Tess’s husband, Graham, is the novel’s static antagonist. Unlike Tess, who finds herself throughout the novel, Graham remains the same: devious, duplicitous, and dissembling. In a power move, he burns Tess’s breakfast every morning, as though he enjoys obligating her to choke down nearly inedible food. Then, when she inevitably offers her bacon to Ziggy, Graham chastises her—as though she were a naughty or misbehaving child—for feeding the dog from the table.

Furthermore, his repeated insistence that she loves pomegranate juice when she never does suggests that he relishes her disgust and distress whenever she takes a sip. When Camila tells Tess that she hates that juice, Tess recalls the “little smile lingering on his lips [when she drank it]. Like he was amused by the whole thing” (242). It also gives him a chance to say—with apparent concern for her well-being—that perhaps they should take a trip to the doctor. He knows that Tess hates going to the doctor because it reminds her of her mother’s death, and that the threat of a doctor’s visit will render Tess more compliant. His main goal is to keep her biddable and obedient so that he can continue to run and profit from her company.

Graham’s financial gain is his motivation. In the end, Tess says, “I can tell from the look in his eyes that he will fight me [for my company] until I’m dead” (318). He doesn’t care about her, her health, or her happiness, as the Epilogue most blatantly reveals. When he drugs her a month before the start of the novel, he says, “Things were perfect the way they were. You’ve been the perfect wife since you’ve been sick. You stay home all day and you let me manage the business” (33). Thus, to Graham, the “perfect wife” is yielding and submissive, who lets him control the finances and never questions his right to do so. He even keeps Tess in the dark about her cancer’s remission because he doesn’t want to lose access to everything she built.

Tess’s ex-fiancé, Harry, is a static character who doesn’t undergo any significant changes throughout the text. He tells Tess that she contacted him about a month before the start of the narrative, though only Graham could know why she chose to do this until the novel’s Epilogue. Aside from Lucy’s story about Harry kissing her, Harry proves completely trustworthy, a foil for Tess’s manipulative and deceptive husband.

Whereas Graham claims that he “deserves” to run My Home Spa and exploits Tess’s diagnosis and depression to gain control of her company, Harry never suggests that he has a right to what she built. Graham cares only about financial gain and not about Tess, repeatedly cheating on her, while Harry hasn’t been with anyone since his split from Tess seven years ago. When they meet at the dog park, he tells her, “There’s never been anyone else but you” (154). He’s loyal to her, always trying to look out for her best interests.

In addition, Harry is willing to work for Tess, on her behalf, to ensure that Graham doesn’t completely exploit her. He spoke to doctors to learn if her memory loss is typical of head injuries like hers and learned that such a symptom is more consistent with being drugged. Furthermore, he never explicitly badmouths Lucy to Tess, even though he knows Lucy is a liar and a toxic friend. When Tess fails to answer his texts for a day, he comes to the house—endangering himself due to the restraining order—to check on her. Intuitively, Tess seems to understand that Harry genuinely loves her, since she named Ziggy after his pet bird, and she never completely accepts that she’s no longer engaged to him and instead chose to marry Graham. This is just another way that the novel confirms the reliability of Tess’s intuition.