Girls’ Night, the fictional girl group that Florence was part of as a teenager, acts as a motif for The Negative Personal Impacts of Regret and Jealousy. Florence’s feelings about the group and her time as a part of it are symbolic of her evolving character over the course of the novel. The novel is bookended by Florence waking up “with a Girls’ Night song stuck in [her] head” (3). In Chapter 1, the song she thinks of is “The Quake,” underscoring her belief that Girls’ Night represents the defining missed opportunity of her life. She notes that the song “never took off like the label had hoped” (1) due to unfortunate timing: There was a fatal earthquake the week it was released, which dampened sales. Florence views the unfortunate timing as emblematic of her experience in the group: She was asked to leave right before it took off due to circumstances largely outside of her control.

At the end of the novel, Florence once again wakes with a Girls’ Night song stuck in her head. However, instead of fixating on the details, the lyrics float away from her “like the ribbon on a helium balloon drifting up, up, and away” (353). Literally, these lyrics describe Florence’s altered mental state when she awakes from her coma. Metaphorically, they represent her decision to finally let go of her past regrets and anxieties about her time in the group. She awakes to her son, Dylan, and later, Jenny, at her bedside. By releasing herself from her past, she can better appreciate and cultivate her current relationships.