Chapter 13 Summary, Themes, and Key Moments
⚠️ 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 on a Thursday morning during a weekly team meeting at Organicare. Daisy is distracted, replaying the previous night's dinner with Liam. She reflects on how close she came to letting her guard down and almost forgetting their arrangement was not real. She reminds herself that Liam has never shown anything beyond brotherly affection, and she still sees herself as the nerdy girl from the science lab while he was the one who dated the most beautiful girls in school. She thinks about their different worlds, their shared childhood wounds, and her own comfort with her body, including the chipped front tooth from a baseball injury. She forces herself to stop thinking about him.
When the meeting ends, Josh nudges her awake. Tyler asks everyone to stay for a joint meeting with Marketing and Design about another website redesign. Mia and Zoe join Daisy, and Zoe mentions her childcare struggles with her daughter Lily. Daisy offers help from her aunt, an elementary school teacher who is off for the summer and already looks after Daisy's dog, Max. Daisy also gives Mia a business card for a cousin who works at an addiction center, hoping to help Mia's family situation. Mia and Zoe are grateful, and Daisy jokes about having a lot of family, sometimes too involved.
Tyler announces that Evolution Ventures has expressed interest in Organicare. They have not offered funding, but they suggested a rebrand, and Liam has arranged for Brad Assard from Assign Design Consultants to lead it. Brad, an older man in a suit, presents his vision. He holds up a box of Rapture tampons, though Mia notes he confuses tampons with pads. He asks what women want during their period and then shows a slide of a woman on a beach, followed by a slide of a woman in pink chiffon riding a bareback white horse with a pink horn, galloping through flowers toward a rainbow. The team is stunned. Mia and Zoe whisper their objections, noting the image ignores women of color, plus-size women, and younger consumers who want real facts. Daisy urges Mia to speak up, but Mia fears rocking the boat because Tyler is still considering staff cuts. Daisy offers to talk to Liam instead, and Mia eagerly agrees.
Tyler then congratulates Daisy on her engagement, revealing it to the whole team. Josh is shocked and suspicious, pointing out that Daisy has been allergic to commitment and recently dated other men. Daisy stumbles through an explanation, saying they were on a long break and it just happened. Tyler thanks her for saving the company, repeating Liam's story about how she begged him to step in and cooked him dinner. Zoe and Mia congratulate her, but Josh presses further, noting her Marvel Funko Pop collection and asking if Liam even knows what the Marvel Universe is. Daisy says,