Teresa McNair, Flo’s 51-year-old neighbor, is the novel’s deuteragonist. Initially lonely, she gains greater emotional openness under Flo’s mentorship. She follows a profession as a death doula (a nonmedical professional who comforts and guides people throughout the dying process), but this vocation creates a central irony in the novel, for although she offers a “grounding and consistent presence” (4) to the dying, and is adept at helping others face the end of life, she remains deeply fearful of embracing the beginnings of intimacy in her own life. This disconnect reveals a woman who has walled off her heart, finding it safer to manage the controlled, finite intimacy of her job than to risk the unpredictable nature of a romantic relationship.

Her friendship with Flo begins serendipitously over an escaped cat but soon becomes the catalyst for her own transformation. The front-porch conversations between the two women form the heart of the narrative’s present action, illustrating The Importance of Fostering Intergenerational Connection. Flo recognizes Teresa’s loneliness despite the woman’s capable exterior and gently challenges her new friend’s defenses. Teresa initially insists she is fine being alone, but Flo’s persistent, kindhearted probing eventually allows Teresa to admit her deep-seated fear of disappointment and her yearning for a “wonderful” romance. Flo’s encouragement empowers Teresa to pursue a relationship with Jim, the grocery store cashier, and Teresa eventually takes a romantic risk by showing him the stars and expressing her feelings. This bold act marks the beginning of her emotional healing.

Ultimately, Teresa serves as Flo’s student, her final companion, and the executor of her last wishes. She bears witness to Flo’s final chapter, learning important lessons on how to live and how to die. By the end of the novel, Teresa has formed a new circle of friends with Mildred and Mimi, a support system that Flo helped create. Teresa’s decision to give her letter to the new owners of the house demonstrates that she has fully absorbed Flo’s lessons about building a legacy and passing kindness forward. Her journey thus supports Flo’s belief that it is never too late to have important realizations in life.

Terrence Greene, Flo’s late husband, is present in her frequent memories and is therefore a key character whose presence permeates the novel despite his absence from the present timeline. He is depicted as a man who was simultaneously practical and romantic, flawed and loving. By revealing his wartime affair with a French woman named Simone and the son he fathered by her, Flo does not seek to present an idealized version of her husband. Instead, she acknowledges his strengths and flaws alike, and his secret serves as the narrative’s most significant conflict and the source of its central moral lesson. His confession and remorse also allow the novel to conduct a deeper exploration of forgiveness and the intricacies of maintaining a lifelong partnership.

Despite Terrence’s major transgression, Flo’s memories of him focus predominantly on his consistent, quiet demonstrations of love. These moments are almost always tied to physical belongings, making him a key figure in the novel’s focus on The Meaning in Everyday Objects. He is the man who uses a rubber band to illustrate that his and Flo’s love will always snap back into shape after a fight. He demonstrates the everyday kindness to go back to a restaurant and buy a cheap toothpick dispenser simply because Flo wanted it, and he lovingly draws a heart on the shell of a hard-boiled egg that he packs in her lunch for a train ride. These small, thoughtful acts of kindness reveal his deep attunement to Flo’s happiness. His love, as Flo recalls, was “light as a feather and heavy as an anvil both at the same time” (90). Through these memories, Flo lets go of her husband’s one transgression and focuses on his lifetime of small, successful expressions of love.

Ruth Eimers, known as Ruthie, is the recipient of Flo’s long letter and therefore serves as the narrative’s primary catalyst even though she is largely absent from the present-day action. Throughout Flo’s reflections, Ruthie’s indirect presence is constant as the intended audience for Floe’s life story. Their relationship, which began when Ruthie was a child and continued through decades of correspondence, exemplifies the theme of The Importance of Fostering Intergenerational Connection. Flo views Ruthie as a surrogate daughter, and the letter is her final act of motherly guidance. Ruthie’s own marital crisis, a planned divorce from her husband, Jonathan, provides the frame for Flo’s narrative, and she reveals her deepest secret about Terrence’s infidelity purely to offer Ruthie a lesson on the complexities of marriage, the importance of forgiveness, and the danger of discarding a relationship that can be repaired.

In her epilogue letter to Teresa, Ruthie shows that she has absorbed Flo’s lessons. While she cannot move into the house herself, she demonstrates a strong understanding of Flo’s values by asking for specific items imbued with meaning: the Mrs. Hen mug, the teddy bear, and the white box with the rubber band. Her choice to preserve these story-laden objects confirms that Flo’s legacy has been successfully transferred. By returning the letter for Teresa to read, she also participates in the cycle of sharing wisdom that Flo initiated. Though her final decision about her marriage remains unknown, her actions suggest she has been changed by Flo’s final words.

Jim is the kind, unassuming grocery store cashier who becomes Teresa’s love interest. A flat but essential character, he represents the potential for real, gentle love that Teresa has long avoided. His character is defined by simple, good-hearted traits: He has a pet parakeet named Zelda, volunteers at a soup kitchen, and saves up money to buy an electric bike. Because these qualities stand in stark contrast to the dramatic, fairytale romance that Teresa admits to fantasizing about, the novel suggests that true happiness can only really be found in genuine, everyday kindness. Jim’s quiet persistence in asking Teresa for coffee—and his warm reception of her spontaneous nighttime stargazing trip—shows his patience and emotional availability, and he provides Teresa with a space for pursuing her most deeply held wishes for sharing an intimate connection with a true partner.

Mildred Curtis, Flo’s 82-year-old neighbor, is a former actress who challenges the many conventional and uncomplimentary ideas about aging. As a vivid, adventurous, and creative woman who actively seeks new experiences, she spontaneously goes ice skating on a frozen lake at 1:00 in the morning, then writes about the experience for a publication. As she tells Flo, “When we age, we forget that we must keep on making new memories” (61), and this philosophy reinforces the novel’s focus on living fully at every stage of life. Mildred represents an alternative path of aging, one defined by vitality and a refusal to be limited by convention.

Mimi is the pragmatic, helpful librarian who assists Flo with her research into online dating for Teresa. She provides a modern, realistic perspective on finding love in middle age, admitting that her own experiences have been disappointing but affirming that it is never too late to try. As a woman in her fifties who is actively seeking companionship, she mirrors Teresa’s situation, but with a more direct and hopeful approach. She represents the community of women who share similar struggles and emphasizes the importance of friendship as a source of support. Her inclusion in the tea party at Mildred’s house solidifies her role in the new social network that will sustain Teresa after Flo is gone.