Fleishman Is in Trouble

Toby finds Sam Rothberg’s account on Facebook. He sifts through some dated content and a post referencing a restaurant near Kripalu, the retreat where Rachel is. He infers that Rachel is seeing Sam, who is described as “everything Rachel wished Toby were: ambitious, successful, tall, at home among the wealthy” (198)—although Sam is also described as superficial. Toby walks to Rachel’s home and enters it with an old key. He evaluates the contents of the refrigerator and finds six takeout containers of beef lo mein, a food he knows Rachel doesn’t like. In the master bathroom, he finds a bottle of Ambien with a prescription written for Sam Rothberg. Back in the kitchen he finds six boxes of specialty teas, another product Rachel usually doesn’t like. He calls Rachel’s office from her home phone and tells Simone that he knows “everything.” He also tells Simone that Rachel should leave him and their children alone.

Toby receives a text saying that Karen Cooper’s liver transplant is ready. At the hospital, he finds Phillipa London, an important senior doctor, attending Karen Cooper and waiting for Toby to arrive. He wonders whether Phillipa’s presence is a subtle critique of his absence from the hospital the past few days. One of Karen Cooper’s friends, a woman named Amy with whom Karen Cooper spent the weekend in Las Vegas with before coming into the hospital, is there as well. While looking at photos of Karen Cooper on Amy’s phone, Toby realizes that Karen Cooper is much less refined than he had imagined her to be.

The next day, Toby meets up with his lawyer, Barbara Hiller. He tells her that Rachel has disappeared. Barbara appears to have forgotten most of the facts of Toby’s case and gives him advice that contradicts advice she had given him earlier. She points out complications in Toby’s case, such as the fact that Rachel pays for much of what the family has access to, like private school for the kids. Ultimately, she suggests that there is little in the situation that Toby can control.

He receives news from the hospital that Karen Cooper survived her surgery. He goes to Nahid’s apartment. After they have sex, Nahid tells Toby her story. Her family is Iranian; she emigrated to the U.S. when she was 12. She and her husband weren’t able to conceive, and their sexual relationship died. Her husband started seeing other women. One day, Nahid walked in on her husband having sex with his personal assistant, who was a man. Toby insists on going out with Nahid, but she tells him that she can’t be seen with another man because she is still sorting things out with her husband.

Toby meets Seth and Seth’s girlfriend Vanessa at a secretive rooftop bar above a Korean bodega. Vanessa is young, friendly, warm, and extremely attractive. While she goes to the restroom, Seth and Toby exchange news. Seth tells Toby that he’s been fired; Toby tells Seth that Rachel has been seeing someone. Before Toby leaves to go to the hospital, a woman named Tamara arrives at the bar. Seth and Vanessa had hoped to set Toby up with Tamara, but Toby isn’t interested. At the hospital, Toby greets Karen Cooper as she wakes up from her surgery.

Toby runs into Nahid at a yoga class and wakes up the next morning in her bed. He again insists on taking her out, this time for breakfast. She explains why she cannot be seen in public with him: Her husband works for a news organization that would disapprove of his divorce. Her husband has asked her to remain married to him until after he negotiates a new contract with the company.

During a walk, Toby wanders into a pet store and buys a dachshund with one eye. He takes the dog home and wakes up from a nap to find the dog peeing on him. He gets a call from the camp director, who tells him there’s been an incident, and that Toby will need to come pick up Hannah. Once Toby arrives, he meets with the camp director, who tells him that Hannah sent a photo to a boy which was then shared widely shared throughout the camp. Toby looks at the photo. It shows Hannah in a bra, “with one of her tiny breasts exposed to the nipple” (252). The photo reminds Toby both of Rachel and of the photos of women on the dating apps. Hannah has broken a camp policy by sending the inappropriate photo, so she will have to be taken home.

As the director takes Toby to Hannah, Toby recognizes a boy sitting in a room leading to the infirmary: the boy Hannah had said hello to when they walked to the park. He asks the camp director if this is the boy Hannah to whom Hannah sent the photo; the camp director tells Toby that he isn’t allowed to disclose that information, but Toby assumes that he is the boy anyway. Toby asks the director if the boy will be punished by being sent home as well. The director tells him the boy won’t be going home. Toby squats down to stare the boy in the eyes and tells the boy that he is a “dipshit” and “dirt.” He sees the boy smirking in a way that Toby interprets as a sign of entitlement.

Toby enters the nurse’s room to talk to Hannah. Hannah’s face shows signs that she’s been crying, and she asks for her mother. Toby collects Solly from his cabin. Solly tells Toby that he’s having a lot of fun at the camp. Toby nevertheless decides to take Solly home along with Hannah. On the car ride back, Hannah sits in the backseat with her head in Solly’s lap, letting herself be comforted by him. At a rest stop along the way, Toby tells Solly and Hannah that Rachel is “taking a break from things” (257), and that he doesn’t know where she is or what she’s doing. Hannah and Solly cry upon hearing the news and cry even more as Toby drives home.

As they approach the door of the apartment, Solly and Hannah hear a bark, and Hannah’s mood brightens. Toby introduces them to Seth and Vanessa, who watched the dog while Toby was away. Vanessa gives Hannah a compliment as they pet the new dog, and Hannah’s mood continues to improve. Vanessa prepares dinner for everyone while Toby unpacks the kids’ bags from camp.

After taking the kids to the Y the next morning, he calls several people to tell them what is happening with Rachel. He receives a text from Nahid. He considered no longer seeing her, but he reconsiders and agrees to eat dinner at her place that night.

Toby meets up with Seth. Seth tells Toby that he’s planning on proposing to Vanessa. Toby has often talked with Seth about the difficulties of marriage, but Seth explains that as a bachelor, he feels there is no proper place for him in the world. Toby asks Seth if he’s told Vanessa that he’s lost his job. Seth hasn’t. Toby tells him that this isn’t a great start to a committed relationship, but ultimately tells Seth that he’s happy for him.

That night, he receives a call from the hospital informing him that Karen Cooper is unconscious following a stroke. He learns that another doctor has already informed David Cooper and has a pang of regret for not having been present. At the hospital, Toby explains to David Cooper exactly what happened: After the surgery, Karen Cooper bled into her brain, an occurrence that couldn’t have been foreseen. Toby says that Karen’s outlook is not great and tells David Cooper that he should rest at home. Karen’s friend, Amy, tells Toby that Karen Cooper had been unhappy and had been planning on leaving David Cooper. She suggests that Karen Cooper’s case is especially tragic because Karen Cooper had been about to escape her unhappy relationship.

One night, Toby’s cousin Cherry calls and asks if he’d like a night off from taking care of the kids. Toby goes to a party hosted by a college friend, meeting the narrator and Seth. The narrator convinces her husband to let her stay late at the party, alone with her friends. The narrator, Seth, and Toby talk about their experiences in college and in Israel. After going out to a diner with Seth and Vanessa, the narrator goes home with Toby. The narrator smokes a joint and a cigarette sitting at Toby’s bedroom window. She leans in to kiss Toby, but he pushes her away. She falls asleep in his bed with him.

In the morning, the narrator awakes to the sound of Solly crying. Toby tells her that she has to leave. That same morning, the narrator runs into Rachel.