Chapter Thirty-two: Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Adelaide spending Christmas at her sister Izzy's home in Massachusetts. She decorates stocking-shaped cookies with her nephew (which turn out hilariously phallic), snuggles with the family dog Puff, and promises Puff about the pup she plans to adopt in London. For the first time in Adelaide's memory, Izzy tells her she's allowed to take up space. There are no fights that year, and Adelaide doesn't feel the need to shrink herself.

After Christmas, Adelaide takes the Amtrak to New Jersey to spend a few days with her father, who gives her hugs, encouragement, and presents including candles, sweaters, and hedgehog-patterned ankle socks. She then flies back to London just in time for New Year's Eve.

At Celeste's New Year's Eve party, Adelaide gets very drunk. She wears a black sequined sweater with a high ponytail and black bow. The party includes colleagues, cheese plates, cupcakes, wine, and a potent family-recipe eggnog. Adelaide declares three resolutions for 2020: get a dog, get back on dating apps, and stop being such a disaster. Neither she nor Celeste knows the word COVID yet.

They dance to David Bowie, play charades and Celebrity, light sparklers, and count down to midnight. Adelaide kisses Celeste's cheeks, grateful for Celeste and Madison (who they FaceTime) throughout the mess of 2019. She stumbles into the bathroom and falls asleep on the rug. Celeste carries her to bed and tucks her in, later crawling in beside her around 3 AM. Adelaide mumbles about being a mess and asks why Celeste even likes her. Celeste tells her she loves her, drunk or not, asleep on the bathroom floor or wide awake. Adelaide says she loves her more.

On New Year's Day, Adelaide wakes with a hangover and mascara smudges. Celeste hands her coffee and welcomes her to her new life. Adelaide showers, helps clean up, borrows a sweater from Celeste, and walks to the nearest Tube stop. For a second, she thinks she sees Rory Hughes on the platform, but it isn't him. Still, her stomach churns and her eyes water. She reflects on kissing Rory at Waterloo station, breaking up over the phone, and his abrupt disappearance. She remembers her theory that the most important people enter our lives when we need them most—a theory she once applied to Rory and even Nathalie Alban.

The next afternoon, in therapy, Meg suggests Adelaide flip the theory: maybe Adelaide was meant to enter Rory's life when he needed her most. Meg reminds Adelaide of the compassion she demonstrated—the donations to the memorial fund, the books she gave him, the times she left his flat in the dead of night so he could sleep, the milkshakes at his door. Adelaide reflects and realizes that, weighing the good and bad moments, she was overwhelmingly kind. She had been enough.

On January 2nd, Adelaide buys half-price holiday cards with red postboxes and sparkly snow. She writes Rory a belated New Year's letter, telling him she's still heartbroken but wishing him a happy Christmas and New Year. She thanks him for introducing her to Fleabag and Crabbie's Ginger Beer, and hopes the highs soar higher and the lows become easier in 2020. She mails the letter, feeling like she's finally let go of the piece of her heart she'd given to Rory.

On January 4th, Adelaide adopts a Cavoodle puppy from a Battersea shelter and names him Fitz. She can barely sleep the night before, sings show tunes in the shower, straightens her hair, and treats herself to an iced latte. At the shelter, she fills out forms while trying to read Heartburn. When the woman hands her Fitz—a fluffy blend of white, ginger, and brownish curls—Adelaide feels like someone handed her a sunbeam. She gets emotional, and the woman tells her they can go off and live happily ever after.

Celeste comes over that evening to meet Fitz. He pees in the corner of Adelaide's living room, but she doesn't mind. They take turns holding Fitz between sips of hot chocolate. Celeste declares box one of 2020 checked—get a dog, done. She pushes Adelaide to tackle resolution two: get back on the dating apps. They redownload the app where Adelaide first met Rory Hughes, their early conversations still saved. Adelaide's photos are nearly two years old, but Celeste says she looks the same. Adelaide reflects on the absurdity that an algorithm designed by Silicon Valley guys placed Rory in her life and then snatched him away. She's playing with fire once more.

Then Adelaide runs into Bubs on the app—the same app where she met Rory. She looks at his profile, his goofy smile, and lets her fingers slide across the screen, wondering what she's just done.

Key Events

Adelaide spends a peaceful Christmas with her family in Massachusetts; Izzy tells her she's allowed to take up space
She visits her father in New Jersey before returning to London
At Celeste's New Year's Eve party, Adelaide gets drunk and declares three resolutions: get a dog, rejoin dating apps, stop being a disaster
Celeste carries Adelaide to bed and declares her love
On New Year's Day, Adelaide briefly mistakes a stranger at the Tube station for Rory
In therapy, Meg reframes Adelaide's theory: Adelaide entered Rory's life when he needed her
Adelaide mails Rory a belated New Year's letter, letting go of the piece of her heart she'd given him
On January 4th, Adelaide adopts Fitz, a Cavoodle puppy, from a Battersea shelter
Celeste and Adelaide redownload the dating app where Adelaide met Rory
Adelaide encounters Bubs on the app

Character Development

Adelaide takes meaningful steps toward healing in this chapter. Her family Christmas is notably peaceful—no fights, no need to shrink herself—and Izzy's words about taking up space land differently than they might have earlier in the novel. Her resolutions reflect a desire to move forward, and she follows through on them: she adopts Fitz, she writes the letter to Rory, and she re-enters the dating world. The therapy session with Meg is pivotal: Adelaide has spent much of the novel measuring her worth by how Rory treated her, but Meg helps her see that her kindness and compassion were real and meaningful regardless of how the relationship ended. Adelaide's realization that she was more good than bad and had been enough marks a significant shift in her self-perception.

