Bye, Baby

“How pathetic that I actually take pleasure in this: drinking alone while watching my best friend on earth—who has all but stopped speaking to me—narrate her life on Instagram.”

Lovering explores the psychology of social media in Billie’s unhealthy addiction to watching Cassie’s Instagram posts. The paradoxical nature of social media is emphasized, as Instagram allows Billie to remain connected to her old friend while simultaneously feeling rejected and alienated.

“With Billie, it’s more complicated than that. It’s anxiety. Mild distaste. A discomforting, aged-out kind of love, and something else fraught. Billie just doesn’t get my life. As the years have passed, the gap between us has only grown wider. Now we exist on separate islands.”

The complexity of Cassie’s feelings about Billie highlights The Shifting Dynamics of Friendship. Cassie admits to feeling a residual love for her childhood friend. However, her use of vocabulary such as “fraught” and “anxiety” suggests she also associates the relationship with conflict and unease. Cassie is more comfortable with newer friends, such as McKay, who are only familiar with the carefully curated version of her persona. By contrast, Billie knows the real Cassie and reminds her of a past she would rather forget. The metaphor describing them as existing on “separate islands” conveys how the childhood friends have grown apart.

“The more I post, the more followers I acquire. And if I’m being honest, the sight of my following climbing higher and higher each day is a rush, a dopamine hit I wouldn’t trade. The fact that all these people legitimately care about my life isn’t draining; it’s invigorating.”

Cassie’s account of her role as an Instagram influencer underscores the psychological impact of social media. Her reference to the “dopamine hit” she receives from positive responses to her content highlights the addictive nature of social media interactions. Cassie’s belief that her followers “legitimately care” about her demonstrates her preference for the adulation of strangers over more complex and meaningful one-on-one relationships.

“But lately, it feels impossible to be around Billie without going back, without feeling the heaviness of everything that happened in that past life. And I can never go back. Not now, not when I’ve come this far.”

Here, Cassie articulates the inextricable link between her friendship with Billie and the past. Her determination to leave the past behind is motivated by two factors: a desire for social mobility and the role she played in Wade’s death. Billie’s presence is unsettling as she represents the final remnant of Cassie’s old life.

“The truth sits between us, heavy; the elephant in the room. All the texts I’ve sent her, most of them unanswered. The voicemails I’ve left. My blatant effort. Her blatant disdain.”

Lovering establishes the unhealthy nature of Billie and Cassie’s friendship due to an uneven power distribution. Billie pursues Cassie, desperate to maintain their bond, while Cassie attempts to distance herself. This shifting dynamic in what was once a more equitable relationship becomes a metaphorical “elephant in the room.” Both are conscious of the change, but neither verbally acknowledges it.

“Cassie has been my best friend since I was twelve—that’s twenty-three years. The bulk of my life. For better or for worse, I’ve never felt whole without her.”

Billie’s perception of her friendship with Cassie starkly contrasts with Cassie’s view that she has grown out of their relationship. Billie’s reference to feeling incomplete without Cassie and the phrase “for better or for worse” creates the analogy of a marriage. Unwilling to accept the sometimes-shifting dynamics of friendship, Billie views their bond as a lifelong commitment.

“I gaze down at her profile, the dark sweep of her eyelashes against her cheek, her milky mouth suckling, and I’m struck by our mammalian connection, more intimate than anything I’ve ever known. I am her mother, her literal sustenance, and she is my young. It’s a wild, pre-language kind of love—primal and boundless.”

Cassie’s experience of motherhood contrasts with Billie’s non-maternal mindset. While Cassie’s narrative reveals that her feelings about the other characters change according to her mood, her profound and “primal” love for Ella remains unchanging.

“If another being ever tries to hurt her, I’ll do everything in my power to destroy them.”

Here, Lovering uses foreshadowing and dramatic irony to create narrative tension. Readers know from the Prologue that Billie abducts Ella. Therefore, Cassie’s vow to “destroy” anyone who harms her baby hints at the devastation Billie’s actions will cause.

“My life has evolved so far beyond this place, I can barely see it in the rearview.”

Cassie establishes Red Hook as a symbol of her past as she figuratively compares her hometown to a speck in her rearview mirror. However, her belief that she has left Red Hook behind is challenged when she receives an ambiguous message that seems to reference the crime she committed there. Lovering implies that while it may be possible to repress memories of the past, it is impossible to erase them entirely.

“I pose for the camera. Lips curled but touching, no teeth, like I’m sucking on a mint. My abs are exposed in my crop top, and I make sure to tighten them, pulling in the low part of my stomach that’s still fleshy from pregnancy.”

Here, the pressures of being a social media influencer are underscored as Cassie has her photograph taken with a devoted follower. Cassie’s consciousness of the most flattering pose to strike highlights her need to maintain an unrealistically perfect image.

“Maybe that’s just how friendship works when you’re young. Maybe the choice to tether yourselves to each other isn’t a choice at all but an unconscious pull that doesn’t require an explanation, a response to shared circumstance, joined with something in your heart that feels good and right. The loyalty that follows feels inherent, lasting, tamperproof.”

Billie reflects on the unique power of childhood friendships. Her description of the “unconscious pull” of attraction presents youthful friendship as a primal instinct that springs from the heart rather than the head. For Billie, this bond takes precedence over the more considered friendships forged in adulthood.

“And now, here we are, with so much to show for our three years together. The wedding pictures, the penthouse apartment, the beach house, the baby. The life of my dreams.”

Lovering explores the theme of Class and Social Mobility as Cassie lists the outcomes of her relationship with Grant. Her assertion that they “have so much to show” for their union highlights Cassie’s materialistic values. By recounting the tangible benefits she has acquired, Cassie frames her marriage as a success. However, her often angry interactions with her husband undercut her insistence that she is living the life of her dreams.

