All We Ever Wanted

Tom receives a call from Kirk, who tries to “repair what [his] son has done” (95). Although Tom is apprehensive, he agrees to meet with Kirk in a few days. When he arrives at the Browning household, Tom still feels angered about the situation and seeing their house causes him to resent their wealth. He immediately feels as though Kirk is a selfish, wealthy man who does not care about anything other than himself.

Kirk says Nina will not be attending their meeting, and Tom feels as though Kirk is being condescending toward him. Tom asks if his son is named after Atticus Finch. When Kirk claims To Kill a Mockingbird is his wife’s favorite book, Tom claims it is his as well. Kirk attempts to convince Tom that Finch has been a wreck about his actions and that he has been struggling to eat and sleep. When the racist caption comes up, Kirk asks if Lyla is even Hispanic. He lights up when Tom says no before Tom reveals that she is Brazilian. Kirk tells Tom that he thinks the best way to rectify this situation is privately, and he offers to give Tom money for “any distress this may have caused” (103). Tom takes the money and leaves the Browning house.

Before Tom arrives at their house, Nina leaves to run errands to try to distract herself. She thinks about why she loves Kirk.

After the meeting, Kirk calls to tell Nina it went well and to ask her to meet him for lunch. She asks to not meet at the country club because the people there make her feel uncomfortable, and they decide to meet at another restaurant. Kirk tells Nina that he thinks Tom has agreed to keep quiet because he took the money. He gave Tom $15,000 to not pursue any actions with the school; he claims that the money is a large sum for someone like a carpenter. Kirk wants to keep this from Finch, but Nina disagrees and is appalled at her husband’s actions.

Kirk agrees that Finch should apologize to Lyla. Nina also wants them both to have a conversation with Finch about his actions. She feels he has been avoiding her.

Nina searches for Tom and Lyla online. She feels ashamed of her own extravagant life after she sees their house and middle-class lifestyle. She writes Tom an email asking him to meet her. She feels as though “more needs to be said and done to make things right” (113). He responds quickly and agrees to meet with her the following day. They meet at a coffee shop, and he asks her if they have met before. Nina quickly tells him no and apologizes for how Kirk decided to handle things. She says that she wishes this would go before the honor board, and reassures him that Walter would not make any decisions in favor of Finch because she and Kirk are large donors to the school. Tom thinks otherwise.

Nina surprises Tom when she asks about Lyla’s well-being. She tells Tom she is in part responsible for her son’s actions because she is his mother.

After their meeting, she goes to eat pizza and turns down Finch and Kirk’s offer at getting an early dinner. She thinks about her marriage, and even further back to her time in college at Vanderbilt. On a night out with her friends, Nina was raped by a boy named Zach. She was scared that her long-distance boyfriend, Teddy, would not want her anymore for not being a virgin. At the time, she believed that she would marry Teddy.

Julie tried to get her to report the rape, but Nina did not want to. As she thinks about this, she associates her son with Zach and Lyla with herself.

Tom thinks about how he enjoys his career as a carpenter, but he quickly loses his concentration and focuses on Nina. He thought he would hate Nina as much as Kirk. However, after their conversation, he discovers that he finds her attractive and nice. He tries to convince himself that she was acting to manipulate him. He realizes that he remembers Nina from another house that he was doing work on a few years prior and their brief interaction inside the house.

Nina sends Tom an email thanking him for his time, and suggests another meeting to allow Finch an opportunity to apologize to Lyla. They have a short conversation about their first meeting at Melanie’s house. Tom tells her that he will talk to Lyla before he agrees to a meeting.

Nina knows that “secrets” get out quickly in the Windsor community, but she still hopes that there would not be much conversation regarding Finch and Lyla. Although Nina only ever talked to Melanie about the situation, people have been texting her nonstop to check on her family. Melanie keeps sending her screenshots of conversations people are having about it as well.

Melanie soon comes over to Nina’s house. She tells her that another woman, Kathie, has been spreading a rumor that Beau and Lyla had sex after Finch took the picture. Melanie is appalled that this rumor is being spread, and claims that Lyla is neither Beau nor Finch’s type. She calls her a “mulatto” (145), and Nina corrects her. Melanie ridicules Lyla and her family, and Nina attempts to defend them.

Melanie and Nina discuss her conversation with Tom. Melanie says that she feels hurt that Nina kept this meeting from her. Melanie is concerned that Tom will try to come after them since the party happened at her house. Nina also learns from Melanie that Finch and Polly have broken up. Melanie tells Nina that she needs to focus more on Finch and less on Lyla.

Tom emails Nina back and agrees to let Finch and Lyla talk at his house the following day. Immediately after replying to Tom, Kirk calls Nina to tell her that Tom will be moving forward with going before the honor board. Nina talks to Finch about the honor board meeting, and he tells her that Kirk told him not to talk to Lyla at all. Nina tells him that she will be taking him to apologize the next day. She tries and fails to talk to him more about his life.