How to End a Love Story

Helen wakes up in a hospital and is surprised to see Suraya. The doctor tells Helen she has multiple broken bones. Suraya tells her, kindly but firmly, that it was awkward that Helen listed her as an emergency contact without her knowledge. Suraya goes on to say that it is important for creative people to remember that personal drama is actually a distraction from work, as is unresolved family tension. Helen promises to keep this in mind and asks to see Nicole and Saskia before Grant or her parents. Grant, in the waiting room, feels very awkward when Suraya tells him to take time off in light of Helen’s accident. When Nicole comes in to see Helen, she assures her that Grant and her parents have had minimal contact. Back in the waiting room, Grant feels uncomfortable when Helen’s father brings him tea but he asks no questions.

Helen lets Grant come in. He kisses her with the same passion and love she remembers. Helen reminds him that they broke up and adds to the tension when she asks if he has talked to her parents. They argue about Helen listing Suraya as her emergency contact, and Grant says he would have been devastated if she had died in the accident. Helen thinks that even if she agreed with him that love is enough, they would ruin their lives by trying to be together. She asks him to leave, telling him she hopes that he will find love with someone else in the future. He assures her his feelings for her will not change and then leaves.

Helen tries to wipe her tears and appear unperturbed before her parents visit. However, when her mother comes in, her mother angrily reveals that she has read texts from Grant on Helen’s iPad and knows about their relationship. She is especially furious that Helen let Grant visit her before them.

Helen tries to tell herself her parents do not want to hurt her, but she is struck by the feeling that they have never tried to bridge the gap between her life and their expectations. Furious, she tells her mother that her demands have always been impossible and love from her is painful. As her parents leave, Helen spontaneously tells them she will no longer write about teenagers. Her father tells her not to be impulsive, and Helen says that maybe she should be more like her sister. Her mother is furious all over again and demands an explanation. Helen tells her mother that she feels broken and hurt, and Helen sarcastically says she wonders why that might be.

Grant is considering what lies in his future now that Helen’s show is nearly complete. He realizes that knowing Helen has rejuvenated him creatively and he may be ready for a show of his own. He wishes Helen could have applied her ambition to their relationship as well as her work. Unexpectedly, his mother calls and tells him the house in New Jersey has sold. She offers to ship him any furniture or items he might want, but Grant spontaneously tells her he will drive out for them himself before his next show begins. On his way there, Grant thinks often of Helen but does not call her. He stops in Chicago to visit a college friend and asks to use her phone to call Helen; he is relieved to hear her voice for a few seconds.

Back in Los Angeles, Helen is still not speaking with her parents. She surreptitiously tracks Grant on Instagram. Nicole stays with her as she recovers, and one night they discuss where Helen will move next. Helen begins to cry when Nicole asks her whether she might stay back in California, openly admitting that she loves Grant and dreads the idea of him moving on.

Grant arrives back in New Jersey, taking in his mother’s empty house. He goes to a grocery store and sees Helen’s mother there, and he helps her reach a box of cake mix. Afterward, Grant realizes that this is the first time she has ever spoken to him.

Grant then goes to New York to visit the public library, a place he knows Helen loves. He spends the day reading Helen’s books before leaving to take a train home. He suddenly spots Helen exiting the subway from the window of his train, but she does not pick up when he calls. Grant decides to erase her contact information so he cannot call her again.

Meanwhile, Helen decides not to call Grant back. She insists to herself that she doesn’t deserve Grant because the only love she knows how to give is the kind of love that couldn’t even keep her sister alive. She cannot see a future for herself that is filled with the kind of happiness she thinks Grant deserves.

Helen also returns to New Jersey to see her parents, and she stays in a guest rental rather than the family home. Her mother has made angel food cake from a box mix—the same one that Grant helped Mrs. Zhang find. The dessert is a fond childhood memory for Helen. She admits to her parents that she is uncertain about her next project, and they surprise her by saying they trust that she will choose the right thing eventually.

Helen apologizes to her mother for her harsh words in the hospital. Her mother brushes this off and serves her cake instead. Her mother gives her more cake to take back with her. Helen realizes that this gesture is proof of her family’s bond, even if they rarely speak of their love. Before bed, Helen thinks of how strange it is to be away from her family home, skipping her usual visit to Michelle’s shrine. She imagines what she would say to her sister and looks at an old favorite photo of them on Facebook. She gets out her laptop and begins a letter to Michelle.

Helen returns to Los Angeles via Burbank, Grant’s favorite airport, to see the show’s premiere. Helen mentally rehearses how she will be polite to Grant’s new partner. She arrives at the premiere and does not see him.

Grant is drinking at home and avoiding the premiere. Even writing reminds him of Helen now. He composes various reunion scenarios, from Helen literally eviscerating him to a passionate reunion. He decides not to go to the premiere and texts the writers’ group chat saying this.

Helen reads Grant’s message and takes in the opulent celebratory atmosphere, which is the culmination of her years of striving to make art from her pain. She becomes overwhelmed with regret and decides to leave the party. She opens her laptop and resumes working on her new manuscript, which is a series of letters to Michelle. She finishes the last one, where she tells her sister that she has been afraid to move on, and explains that she wants to move forward without leaving Michelle behind. Helen sends the manuscript to her agent and to Grant, signing it, “yours, Helen.”

Grant reads Helen’s letter, fixating on the signature. He is so thrilled to see it that he worries he has imagined it.

Helen’s hotel phone rings, asking if she will let in a guest; it is Grant. She answers her hotel room door, and Grant stands in front of her, disheveled and out of breath. He tells her he read her draft and needs her to read him the final two words. She does, and he asks if she is, indeed, his. His voice is hard as he tells her to choose. When Helen tells him she means it, Grant says he barely survived without her and wants a commitment: He wants a lifetime together, with no more rules or limits. In response, Helen kisses him. She warns him that she is still wounded and he deserves someone “whole,” but Grant assures her he loves her exactly as she is. They go to bed together.

Helen wakes in Grant’s arms, realizing she is experiencing her first California earthquake. Grant assures her she will be safe if she stays in bed, and they have sex, committing to their future.

A few weeks later, Helen calls her parents to tell them she is seeing Grant. They are unhappy to hear this, but Grant is undaunted. He tells Helen they should go for a walk on the beach.

A few months later, Grant takes Helen to the New York Public Library, which inspired her books. He is working on his first show, and she is working on her letters to Michelle, which are the core of her forthcoming memoir. Grant silently proposes by putting a ring on Helen’s finger, and she accepts with a nod.

Soon after, Grant and Helen have an awkward lunch with her parents, but her mother finally declares that she is happy that Grant is at least tall, unlike her niece’s husband, who is too short. Mrs. Zhang tells Grant he must visit Michelle in the ancestor shrine. Grant warmly greets Helen’s sister.

Later, Helen and Grant get married in Ireland, on the sheep farm where his mother lives with her new husband. A sheep named Michelle escapes and tries to eat Helen’s dress. Standing with Grant, Helen thinks of their improbable path to each other. She imagines her heart beating in a cadence of words: “want me, love me, keep me, in happilyeverafter” (368).