It Happened One Summer

In these chapters, Piper starts to become familiar with Westport, and that growing familiarity makes her more receptive to Brendan; again, the town and the man go together. When she compares the fact that he has mourned his wife for seven years and her longest relationship was three weeks, she wonders about the qualities that it takes to sustain a relationship. Hannah reminds her of what happened with Adrian when she warns Piper about picking men who are not nice to her. When Abe comes from the hardware store with foam padding for the bunk bed, and Piper realizes Brendan asked him to do this for her, she sees another way that Brendan is different from the men she’s known. This sets her up to connect with him in the harbor scene and then be wooed by him when he helps at the bar.

Piper’s suggestion that she help Abe climb the stairs shows her innate kindness and friendly nature, but it is also the first step of her integration into the town. She has committed to Westport, and this gesture sets Piper up for the moment of realization she undergoes when she meets Opal and realizes the woman is Henry’s mother, her and Hannah’s grandmother. When Opal tells her stories about Henry and shows her pictures, Piper suddenly has a face and a personality to put with her vague memories. She feels guilty as a consequence. While Opal stayed and grieved, and the town honored Henry by erecting the bronze statue at the harbor, Henry’s wife and daughters moved away and forgot him.

Piper has changed her tactics from running away from hurt or disappointed feelings to dealing with them, which she does when she returns to No Name and realizes that it, too, is connected to Henry. When she and Hannah find the picture of their father, Piper finally sees him as a real person who had a physical presence in the world. Though he vanished from her life, rebuilding his bar is a way to honor his memory. This small reconciliation with her past makes her better able to understand Brendan’s character and appreciate what he does for her in helping to renovate the bar.

Brendan also reaches a turning point in these chapters, and it comes when he sees how Piper’s hurt and embarrassment about crashing Desiree’s memorial affect him. He cares about her feelings and chooses to leave the celebration to pursue Piper. Their moment together, sitting on a bench at the harbor and talking, is the scene where their initial barriers come down. Piper is progressing in her journey of self-discovery, assessing her interests and values. The setting is significant because they are facing the water: the element that ruled Henry’s life, and now rules Brendan’s. Piper is coming to terms with the ghost from her past, and Brendan decides to make peace with his ghost, Desiree. The clearing of these barriers allows the characters to grow together.

The relationship progresses first on an emotional level when Brendan helps with the bar. He becomes even more attractive to Piper when she sees his work ethic and his skills. He builds her something with his own hands, not only contributing to her efforts to improve the bar but, as she recognizes, offering a gesture of courtship. He sees her as “pergola-worthy,” an indication of her value to him—a value that rests not on her physical appeal but her personality, her essential self. Their first kiss shakes her because she is venturing into the unknown with him—as foreshadowed when she sat at the harbor with him, facing the water as they talked.

Brendan’s departures for fishing trips, giving the characters time apart that will help them grow together, is an important rhythm for the romance plot. This section of the novel also, importantly, holds a turning point in each character’s emotional development. Their decision to pursue a relationship—even if they have different ideas about what that means—is a key plot point. The departure-and-return rhythm, like high and low tide, also speaks to the larger symbolism of the ocean that runs through the novel. It is the structure of Brendan’s life, and the rhythm Piper will need to become acquainted with if she wants to be part of that life.