52 pages • 1-hour read
A Photo Finish
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Chapters 12-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, mental illness, ableism, explicit sexual content, cursing, and death.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Violet”
In the flashback timeline, Violet seeks to spur Cole into conversation. She references a new trainer at the ranch (which indicates that this point in the flashback overlaps with the beginning of Off to the Races, when Billie begins working at Gold Rush Ranch). Cole’s periodic suggestive comments make her curious about his appearance and voice. He reveals that she’s the only person he speaks with on the app. She feels flattered.
In the narrative present, Cole leans toward Violet, holding her close in a way that she finds alluring. He says that he would have to be “an idiot” to dislike her. She touches his face as he holds her leg, each enjoying feeling one another. She suspects that they’ll kiss, but he suddenly pulls back and apologizes, which hurts her feelings. To hide her embarrassment, she hurries away to get Pipsqueak rain gear.
The next morning, after spending hours out in the rain with Pipsqueak, Violet is woken by Billie pounding on the door. Cole is outside, shirtless, and the women joke about his attractiveness. Mira, the farm’s veterinarian, joins Violet and Billie for coffee. Billie and Mira invite Violet to the races that day and are surprised when Violet is defensive about how they tease Cole.
Mira observes that Cole is building a shelter for Pipsqueak. Violet, astonished, blushes and then shoos her friends away when they tease her about it. Violet goes outside to see Cole talking to Pipsqueak, though he stops as soon as he realizes that Violet is watching. She asks why Cole is building Pipsqueak a shelter if he allegedly hates horses; he contends that he’s doing it because he cares for Violet.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Violet”
In the flashback timeline, Violet and Cole exchange flirtatious messages about Violet’s upbringing on a ranch. She worries that the online relationship is compromising her feelings too much, and when Cole asks her to turn on her camera, she’s tempted but refuses.
In the narrative present, Violet feels awkward in the fancy owner’s lounge at the racetrack. She feels confused that Cole keeps showing her different sides of himself, switching between distant and approachable. She spent the morning working with Pipsqueak, who has grown increasingly fond of Cole. A woman named Hilary (who, unbeknownst to Violet, is Cole’s former fiancée) approaches Cole. Violet notices that he’s clearly uncomfortable, so she intervenes, holding Cole’s hand to imply a romance between them, which causes Hilary to leave.
Violet goes outside, where she encounters Cassel. When she tries to avoid him, he grabs her arm and makes suggestive comments. Cole approaches to defend her, but Cassel scoffs at his concern, implying that Violet must have sex with him “to [work her] way up in the world” (174). Furious that Cassel refuses to release her, Violet kicks him in the groin. She leaves, urging Cole not to follow her but privately wishing he would.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Cole”
In the flashback timeline, Cole fears that he’s “way too attached” to Violet (176); he considers his online, anonymous relationship with her a “lifeline.” He fantasizes about emotionally intimate sex with her. When he asks if she has a boyfriend, her answer is ambiguous, suggesting that Cole is the most important romantic relationship she has.
In the narrative present, Cole returns to the farmhouse alone, as Violet rides with someone else. He’s angry with himself for not following her after the incident with Cassel; he stopped his pursuit when she headed for the racetrack, which brings up complicated memories about his father. He feels that his father’s death, which he witnessed, is more impactful than his time at war on his experiences with PTSD. He also feels conflicted about his impulse to hit Cassel for mistreating Violet, which makes him feel like the version of himself that he was in the military. He concludes that Violet “is a weakness [he] can’t afford” (178).
He pets Pipsqueak, the first horse he has touched since his father’s death. He finds her presence therapeutic, as it lets him feel connected to his father. When Billie drops Violet off, Violet teases Cole about his professed dislike of horses. Violet admits to feeling out of place in the owner’s box, and Cole admits to his past relationship with Hilary. He confides that he and Hilary maintained a long-distance engagement while he was deployed but that she broke it off with him after he returned from service because the reality of the man (experiencing the dual traumas of losing his father and serving in a war) differed from the image she desired.
Violet admits her fear that Cole would reveal her past as Pretty_in_Purple. He apologizes for causing this fear and explains that he’s angry with himself, not her, as he “scared away the only real friend” he has had in years (186). He privately thinks that “friendship” underestimates her importance to him but kisses her cheek and asserts that he still sees her as a friend. Though he’s still attracted to her, he maintains an emotional distance out of fear that loving her while she works as a jockey would compromise his mental health.
Later that night, Cole wakes from a nightmare about a friend’s death during their military service. Violet hears him cry out and goes to check on him. He accepts her offer to stay with him while he sleeps, and he wakes after uncommonly good sleep sorry to see her gone.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Violet”
In the flashback timeline, Violet and Cole continue talking; she references an event from Off to the Races in which DD, Billie’s horse, suffered from dangerous colic. Cole and Violet’s banter continues to allude to their sexual interest in one another. This time, Violet sends him a suggestive photo.
In the narrative present, Violet exercises under Cole’s direction. Her attraction to him has heightened since she slept in his bed, making her feel awkward around him. When he massages her after a challenging workout, the sexual tension between them builds until they kiss. Eventually, he pulls away, commenting that he doesn’t “do […] physical contact. Relationships. Any of it” (200). When he confirms that he has been celibate for years, Violet assumes that he still has feelings for Hilary.
