55 pages • 1 hour read
Taylor Jenkins ReidOne True Loves
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 7-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1
Chapter 7 Summary
After 10 years of traveling the world, Emma wishes to settle down. Marie is pregnant and buying a home near Acton, and is set to take over the bookstore; this life no longer sounds unappealing to Emma. However, when Emma mentions eventually going home to Acton one day, Jesse dismisses the thought. Although the jet-setting life has always felt temporary to Emma, Jesse does not feel the same way.
Because of this, when Jesse gets a last-minute work assignment in Alaska around their first wedding anniversary, Emma encourages him to go, as Jesse has not seen Alaska yet. He promises to celebrate their anniversary when he gets home, telling Emma that he loves her “more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of the world” (73). The last time Emma sees Jesse before his disappearance is the day before their anniversary, when she drops him off at the airport. She wakes up sick the next day, and later believes this was a premonition, as Jesse doesn’t call her.
Chapter 8 Summary
Jesse and his crew make it to Alaska, but the first time they use their helicopter to shoot aerial footage, it never comes back. All four people on board are lost.
Chapter 9 Summary
Jesse’s parents, Francine and Joe Lerner, move in with Emma after Jesse’s disappearance; Emma’s parents stay in a hotel nearby. Emma holds it together for everyone else, crying in private. A few days after the helicopter’s disappearance, its propellor is found on an island, along with Jesse’s backpack and the pilot’s body. Jesse is missing and presumed dead, to which Emma retorts, “That’s crazy. Jesse didn’t die. He wouldn’t do that” (77).
Francine begins to have panic attacks, and Joe takes her home. Emma’s parents stay to take care of Emma, and Marie flies in as well. One day, Emma climbs up to the roof of her house to clean the gutters, and realizes she can see a glimpse of the ocean from there. She takes binoculars up to the roof and watches the sea, waiting for Jesse. Marie finally comes up and tells Emma that Jesse is dead and not coming back. Emma initially lashes out at Marie, voicing all her resentment toward her sister for always wanting to steal the spotlight; eventually, Emma accepts that Jesse is gone.
For six weeks after Jesse’s disappearance, Emma constantly sobs and is unable to take care of herself. She finally tells her parents that she wants to move back to Acton, and they are supportive. Her house and car are packed up and sold, and she moves back home a week later.
Chapter 10 Summary
Emma slowly begins to grieve and heal; in the process, she also begins to read. Marie gives birth to twin girls, Ava and Sophie. Toward the end of her maternity leave, Colin and Ashley come down with food poisoning, so Emma offers to manage the bookstore. Three days before Marie is due to restart work, she tells their parents that she wants to spend more time with her babies, and Emma offers to step in indefinitely.
After realizing that the twins have slowly stopped responding to their names, Marie and Mike take them in for a specialist appointment, and discover that due to a genetic condition, the girls are going deaf. Emma supports her sister as best as she can, spending time with her and going to a sign language class together. Marie and Mike eventually move closer to Marie’s parents as well. Emma begins to enjoy working at the store, actively finding ways to improve and manage it better. When Marie finds out that the store is being permanently handed over to Emma, the sisters get into an explosive fight where they air out all their past issues, but eventually make up.
Emma changes her last name back to Blair, takes off her wedding ring, and cuts her hair short. She decides to take up the piano and walks into a music store, which sets “a whole second life in motion” (93).
Chapter 11 Summary
At the music store, Emma runs into Sam. She notices that he has grown into an attractive man. Emma explains that she is thinking of learning the piano, and Sam helps her pick out the right one to start with. He also offers to give her piano lessons, or take her out for a drink; Emma counters with an offer to buy him a beer if he can teach her “Chopsticks.” Sam immediately takes Emma upstairs where the pianos are showcased in the store, and teaches her the piece. Emma gives him her number, promising to meet the next weekend. Back home, she muses about how “(good) things don’t wait until you’re ready. Sometimes they come right before, when you’re almost there” (105). She decides to ready herself for a possible relationship with Sam.
Chapter 12 Summary
The next morning, Emma messages Sam to plan a meet-up Friday evening. She then sits down and writes a letter to Jesse, telling him how much she misses him and how deeply she grieved him. Now, his memory finally makes her happy again; she is ready to move on. Emma describes how she is going on a date with Sam, and seeks Jesse’s permission to try and find love again.
Chapter 13 Summary
Emma meets Sam at a bar on Friday; over conversation, she learns that he is now a music teacher. She reveals that she used to be a travel writer, but is now running her parents’ bookstore. Emma and Sam flirt with each other, and she enjoys it. Sam asks her to have dinner with him after drinks, and she accepts.
After dinner, Emma and Sam go for a long walk and update each other on their respective lives. Emma brings up Jesse, and how it has been two years since his disappearance; Sam reveals that he was with someone for years, but they eventually outgrew each other, which was painful for him. He also confesses that he is as attracted to Emma now as he was at 16. By the time Emma returns home, it’s 4am. Sam finally kisses her on her doorstep, 15 years after they first met.
