The Dead Romantics

Ben approaches Florence as she stands outside the cemetery. She notices that he wears a gold wedding ring on a chain around his neck. He suggests that maybe he’s haunting Florence to help her believe in love again. Florence tells him she doesn’t need help and thinks: “I tried love. It didn’t work. The end” (150).

They pass the bookstore, which has a poster of Lee’s book in the window. There is also a big stack of Ann Nichols books, including the ones Florence wrote. They go inside. Florence asks Ben how he became a romance editor. He says he read a romance book once that changed him, and he realized he wanted to help publish other books like that. Florence asks if her book was one of the good ones and Ben says it was.

Florence promises she’ll try to finish Ann’s manuscript and is rewarded by his smile. Florence realizes, for the first time in a year: “I wanted to learn a new story. I wanted to read the first chapter in the life of Ben Andor and figure out the words that built his heart and soul” (156). She asks if there’s anyone he wants to pass a message to, and he says there’s no one. His close relatives are all dead and his companion is a cat named Dolly Purrton. He says he wishes he would have found love before he died.

The family meets for breakfast again, and Alice reports on preparations for Xavier’s funeral. Florence reflects on how Alice used to get into fights on Florence’s behalf. Florence thought the family always enjoyed visiting her in New York City, but Alice says Florence always made things about her. Florence goes to her room to take a hot shower and is shocked when Ben appears in her bathroom. She is upset by the encounter and by having erotic thoughts about a ghost. Alice texts to remind Florence to write their dad’s obituary.

Florence sits in the bar trying to write the obituary when Ben appears, startling her. He admits he doesn’t know where he goes when he’s not with Florence. She feels defeated by the obituary. Struck with grief, she leaves.

Still defeated by the obituary, Florence searches the Internet for Benji Andor and sees a social media account with a picture of him with a woman. Ben appears and explains that Laura was his ex-fiancée. She cheated on him, and he felt guilty that he neglected her for work. Florence is outraged on his behalf and insists he shouldn’t excuse her; Laura made a choice. Florence tells Ben he deserves love and romance.

She goes with her brother Carver to wash graves in the cemetery. Carver brings up Heather, a girl who bullied Florence in school, and Florence recalls how her sister Alice always stood up for her.

Back in her room, Florence pulls up her manuscript and remembers how she discovered Lee’s manuscript incorporated the stories she told him into his book. She feels she doesn’t know her characters anymore. When she tries to write the reconciliation scene, it keeps going wrong.

Ben shows up and apologizes for snapping at her earlier. He asks Florence to meet him in the town square at noon the next day.

Florence gets a coffee and goes to meet Ben in the town square. She thinks he looks a little less put together every time she sees him. He wrinkles his nose at what she calls her “zoom-zoom juice” and tells her to look around. He coaches her to make up stories for the people they see. Florence is rattled by how attracted she is to him and retreats when she sees Alice.

Florence chastises herself to stop thinking about a ghost and focus on funeral arrangements. She visits the party store to pick up the items her dad ordered, then responds to a text from Alice to meet her at the freezer. Florence finds the family has met with the lawyer about the will and that she wasn’t included. She goes to the basement and regards the body of her dad, whom Alice has prepared for burial. Florence assures Alice that she’s done a good job. Florence misses her dad all the more and feels alone. It hurts to be back in Mairmont.

Ben finds Florence in the funeral parlor, crying because she misses her father. She asks Ben how he became an editor, and he says he was chasing what he felt when he read his first romance, an Ann Nichols book, at age 11. He says he liked how love stories “paint the world in this Technicolor dreamland, where the only rule you have to follow is a happily ever after” (204).

A gust of wind rattles the house, and Florence tells Ben it’s the dead singing. Ben picks up that Lee stole his book from Florence and her family. A crow caws, and Florence feels she’s said too much. Ben gets angry on her behalf, and a vase starts rattling. Florence is delighted that he’s taken her side. She says she wishes she’d met him sooner when he was alive.

Her mom returns and finds Florence at the funeral home. Florence walks with her to their house and notices new touches to the town. She apologizes that she never came back to visit. They trade quips in their typical gallows humor way and Florence realizes anew how much she’s missed the town and her family.

Florence tells her mom that Lee’s new book is about them, and her mother is also angry on Florence’s behalf. She says: “We aren’t a gothic horror novel. We’re a love story” (213). Florence remembers the magic of her childhood and feels her mother is right.

Crows caw in the oak trees, and Florence knows Ben is nearby. He walks her home in the rain. He’s frustrated that he had so many plans and he’ll never get to do any of them. Florence counsels him to scream in the rain. He does. She screams with him, and they both feel better.