing their fathers. They switch from texts to phone calls to communicate, explore the city together, and enjoy adventurous sex.

Nina meets with her publisher, Vivien, a stylish middle-aged woman Nina admires. Vivien shares that Nina’s first two books are doing well but she doesn’t like the proposal for the third book. Though Nina appreciates Vivien’s honest feedback, she is disappointed since she doesn’t have any other ideas for the book. Vivien advises Nina to “Live some life, then come back to me” (84). Nina tells Vivien about her new relationship. She asks Vivien’s advice about telling Joe about Max. Vivien tells her to be honest with him because men never forget their first love.

Nina meets Joe to see a movie. She thinks about how they still do all the same things they did when they were dating, except have sex. Nina recalls the reason for their breakup was that she and Joe became too comfortable with one another, and she began to see him as just a friend. Max is completely different from Joe both physically and emotionally. When Nina tells Joe about Max, he is surprised that she used a dating app and is seeing someone tall. Joe shares that he plans to propose to Lucy. Nina wonders why they never discussed marriage and makes several snarky comments about Lucy’s intentions to lock down Joe as a husband from day one, but Joe says he likes her assuredness in their relationship. Nina thinks they got a lot wrong about one another, but Joe responds, “We weren’t wrong […] We were growing up” (92).

Nina calls home and her mother answers the phone, frustrated that she must miss a party because Bill became confused over a death in their friend group. Dennis Wray died but Bill confused him with Paul Goldman and sent his wife a lengthy condolence letter, which upset her. Nina tells Nancy not to blame Bill for the mistake. Nina speaks to Bill and hears him struggle to hang up the phone properly. On the bus ride home, Nina ponders the sadness of having a sick parent. Later that night Nina hears Angelo and a friend loudly laughing below. She raises the window and shouts at him to be quiet, but he tells her no. Nina dresses and goes to Max’s apartment for comfort. She tells him that Joe said people rediscover what they want in life with each new relationship. Max agrees, but Nina admits that isn’t how she thought relationships worked. She tells Max she hopes they can preserve their strong attraction and the novelty of their relationship indefinitely.

Nina has lunch with Lola, who is distraught over her most recent boyfriend “ghosting” her, which she explains to Nina is when someone you love ceases all communication. Lola becomes emotional, worrying that her friendship with Nina will change now that Nina is in a relationship. Nina assures her that nothing will change and agrees to accompany Lola to a party where people are matched by their astrological signs.

Nina has plans with Katherine the following day, but Mark is hungover from the previous night’s engagement celebration with Joe and can’t watch the kids, so Nina heads over to their place instead. Katherine tells Nina that they found out the sex of the fetus but they’re keeping it a secret, which hurts Nina’s feelings. Katherine and Mark show Nina their prospective new home in Surrey and she thinks about how she could never afford a home like that, and if she could, she wouldn’t brag about it. Mark tells Nina that Joe looked up Max online and is angry about Max’s appearance. Mark jokes that he wants to be there when Nina introduces them.

The introduction happens several weeks later, and Nina meets Joe early to make it less awkward. He badgers her with questions about the depth of her connection to Max and she says it is serious. Joe asks Nina to be one of his ushers in the wedding and she happily accepts. Max arrives, and the tension is palpable as the two men exchange small talk while Nina exhausts herself trying to manage the emotional needs of both men. Things take a turn when Max admits to not reading Nina’s books. Nina also notices that Max is different around other people. When Joe asks about his hometown of Somerset, Max shares that his father left when he was 13 and moved to Australia and they don’t have a good relationship. Later, at home, Nina is annoyed that Max never told her about his father. Max tells her that she acts differently around Joe, claiming, “You seemed very eager to please” (115), which angers her, but they table the discussion, conceding that the meetup was awkward for everyone. However, Nina struggles to fall asleep, thinking about the meeting, her complicated feelings for Joe, and the new information she learned about Max.