Claire Cavanaugh is another of the novel’s primary characters. Her mother is Eliana Smith, her father is Sam, her sister is Meg, and her daughter is Ali. In the narrative present, she’s “a thirty-five-year-old single mother who has never been married” (29). Not long after leaving home for school, Claire flunked out of her college program and returned to Hayden. “Originally, [she] meant to stay a month or so,” but she soon “stepped in to help [Sam]” run the family resort (26), River’s Edge Resort. This isn’t the life Claire imagined for herself, but she’s come to appreciate her humble lifestyle and invest in her tight-knit community. She loves Ali and Sam and finds the Hayden area beautiful. At the same time, Claire is often lonely and wishes she had opportunities to date or be herself. Therefore, when she meets and falls in love with Bobby Jack Austin, her life changes rapidly.

Claire is loving, kind-hearted, and generous. While Claire has opinions and feelings of her own, she often tampers down her internal experience to make room for others. This is particularly true in the context of her relationship with Meg. Meg has always been the more dominant of the two sisters. When Meg resurfaces in Claire’s life in the narrative present, Claire finds herself reverting to the deferential little girl she used to be in Meg’s company. As Gina explains to Meg in Chapter 12, “when [Claire] hurts the most, she turns into Polly Politeness. She’s really nice, but the temperature in the rooms drops about twenty-five degrees” (170). Claire demonstrates this behavior when she tries to make room for Meg in her life. She invites her to participate in her wedding planning but often feels frustrated into silence by Meg’s domineering, opinionated nature. Over time, she learns to stand up to Meg and voice her feelings so that Meg might see her.

Claire’s relationship with Bobby helps her redefine what love means to her. Before falling in love with Bobby, Claire understands love according to her relationships with Sam and Ali. Sam has offered her the parental care she never got from Mama and remains a fixture in her life. Meanwhile, she’s built her entire reality and identity around Ali; she’s afraid of turning into her mother and thus constantly sacrifices her needs for Ali’s sake. These patterns of behavior have complicated her ability to seek out romantic love. With Bobby, however, she is overwhelmed by immediate feelings. She throws herself into the relationship because their love feels comprehensive and true.

Claire proves her ultimate strength of character via her experience with cancer. Although she’s temporarily convinced that Meg’s efforts to find her help will be for naught, she ultimately fights for her life for Meg’s, Ali’s, and Bobby’s sake. She has discovered the power of love and the beauty of life through these relationships—neither of which she wants to lose. She survives her treatment and surgery and emerges a more confident individual by the novel’s end.

Joe Wyatt is the novel’s third primary character. Sequences from his storyline are braided with concurrent sequences from Meg’s and Claire’s storylines throughout Between Sisters. At the start of the novel, Joe has been wandering around the Pacific Northwest for three years. His late wife, Diana, had cancer and begged Joe to assist her death by suicide. Joe obliged because Diana was in pain and because he loved her. However, his involvement in her death alienated Joe in his Hayden and Seattle communities, made him subject to a legal case, and has disrupted his mental health ever since. He felt incapable of facing what happened and thus fled his life to be on the road. Three years later, he finds this peripatetic lifestyle unsustainable and returns home to Hayden to start anew.

Joe’s return to Hayden catalyzes his personal growth journey and Pursuit of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. In going back to his hometown, he is taking a risk. He knows that the community might not welcome him back, that Diana’s parents might not forgive him, and that his sister Gina might be upset with him for leaving; even still, he returns to Hayden so that he can begin moving forward.

Joe’s unexpected relationship with Meg contributes to his evolution. When they first start sleeping together, Joe has no interest in pursuing a long-term relationship; he and Meg are both looking for physical comfort. However, he develops a surprising connection with Meg. The more often they have sex and the more time they spend together, the more Joe realizes that he might open his heart again. While she’s nothing like Diana, Meg offers Joe the love, comfort, support, and renewal he’s been seeking. She meets him where he is, even before understanding his whole story and thus compels him to imagine a life beyond his sorrow. Indeed, it is “because of her that [Joe] dare[s]—at last—to go to town” (329), face his fears, and make amends with Diana’s parents.

Joe reclaims his personal and vocational life when Meg asks him to help with Claire’s cancer treatment. Joe is initially reluctant to get involved in the medical field again. He was a skilled radiologist but swore off this life after Diana’s death. However, because he loves Meg, he braves the hospital walls once more. In doing so, he not only faces his fears and finds forgiveness and grace from his former colleagues; he also makes a sacrifice for his loved ones and facilitates Claire’s survival.

Sam is a minor character. He is Eliana’s ex-husband, Claire’s father, and Ali’s grandfather. When Eliana got pregnant with Claire, she didn’t inform Sam and walked out on him. Sam didn’t find out that he was a father until Meg tracked him down and drove her and Claire to Hayden to live with him. Sam welcomed Claire into his life; he was angry and heartbroken over Eliana, but he immediately offered Claire unconditional paternal love. He tried to make a place for Meg in this new family structure, too, but Meg was restless and often misbehaved. In the narrative present, Meg still feels hurt that Sam threatened to kick her out if she didn’t change her attitude. She felt rejected by Sam and excluded from his and Claire’s relationship. However, Sam welcomes Meg back into his life when she resurfaces in Hayden in the narrative present. He’s not only patient with her but openly confronts his mistakes from years prior; he also begs for Meg’s forgiveness and invites her into his family.

Sam is a static character. His unchanged personality is a sign of his stability. He is indeed a fixture in Claire and Ali’s lives. His immutable character offers Claire, Ali, and later Meg a person they can count on no matter what challenges life brings.