“My heart swells, a tide rising in my chest. The moment feels like a miracle, a victory. Cassie, in her deepest pain, needs me.”

Billie’s response at the climactic point in the novel illustrates how toxic her friendship with Cassie has become. After taking baby Ella in a moment of rage, she is exhilarated when Cassie turns to her for comfort and support. Billie’s state of mind borders on delusional as she overlooks her own role in creating Cassie’s trauma.

“Bye Baby. For some reason, I can’t stop hearing Cassie speak those words. Seventeen years ago—that old nickname from high school—and yet it feels like just yesterday.”

The novel’s recurring motif, “Bye, Baby,” springs to Billie’s mind after she abducts Ella. While she reminisces on the closeness of her childhood friendship with Cassie, Lovering emphasizes the new, more sinister meaning of the phrase “Bye, Baby.” The twisted nature of Billie and Cassie’s relationship is highlighted as Billie can only get her old friend’s attention by kidnapping her baby.

“I am haunted by the burning desire—the vehement need—to know whose hands touched my baby sixteen hours earlier. Who snatched her, right from under my nose.”

Lovering creates situational irony as Cassie obsesses over the identity of Ella’s kidnapper. Cassie has no idea that she has invited the perpetrator of the crime to stay in the apartment and comfort her.

“I glance at Alex’s text on my phone. I’m falling in love with him—oddly, in this moment, I feel the truth of this. But it doesn’t hold weight against the knowledge that Cassie wants me here—me, not McKay. I feel pleasantly hot, like I’ve lowered myself into a steaming bath after a frigid day in the snow.”

Billie’s thoughts reflect the self-destructive nature of her renewed friendship with Cassie. Although she is in love with Alex, she jeopardizes their relationship by prioritizing Cassie’s needs. Billie’s craving to restore her previous intimacy with Cassie becomes an unhealthy obsession, leading her to neglect all other areas of her life.

“It strikes me now, how creepy it all is. How little it actually matters, the validation of these strangers. Faceless usernames that covet my clothes, that think my daughter is cute, that want to know what serums I use to battle sun damage and fine lines.”

After Ella’s kidnapping, Cassie experiences an epiphany regarding her reliance on social media. Suddenly, she perceives her online followers as strangers rather than supportive friends, and the content of their posts seems facile. Cassie’s abrupt change of attitude illustrates how trauma prompts individuals to reassess their values.

“Fear opens in the lower part of my stomach as I think about how much I’ve shared on social media, the access I’ve given thousands of random people into my world.”

Ella’s abduction also makes Cassie conscious of the dangers of revealing every aspect of one’s life on social media. While she enjoys the positive attention garnered from being an Instagram influencer, she realizes that the boost to her self-esteem comes at the price of her family’s privacy. The possibility that the kidnapper may be one of her online followers distracts Cassie from suspecting that the perpetrator is much closer to home.

“The unspoken truth that sits between us, perpetually, is that she wants a man with money. Old money. The kind of wealth her family had before her father lost it. Before Grandma Catherine cut the Barnwells off for good.”

Here, Billie gets to the root of Cassie’s fixation with Class and Social Mobility. Her determination to marry a man from old money stems from her belief that she was denied her rightful entitlement. Blaming her father for losing the family money, Cassie seeks to regain the status that should have been hers through social climbing and marriage.

“I’m no longer the star of my own show—just an exhausted mom who wants to be comfortable. If I’m draped in an Ulla Johnson crochet cover-up while carrying a Prada tote on the beach and there’s no one there to see it—no photographic evidence to share with the world—did it even happen? I’ve realized the answer is no.”

Shunning Instagram after Ella’s abduction, Cassie loses all interest in her carefully constructed image. Her reflection on whether it is worth wearing a designer outfit without photographic evidence on social media is a play on the philosophical question, “If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” Cassie’s conclusion highlights the mentality of social media, where experiences cannot be enjoyed unless photographed and shared with others.

“If I confessed, I could wind up in jail. I could lose my job; most certainly, I would lose Cassie. But none of that seemed to matter anymore, not if it meant being eaten away by my own dishonesty, peering over my shoulder for the rest of my life, waiting in a permanent state of shame and fear for the truth to catch me.”

Billie underlines The Consequences of Concealing the Truth as she weighs up the benefits of confessing to Ella’s kidnapping. Although admitting the truth may bring about her deepest fears—losing Cassie’s friendship and criminal prosecution—she concludes that the consequences cannot be worse than the psychological toll of constant deception.

“And what hits me, suddenly, is the tragic irony of it all. Cassie didn’t push Wade for me. Cassie pushed Wade for Cassie.”

Billie’s continued loyalty to Cassie derives mainly from her perception of her old friend as her savior. Billie believes that Cassie killed Wade to protect her from further sexual abuse. However, at this moment, Billie experiences an epiphany, realizing that Cassie pushed Wade off the roof as his insults made her angry. The insight prompts Billie to reassess their relationship, redressing the power imbalance between them.

“A small white jet launches into the clear cobalt sky, and it’s just a feeling, but I’m almost certain that’s the one. Its wheels tuck under its body as it whirs through the air, receding south into the horizon, away from me.”

Planes are a recurring motif in the novel, representing identity and The Shifting Dynamics of Friendship. Here, Billie’s focus on Cassie’s private plane to St. Barts visually symbolizes the end of their friendship. Billie’s invitation to St. Barts is designed to seal her renewed friendship with Cassie. However, after her confession, Billie can only watch the plane leave without her. Cassie and her friendship are ultimately unattainable, disappearing into the distance.