Celeste continues to be Adelaide's anchor. She carries Adelaide to bed, tucks her in, and declares her love unconditionally—drunk or not, asleep on the bathroom floor or wide awake. Her gentle push to redownload the dating app shows she believes in Adelaide's capacity to move forward.

Meg provides the therapeutic reframing that Adelaide needs. By flipping Adelaide's theory—that Adelaide entered Rory's life when he needed her—Meg helps Adelaide see her own value and impact, rather than defining herself by Rory's absence.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Taking up space: Izzy's words to Adelaide—that she's allowed to take up space—echo throughout the chapter. Adelaide's peaceful Christmas, her decision to adopt a dog, and her willingness to re-enter dating all suggest she's beginning to occupy her life more fully.

New beginnings: The chapter is structured around the turn of the year—Christmas, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and the first days of January. Adelaide's resolutions, the adoption of Fitz, and the letter to Rory all represent attempts to start fresh.

Letting go: The letter to Rory is the chapter's central act of release. Adelaide reflects that there are parts of our hearts we give away entirely, and she finally lets go of the piece she'd given Rory. The gentle thunk of the letter landing in the postbox marks the moment of release.

Reframing narratives: Meg's suggestion to flip Adelaide's theory is a key thematic moment. Adelaide has been telling herself a story about Rory entering her life when she needed him; Meg offers an alternative story in which Adelaide was the one who mattered to Rory at a critical time.

Algorithm vs. fate: Adelaide reflects on the absurdity that an algorithm, not the stars or the gods, placed Rory in her life and then snatched him away. This tension between randomness and meaning runs through the chapter.

Circular patterns: The chapter ends where Adelaide's story with Rory began—on the same dating app. Encountering Bubs there suggests the past is never fully behind her, even as she tries to move forward.

Platonic love: Celeste's declaration of love for Adelaide—unconditional and non-romantic—is a counterpoint to the romantic love Adelaide gave Rory. It suggests that love and support can come from friendship.

New companionship: Fitz represents a new kind of love—unconditional, present, and uncomplicated. Adelaide's joy in adopting him signals her capacity for connection.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point in Adelaide's arc. After the devastation of her relationship with Rory, she begins to actively rebuild her life. The chapter shows her taking concrete steps—adopting a dog, writing a letter of closure, re-entering the dating world—while also receiving the emotional support she needs from Celeste and the therapeutic reframing from Meg. The final image of Adelaide encountering Bubs on the dating app is both a callback to the novel's beginning and a question about what comes next. The chapter also establishes the timeline: it's January 2020, and neither Adelaide nor Celeste knows the word COVID yet, which foreshadows the challenges ahead.

Study Questions

1. How does Meg's reframing of Adelaide's theory change the way Adelaide sees herself and her relationship with Rory?

Meg suggests that instead of Rory entering Adelaide's life when she needed him, Adelaide entered Rory's life when he needed her. This flips Adelaide's self-narrative from one of lack (she needed Rory) to one of value (she was needed by Rory). Meg reminds Adelaide of her concrete acts of kindness—the donations, the books, the milkshakes, the sacrifices—and Adelaide realizes she was overwhelmingly kind and had been enough. This reframing is crucial because it allows Adelaide to see her worth independent of Rory's treatment of her.

2. What does the letter Adelaide writes to Rory accomplish, and why is mailing it significant?

The letter is Adelaide's act of closure. She tells Rory she's still heartbroken but wishes him a happy New Year, thanks him for introducing her to Fleabag and Crabbie's Ginger Beer, and expresses hope that the highs soar higher and the lows become easier. Mailing the letter is significant because Adelaide reflects that there are parts of our hearts we give away entirely, and she finally lets go of the piece she'd given Rory. The act of sending the letter—the gentle thunk of it landing in the postbox—marks her release.

3. Why does the chapter end with Adelaide encountering Bubs on the dating app, and what does this suggest about her future?

The ending is deliberately ambiguous. Adelaide has just redownloaded the same app where she met Rory, and she immediately encounters Bubs—a figure from her past. This suggests that moving forward doesn't mean leaving the past entirely behind; the algorithm that placed Rory in her life is still operating, and the patterns of her past may repeat. Adelaide's hesitation—her thumbs hovering above his profile, wondering what she's just done—signals both the possibility of new connection and the risk of repeating old mistakes.