This Summer Will be Different

Five years after the events of the Prologue, 29-year-old Lucy is still living in Toronto. She manages a thriving florist business In Bloom, inherited from her late aunt Stacy. Stacy taught Lucy all she knows about floral design, and working with flowers helps her to honor her aunt’s memory. Lucy’s right-hand woman is a florist named Farah, who helps her run the business. Farah reminds Lucy of her upcoming breakfast with the events manager for a local hospitality group, Cena. Lucy anticipates signing a contract to make floral arrangements for all of Cena’s restaurants. Though it will be a lucrative deal, Lucy feels hesitant because corporate orders don’t “fill [her] up” the way personal ones do (21).

As she awaits the meeting, Lucy works on an elaborate floral archway that will feature at Bridget’s upcoming wedding to her fiancé, Miles. During her work, she gets a call from Bridget, who sounds distressed. Bridget says that she is on PEI. Her parents are away, and she needs Lucy to come to PEI to support her. Lucy is alarmed because fiercely independent Bridget never requests help from anyone. She agrees to fly out, even though doing so will make her miss the Cena meeting.

On the flight to PEI, Lucy reflects on her friendship with Bridget. Both women struggled to make close connections in college and often felt “loneliest in a room full of people” (26). Bridget and Lucy worked at the same public relations firm, but the two didn’t become close until a chance encounter. One night, as Lucy walked home from a disastrous party, Bridget passed by on her bike and offered her a ride, eventually carrying Lucy home on her handlebars. Their friendship flourished, and they lived together in a shared apartment until they were 27. Stacy once called their friendship the “true fairytale” of Lucy’s life (26).

This trip to PEI will be Lucy’s fifth in the last five years. She usually visits with Bridget, but she came alone in July of the previous year. The island is home to some of her happiest memories and biggest regrets, but she promises that she will not repeat her mistakes for Bridget’s sake. Lucy would do anything for Bridget, “including not falling in love” (29).

At the baggage carousel, Bridget greets Lucy with a big hug. Though she is smiling, Lucy notices that her friend looks wan. Lucy asks her what happened yesterday, but Bridget dismisses the question, saying that she’s just homesick. She’d arrived in PEI hoping to surprise her parents at Summer Wind, but they had already begun the trip to Toronto for her wedding. As Lucy heads toward Bridget’s car, she is shocked to see Felix waiting for them, leaning against his truck and reading a book. The sight of him immediately transports her back to “the day when everything changed” (40).

The narrative returns to five years ago on PEI. Lucy hides in Bridget’s bedroom, avoiding Felix while Bridget takes a shower. When he knocks on the door, she reluctantly lets him in. Though the sight of Felix fills Lucy with renewed desire, she tells him that they cannot be intimate again because of Bridget’s rules. Lucy says that Bridget doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with Felix’s ex-girlfriend, Joy. Smirking, Felix counters with his own set of three rules: They will not tell Bridget what happened, they won’t sleep together again, and Lucy is not allowed to fall in love with him.

In the present, Lucy hugs Felix, but his smile is guarded. Lucy worries that she has ruined their friendship, a fear that has stuck with her since the previous summer. Despite being prone to carsickness, Lucy sits in the back with Bridget to put as much distance as possible between herself and Felix. Felix offers her a snack bar, commenting that an empty stomach worsens Lucy’s carsickness. Bridget suspiciously asks how he knows that, and Felix responds that Lucy nearly threw up in his truck last summer. Bridget remarks, “[I]t’s nice that you two are friends” (45).

The group arrives at Summer Wind. Lucy finds the messy, lively home “spellbinding.” She contrasts it against her parents’ house in St. Catherine’s, where she always felt out of place among her family’s neat formality. Lucy has one sibling, an older brother named Lyle, who was a high school hockey star. As a child, Lucy’s parents often traveled with Lyle to tournaments, sending Lucy to Toronto to stay at her aunt Stacy’s house. Though Stacy and Lucy’s mother barely spoke, Stacy felt like Lucy’s real family. Lucy felt like she fit in at Stacy’s messy, artistic home.

Felix prepares to leave Summer Wind. Bridget asks him to stay, but he declines, stating that he has work to do at the Salt Cottages, a series of vacation homes he’s built with his best friend, Zach. Lucy suspects that his early exit is because of her and feels guilty for causing the rift between them. Felix presses his sister to reveal what’s happening, but she refuses. Lucy knows that it’s futile because Bridget plays her cards close to her chest and will only reveal her dilemma once she has an action plan. Felix climbs into the family’s red Mustang, promising to return in a few days with oysters.

Lucy and Bridget enter Felix’s old bedroom, which has been repurposed into a guest room since he moved out. The prospect of sleeping in the bed where she and Felix have had sex several times jars Lucy. Bridget still withholds the cause of her distress. Lucy knows that pushing her will only lead them to fight “like sisters” (52). Instead, they talk about work. Bridget encourages Lucy to disconnect fully from work, cautioning her against burning out. Lucy feels compelled to work extra hard at In Bloom because if the business collapses, it will prove that her parents were right to doubt her ambitions.

Lucy and Bridget take a long walk along Thunder Cove, a beach known for its dramatic vistas of red sandstone. Thunder Cove used to house a landmark called Teacup Rock, a sharp red sandstone formation. Hurricane Fiona devastated PEI two years ago and swept Teacup Rock into the ocean. As they walk along the water, Bridget begins to cry. She admits that she feels “like things are slipping away” (57). Lucy empathizes. She, too, grieves everything she’s lost, from Teacup Rock, to her aunt, to her old closeness with Bridget. Lucy promises Bridget that she will never slip away.

Lucy fixes dinner in the Clark kitchen while examining the family photos on the fridge. One of the photos features herself and Bridget playing a game in the living room. Felix is watching them from the couch, his eyes locked on Lucy. Lucy envies the closeness of Bridget’s rambunctious, quirky family. Her own parents are strict and practical, and her childhood was often lonely. As a child, Lucy struggled to fit her eccentric and creative personality into her family’s routine. She felt more at home with her aunt Stacy than with her parents.

After dinner, Bridget and Lucy sit out on the deck. Bridget brings up the photo of Felix “ogling” Lucy and asks if anything is going on between them but accepts Lucy’s denial without question. Bridget tells Lucy that she has devised a plan for their stay on PEI. They will have “one last girls’ trip” before her wedding (65), acting like they’re 24 again. Bridget proposes two rules: eating as many oysters as possible and not discussing weddings or careers. On Sunday, they will attend an oyster-shucking competition in Tyne Valley, where Felix will be competing.

Lucy reluctantly agrees, recalling the previous summer, when her relationship with Felix changed. After Stacy’s funeral, Bridget flew Lucy out to PEI alone. During that summer, Lucy’s feelings for Felix “seemed to explode out of nowhere” (65). In hindsight, she blames her grief-stricken mindset. Lucy asks if the third rule is still in place. Bridget admits that she may have been “overly sensitive” when she told Lucy not to fall in love with Felix but says that the rule should stay in place anyway.