Violet gets her cast off and goes to ride DD, happy to finally have permission to ride. Though she’s thrilled by this development, thoughts of Cole distract her. She spends time with Pipsqueak, thinking about how the horse “brought Cole around” (203). He now feeds Pipsqueak daily. Violet finds his attentiveness to the horse endearing. She laments the awkwardness between them.
Violet mounts Pipsqueak for the first time, and when Cole arrives shortly after, he scolds her for mounting an untried horse, alone, immediately after her cast was removed. Though Violet knows his logic is sound, she reacts defensively.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Cole”
In the flashback timeline, Cole admires the naked picture that Violet sent him. On video chat, Cole sees Violet’s face for the first time and finds her beautiful. He doesn’t show himself but lets her hear his voice. Violet follows his orders regarding positioning as they have phone sex.
When Violet is absent from the farmhouse, Cole worries and then grows upset when he realizes that she moved out without saying anything. Though he initially disliked having her live with him, he now “craves” it. He blames her abrupt departure on his shift between revealing his attraction and then acting cold around her. He goes to her apartment and confesses his worry. He’s hurt when she refers to their relationship as a friendship but doesn’t correct her. They agree to go hiking the following day, which gives Cole hope that he “didn’t run her off after all” (217).
The next day, they go hiking. They joke about Violet accidentally calling Cole attractive, and his laughter makes things more comfortable between them. As they approach a lookout point, while he’s considering taking a risk and letting himself grow close to Violet, he collapses. (The next chapter reveals that he has a prosthetic leg, which was damaged.)
Chapters 12-16 Analysis
Most of the narrative attention of A Photo Finish focuses on Cole and Violet’s emotional stakes and mental health progress rather than any external barriers to their relationship. This portion of the text shows the clearest interference from an external antagonist when Patrick Cassel sexually harasses Violet, physically grabbing her and making inappropriate comments. This scene suggests that the villainy Cassel demonstrates goes beyond Cassel himself. When Cole confronts Cassel about his violence, Cassel scoffs, disbelieving that Cole would care about a “barn brat” like Violet, and justifies his actions by claiming that it’s commonplace for senior, male jockeys to pressure junior, female jockeys into having sex with them. In exchange, the senior jockeys offer support to the junior jockeys’ careers, implying that if a junior jockey refuses to do so, the senior jockey would block the junior jockey’s professional successes.
Cassel’s framing suggests that gender discrimination and classism are both endemic to horse racing. Violet’s comments throughout the novel, including her discomfort when she’s in the owner’s box instead of down in the barn, indicate that she already knows these prejudices are omnipresent in the horse racing world. Even so, she’s rattled by Cassel’s obvious and aggressive attack. Violet’s fear after Cassel’s threats indicate that the threat of sexual violence is a form of violence in itself, making people (particularly those with less power) fear for their safety. For Violet, each point of disenfranchisement—being a woman jockey in a male-dominated sport and a woman from a blue-collar background in the ultra-wealthy world of horse racing—increases her vulnerability to predators like Cassel. Cole’s position as a wealthy man aids him in chasing off Cassel, though his own emotional limitations cause him to fail in following through on her emotional state.
In Chapter 14, Cole is the one who realizes the benefits of working with animals when he grows increasingly fond of Pipsqueak, further developing the theme of Therapeutic Relationships With Animals. Being around Pipsqueak makes him feel close to his father, whom he still misses intensely. He also finds Pipsqueak’s comfort valuable for its own sake, particularly because the horse asks for nothing in return.
However, even though Cole’s reparative relationship with Pipsqueak helps him confront the grief that he experiences upon his return to Gold Rush Ranch, Cole fears that letting himself grow closer to Violet will compromise his progress in regaining mental health, which he has worked hard to achieve. His mature approach to protecting his emotional progress thematically underscores The Complexities of Grief. Nevertheless, his alternating warmness and reticence send Violet mixed signals.
Though Cole frequently struggles to embrace emotional healing as a process, his protectiveness over his mental health shows that he understands that it’s a long journey, even if he doesn’t yet embrace that it’s one that doesn’t have a concrete destination. His dedication to the process, evident in his slow acceptance of changes that could challenge it, like his feelings for Violet and his hesitation to fight Cassel, thematically illustrates The Merit of Progress Over Perfection in Mental Healthcare.
In the flashback timeline, Cole and Violet’s relationship becomes sexual after a year of flirtation. While they both find their singular experience with phone sex thrilling and satisfying, it ultimately brings them to a conflicting boundary in their relationship that neither can surpass. Violet can’t handle being in an intimate relationship (both emotionally and sexually) without receiving adequate reciprocation; however, Cole isn’t confident enough to show his body, given his anxieties about his amputation, foreshadowing his revealing this to Violet in the next section. Their conflicting boundary leads them to decide neither mutual desire nor the mutual admiration they’ve developed during their year of friendship is a sufficient basis to build a lasting relationship. Instead, the novel proposes that caring for a partner is just one element in the larger project of building a successful relationship.
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