The Fine Print

After hearing a thump, Rowan runs upstairs to find Zahra passed out over the threshold of the bathroom, bleeding after hitting her head during her fall. He calls 911 and accompanies her to the hospital, telling himself that he is just like his father, giving in to his feelings for a woman and forgetting the rest of his life. He now believes that his feelings for her have made him weak. He asks a nurse to put Zahra in a private room, but her question about insurance reminds him that he has made sure that all Dreamland employees have bad insurance.

Zahra wakes up in the hospital, confused. Rowan explains what happen has happened, but she notices that he is different; he is colder again, like he was when they first met. He avoids her questions about whether he is all right, and he stays when she needs to sleep again.

Still in the hospital, Zahra can tell that Rowan is avoiding talking to her, for when her family visits, he even engages in small talk, which he hates. When she confronts him, he becomes angry, admitting that he should not be spending his time acting like a doting boyfriend when he has important things to do, but that he feels obligated to make sure she is all right. He admits that he always planned to return to Chicago and claims that he never meant to give her the impression that there was anything more between them. She accuses him of being no more than the selfish man everyone believes him to be and turns her back on him. Before he leaves her hospital room, he tells her that she deserves the world and more.

Three days after ending his relationship with Zahra, Rowan struggles to sleep and eat, and he loses focus on his work even though the committee vote is approaching. He tries to find out how Zahra is through Ani, but Ani ignores his texts, so he finds her at work. Ani makes it clear that she no longer wants to be friends with him because he hurt Zahra, and Rowan is upset at losing Ani as a friend. His emotions and anxieties build even through a difficult run that evening, and he funnels it into an irrational anger toward the swing on his grandfather’s porch. He has wanted to remove the swing but avoided it during his time at Dreamland. He starts to take it down, no longer wanting this reminder of the day that his mother died, but then he sees a note carved into it. The note is from his mother, repeating the words she always used to tell him and his brothers and reminding them to love with all their hearts and be kind. Rowan realizes that he has not lived up to his mother’s values; he visits Zahra’s cubicle on her return to work to ask her to give him a chance to explain his actions and apologize. He wants to try again, but Zahra refuses, telling him that she has been through enough and deserves better. She will not even accept his help on her mock-ups for work.

Zahra receives a letter from the deceased Brady Kane, one that was kept secret for years until the time came to enact his plans for his grandsons. In the letter, he thanks her for the reminders she gave him of his past, creative, hopeful self and tells her that whenever she is ready, a Creator job is hers; Martha has the paperwork ready for her anytime. He also informs her of the project he set for Rowan but omits the information about his inheritance. Brady tells her that he has chosen her as one of the committee members to accept or reject Rowan’s plans. Zahra assumes that Rowan was aware of her role as a committee member all along and made her a Creator and started a relationship because she would help make the decision about his project.

At the last Creators meeting before the holiday break, Zahra proposes her most ambitious project yet: making the park more accessible for those with disabilities. While praising the project, Jenny reveals that Zahra is leaving the company after turning in her two-week notice. Rowan holds Zahra back after the meeting to confront her, but she reveals that she believes he only hired her and used her feelings to get her to support him in the upcoming vote. He tries to convince her that he did not know about her role on the committee, but she tells him that she has no reason to trust him.

Back in Chicago, Rowan confronts his father, asking if Seth believes his wife would be proud of the man he has become. He also asks Seth if he would still choose to be with his wife even if he had to endure the pain of losing her all over again. When Seth says that he would, Rowan realizes just how powerful and worthwhile love can be, even with the pain it can cause. He informs Declan on Christmas that he will not become the CFO and will stay at Dreamland to be with Zahra because of the person he wants to be when he is around her. Declan predicts that he will return to Chicago within six months.

Rowan flies back to Florida on Christmas Day and heads to Zahra’s apartment with materials to make a gingerbread house, which he hopes will provide an activity that Zahra would be willing to engage in while listening to his apology and explanation. She refuses, so he makes the gingerbread house alone at home, spelling out “I’m sorry” with the candies, then sends her a picture. She does not reply, so he decides he will prove to her that he wants to stay at Dreamland and that he has changed with her help.

At the meeting for Rowan to present his plans for Dreamland and find out if he will receive his inheritance, Zahra discovers from Martha, another committee member, that Rowan truly did not know who was chosen for the committee. Rowan reveals his plan, admitting that he originally had a different plan for expansion and major park changes but that he is now approaching them with a new plan. He announces that he plans to increase wages by 50% and improve health insurance for employees, making an argument for why doing so would be a sound business decision. At Martha’s prompting question, he moves on to the final portion of his plan: to create a program to create more diversity in their hiring, particularly aimed at hiring those with intellectual disabilities. He also wants to start a mentorship program to support these future employees. Zahra sees the changes he makes, observes his use of her proposal, and hears him state that he plans to remain the Dreamland director and ensure that these changes remain in place. These things make her realize that he truly cares for her. After the vote, she confronts Seth, denouncing him for his abusive actions as a father.

Waiting for the results of the vote in his office, Rowan is shocked when his father enters to tell Rowan that he is proud of him and that Rowan’s grandfather would be proud of the man he has become. Seth leaves without saying more. The attorney running the proceedings informs Rowan that his presentation was successful; Rowan will receive his shares. Rowan asks Zahra to meet at his home to let him explain himself to her, and she agrees. He confesses how he feels about her and explains why he made the choices he made. He apologizes and begs for her forgiveness. Zahra smiles and agrees to be with him again.

Before making love, Rowan asks Zahra, who is on birth control, if she trusts him enough not to use a condom. She recognizes this question as a sign of how much he has grown to trust her, since other women he has been with have poked holes in condoms in their efforts to gain access to his money. Afterward, Zahra admits to telling off his father, and Rowan reveals that he had Jenny wait to file Zahra’s paperwork, so she is still an employee at Dreamland.

Three years later, Zahra and Rowan are now married. They open a newly updated Nebula Land alongside their families. Afterward, Zahra uses one of her famous pins to reveal to Rowan that she is pregnant.

Years later, Rowan’s daughter asks him to read her a story, demanding that he choose the book he created as a gift for Zahra, which tells the story of their romance through his own drawings. Once his daughter is asleep, Rowan revels in his life with Zahra and the happiness it brings him.