Chapter 27 Summary, Key Moments, and Study Notes
⚠️ 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 Chani, Gabe, and Teddy arriving at Gabe's cabin in Montana. It's only seven in the evening, but the darkness is total, and snow covers the ground. Teddy explores the area while Gabe, seemingly unbothered by the cold, carries his coat rather than wearing it. Chani can see the mountains in the distance, white-tipped and rolling.
Inside, Gabe starts a fire while Chani lingers in the entryway, holding her coat. He takes it from her and hangs it up. He tells her they don't have to do anything, that he's not in any rush. But Chani brings up the last time they were together—the night on the couch ten years ago.
Gabe apologizes, and then reveals something Chani never knew: he climaxed prematurely that night, before they could go any further. Chani is astonished. She had assumed he was merely annoyed when she asked him to stop. Gabe explains he was frustrated with himself—for being drunk, for being out of control, for acting like a horny teenage boy, for getting off without getting her off.
He insists it won't be a problem now. The conversation shifts from the past to the present. Gabe tells her he wants her, that he's wanted her since the first moment. Chani says okay, and they kiss—softly at first, like a first kiss, even though it isn't their first.
They move to his bedroom. Gabe struggles with the buttons on her shirt and eventually just rips it open, scattering buttons across the floor. Chani notices his body has changed over the decade—less chiseled, with chest hair and the smallest love handles—and she loves all of it. This Gabe feels more real to her than the one from ten years ago.
In that moment, Chani realizes she's in love with him. But she can't say it. Instead, she kisses him.
Gabe performs oral sex on her, and she orgasms. Then they have intercourse, and she orgasms again. Throughout, Gabe's hands tremble, and he holds her as if afraid she might disappear. Afterward, he pushes the hair out of her face and tells her, **