Chapter 14 Summary
Some months into their relationship, Sam tells Emma that he loves her, but reassures her that she can take her time to reciprocate. A few weeks later, Emma tells Sam that she loves him, and apologizes for taking so long because moving forward feels like forgetting the past. Sam reassures Emma that loving him doesn’t mean she has to stop loving Jesse. He has always felt the most like himself with Emma; he sees the potential for them to grow together, rather than apart, and is not worried about their future. He promises her that he is not trying to replace Jesse, and will never ask her to choose him: “I’ll never ask you to tell me I’m your one true love. I know, for someone like you, that isn’t fair” (126). Teary and overwhelmed, Emma reiterates her love for Sam, and thinks about how lucky she is to have had both Jesse and Sam in her life, her “two true loves” (127).
Chapter 15 Summary
A year into their relationship, Emma and Sam have moved in together and adopted two cats. They go to a symphony one evening and walk around afterward, talking about their future. Sam is ready to commit to Emma, and will be waiting for her to take the next step. Emma immediately asserts that she is ready for marriage, and Sam gets down on one knee; he doesn’t have a ring yet, but delivers a heartfelt proposal anyway.
Emma and Sam head home and make love, before opening a bottle of champagne and calling everyone with the happy news. Before they go to bed, Sam promises Emma that he will find her the perfect diamond ring. Emma feels joyful that night, not realizing that Jesse is still alive and will be home just two months later.
Part 1, Chapters 7-15 Analysis
These chapters focus on the tragedy that befalls Emma and forces her to enter a different phase of her life. Jesse’s helicopter crashes, and all four men on board are lost. Jesse’s body is never found, and he is presumed dead. However, when Emma is initially given this news, she responds with the conviction that Jesse would refuse to die, and proceeds to watch the sea for him from atop their roof. Marie eventually convinces her to accept Jesse’s death, and while in isolation this may have been a rational thing to do, the reader already knows that Jesse survives. Thus, Emma’s conviction foreshadows Jesse’s eventual return. In the two years he is missing, Emma is forced to grieve, heal, and move on. She is helped by the fact that she meets Sam again, and the two of them reconnect.
The almost instant connection between Emma and Sam, even after years of no contact, once again reinforces the theme of The Question of Soulmates and Everlasting Love. The attraction that existed between them back in high school finally has the time to be explored. Emma actively readies herself for a potential relationship, writing a letter to Jesse and requesting permission to move on. Significantly, and somewhat ironically, when Emma finally confesses her love for Sam, he assures her that she can continue to hold Jesse in her heart.
Emma finds peace in her relationship with Sam, also owing to her process of grieving and healing before meeting him. After Jesse’s disappearance, she moves back to Acton to be close to her family. Against all expectations, she discovers reading, and when she falls into the role of managing Blair Books, discovers that she enjoys it. In some ways, this is not entirely unexpected: Hints of Emma’s needs and priorities changing are present even before Jesse leaves for Alaska. She reflects on Marie’s life—pregnant, living close to home, and taking over the bookstore—none of which sounds unappealing to her anymore. She also recognizes that Jesse’s wanderlust has not changed, which is why she encourages him to travel despite it meaning he’ll miss their wedding anniversary.
In some ways, Emma moving back to Acton and taking over the store is a natural progression, despite Jesse’s own desires. It calls to the themes of Growth and Change as Individuals and within Relationships and Identity Formation in the Face of Expectations. Unburdened by family expectations, especially in the wake of tragedy, perhaps Emma is finally able to explore her true identity for the first time, rather than in reaction to someone (Marie) or something else (her parents’ expectations). Thus, she takes off her wedding ring, cuts her hair short, changes her last name back to Blair, and even decides to try something new, like playing the piano—which leads her to Sam.
The theme of Growth and Change as Individuals and within Relationships is not only explored through Emma and Jesse’s relationship, but that between the Blair sisters as well. Marie supports Emma through her grief, helping her come to terms with the then-rational assumption that Jesse is dead. Emma’s move back to Acton, in turn, allows her to be there for Marie when she discovers that her twin daughters are going deaf. Emma taking over the store incites a fight between the sisters in which they air out their long-standing resentment toward each other; however, rather than drive them apart, the incident brings them closer together.
In relation to this, Blair Books and Emma’s last name continue to be important symbols. The bookstore steadies Emma and gives her a sense of purpose in difficult times, mirroring the support she receives from her parents and sister. Accordingly, Emma feels the need to change her name back to Blair, to reflect this newfound sense of identity. Her second engagement ring does not make an appearance in these chapters, but is alluded to: Sam proposes without a ring, but promises to get her the diamond she deserves. In keeping with the Prologue, the reader already knows that Sam spends two months shopping for the perfect ring; just a week after it is on her finger, Jesse reemerges.
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