One Italian Summer

At lunch with Adam, Katy asks how the meeting with Carol went, but he is unsure if the hotel has decided to hire her or not. They discuss the future of their relationship, and Katy tells him that she is unsure if there can be a future for them. However, she does take the time to ask Adam what he is looking for within their connection.

Katy advises Adam that he should keep the Hotel Poseidon as a safe space for him to get away, for it to be “a place [he] loves” rather than a place of work (222). She also tells Nika to invest in the stock market, specifically in Apple and Starbucks, to ensure the future of their hotel. Carol shows up at the desk in the lobby to send a package back home, and Katy follows Carol out of the hotel to talk.

Carol takes out a pack of cigarettes, and Katy tells her that she should not smoke. After joking around with each other, Carol teases Katy about Adam, but she claims that she does not see her with someone like him. Rather, Carol describes a man who sounds similar to Eric whom she believes would suit Katy. Carol also reveals to Katy that she does not think she got the job at the Hotel Sirenuse. Katy reassures her and tells Carol that no one can make their decisions for them: “I realized no one can tell you to go home, because no one can tell me to go home, either” (225). Carol asks Katy if it is true that she left her, and, when Katy tells her no, they part ways.

Once Katy arrives back in her hotel room, she goes straight to sleep. She wakes up the next morning to discover that the hotel looks different. She sees Eric standing in the lobby, and Katy questions if Eric has also traveled back in time. He tells her that he kept trying to call her, but her cell phone never connected. Katy takes in Eric, and she is comforted by his predictable mannerisms.

Katy thinks back to the first time that Eric met her parents and how thoughtful he was to bring Carol yellow flowers—her favorite. She realizes how much she loved Eric before Carol ever met him and before she approved of their relationship. She reflects on how she would have reacted if Carol did not approve of Eric, but she claims that, while it may have changed things, she would not have let Eric go.

They finish breakfast, and Katy talks to Monica (Nika), Marco’s daughter, and asks about Adam. Monica claims that Adam got married and stopped visiting as much. She lets Katy know that he never bought the hotel. Katy asks if she knew Carol, and Monica thinks of her fondly. She tells Katy that she reminds her of Carol.

Once Eric and Katy get back to her hotel room, Katy calls her dad, and Eric showers. Katy confronts Chuck as to why no one ever told her about Carol leaving for Italy, and he tells her that Carol loved her deeply. However, he realized that she needed time to herself, and he told her to go:

‘I’d never seen a bond like the two of you shared. But we… It happened fast, Katy. And I think she got lost in the shuffle. It was all too much for her, and she needed some time’ (235).

Katy recognizes the sacrifice that her father made, especially with not knowing whether Carol would come back or not. However, Chuck claims that this is how he knew he loved her so much.

After Eric gets out of the shower, Katy tells him that she loves him and that she wants “to make the choice to be with [him]” (237). They have sex, and Katy acknowledges that Eric has never made her feel like she belongs to him. She thinks that it was because she believed that she belonged to her mother. However, she also recognizes that both she and her mother have only ever belonged to themselves and not to each other.

Katy asks Eric if he knew immediately that she was the one for him. He reveals that he may not have known that then, but he does now. Katy tells him that she is ready to go home.

Eric and Katy decide to stay in Positano for a few extra days. They also decide to go to La Faraglioni before they head back to California. Monica sets them up with Antonio to take them out there—the same person who gave Carol and Katy a ride in 1992.

Eric brought Carol’s ashes along with him to spread out in the water, and Katy decides to take out Carol’s letter that never got mailed to her 30 years prior. In that letter, Carol tells Katy how much she loves her and how she will explain why she decided to leave in the first place. She tells her that, even if she cannot physically see her, that Katy will always have Carol with her. In the envelope, Katy finds a picture of Carol from her summer in Italy.

Once they arrive to La Faraglioni, Katy spreads Carol’s ashes in the water. She asks Antonio where the 30-year legend comes from surrounding the rock archway, and he tells her that the legend actually means forever and not just 30 years of love.