Maybe Now
48 pages • 1-hour read
Colleen HooverMaybe Now
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Chapter 24-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 24 Summary: “Ridge”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content.
Ridge wakes up at Sydney’s after spending several nights at her apartment. He’s sorry he has to return to his apartment tomorrow and silently hopes for the day he and Sydney will move in together. The two spend the day together, talking and sharing songs. Ridge reveals how many of his songs are about her, which flatters Sydney. Then Sydney opens up about “changing [her] major” from music to psychology (311). Ridge loves the idea because he thinks Sydney would make a great therapist. They text their friends and make plans to visit the caves the next day.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Maggie”
On Saturday, Maggie worries about seeing Jake. Sydney notices she’s anxious and reassures her. When Jake arrives, Maggie brings him into her room so they can talk before he meets her friends. She explains that she used to date Ridge and that they are in his apartment. She also explains that she’s moving into a new apartment soon.
Jake is thoughtful and understanding. He assures Maggie he wants to be there and doesn’t feel uncomfortable if she’s okay with the setup. Then Jake tells her about his medical conference that morning, sharing facts about how the brain and heart communicate. The two share a passionate kiss. Maggie is overwhelmed by emotion and relieved to be with Jake again.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Jake”
Jake and Maggie join her friends in the kitchen. Jake feels momentarily anxious and jealous thinking about meeting Ridge. He also feels confused when Bridgette is cold towards him and reveals that Maggie dated Warren, too. However, he relaxes when he meets Warren, Sydney, and Ridge, and they’re all kind to him. A call from Chrissy interrupts the conversation—she got called into work and needs Jake to come back to watch Justice. Jake apologizes to Maggie and heads home, promising to call her that night.
Jake calls Maggie that evening. They end the call when Justice comes into the room. He and Jake talk about relationships and then watch a movie.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Sydney”
A few days later, Sydney drives home from work feeling energized. She rolls down the windows and sings to the radio while reflecting on everything she, Ridge, and their friends have been through.
That evening, Ridge cooks Sydney dinner, and they discuss a possible trip to Dallas. Sydney suggests they stop at her parents’ house so she can introduce Ridge. He’s flattered but requests that she tell them he’s deaf so that they have “a heads-up.” Then he takes Sydney to his bedroom and surprises her with a keyboard. The couple writes a new song and dances together.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Ridge”
When Sydney asks to borrow some socks, Ridge panics. He tries to stop her from opening the sock drawer, but she finds the engagement ring inside before he can.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Maggie”
Jake invites Maggie over, telling her to let herself in with the spare key. He gets stuck at work. While waiting, Maggie cleans his whole house and cooks him dinner. When he returns, they have sex before eating.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Sydney”
Sydney is overwhelmed when she finds the ring. Ridge explains that the ring belonged to Maggie’s grandfather, who gave it to Ridge three years ago. He hasn’t known what to do with it since and didn’t want to upset Maggie by giving it to her after they broke up. Sydney is understanding, assuring Ridge that although she might want to marry him someday, they’re not ready yet. She suggests that Ridge give the ring to Jake because he and Maggie seem to be falling in love.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Jake”
Maggie spends the night at Jake’s. In the morning, he makes them breakfast and begs Maggie to stay another day. When he returns home from work the following night, Maggie starts packing up her things, but Jake insists that she stay longer. Maggie doesn’t think it’d be a good idea. Jake argues that she should forget the rules and live in the moment. Maggie gives in, and they have sex. Afterward, they agree to start officially dating. Justice and his friend Cody’s arrival interrupts them. Jake insists she meet Justice, and they immediately get along.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Sydney”
Three months later, Sydney, Bridgette, and Maggie get ready to go out together. Sounds of Cedar is playing, and they’re all attending. At the venue, Ridge tells Sydney he gave Jake Maggie’s ring. Sydney watches Maggie and Jake during the show, thrilled that they’re in love. She reflects on her and Ridge’s and Warren and Bridgette’s relationships and starts tearing up.
Chapter 33 Summary: “Ridge”
Ridge performs another song for Sydney. Afterward, he’s confused when he sees Sydney going on stage. He’s overwhelmed with emotion when Sydney signs one of the songs she wrote for him.
The friends convene in the crowd and tease Sydney about her lyrics—they think the song was implying she wants Ridge to propose. Bridgette insists that if anyone should get engaged, it’s Maggie because she has the least time. Jake runs out to the car, gets the ring, comes back inside, and proposes to Maggie; she accepts. Then Warren proposes to Bridgette, and she accepts, too. Sydney and Ridge decide they should get engaged as well because then the six of them can go to Vegas and all get married together.
Epilogue Summary: “Sydney”
Sydney writes a letter to her unborn child. She tells the baby all about her and Ridge’s relationship and everything she wishes for the baby’s life.
Chapter 24-Epilogue Analysis
The final chapters of Maybe Now resolve the novel’s overarching conflicts and round out Hoover’s thematic explorations. Throughout the novel, Sydney, Ridge, Maggie, Jake, Warren, and Bridgette struggle to get along. Their relationship histories, past mistakes, and personal frustrations have complicated their ability to communicate clearly. Over time, however, they begin to realize that because their lives are all interconnected, they must find new ways to maintain their friendships while advocating for themselves. In these chapters, the characters pursue connectivity and healing by spending time together outside the context of their apartments, investing in one another’s dreams, and supporting one another’s relationships.
The repeated references to Sydney and Ridge’s songs throughout these closing chapters reiterate their redemptive love for one another. The couple’s passion for lyric-writing also facilitates the novel’s themes of the Importance of Communication in Relationships and The Value of Self-Love and Self-Discovery. Both Sydney and Ridge use lyric-writing and music-making to express themselves. When they aren’t sharing signed, verbal, or textual conversation, they are working on writing songs for one another. This practice brings Sydney and Ridge closer and gives them a new, creative way to translate their deep emotions into art. At the same time, Sydney’s and Ridge’s songs also help them claim and communicate vital parts of their identities. The scene in Chapter 33, where Ridge performs and Sydney signs a song, illustrates this dynamic. Sydney is performing a song she wrote, an expression of her true self and authentic feelings, in ASL. Using sign language lets her communicate her love for Ridge in a way that’s meaningful to him. This applies to Ridge’s performance as well. Both characters are using music to retain their individuality and to connect as a couple.
The scene where all the characters attend the concert and get engaged at the venue offers the novel a neat, happily-ever-after ending. Throughout Maybe Now, each of the characters has had hesitations about their relationships. Ridge has been afraid of hurting Sydney by maintaining his friendship with Maggie. Sydney has worried about hurting Maggie by rapidly pursuing a passionate relationship with Ridge. Warren and Bridgette have tried to sustain their dynamic while navigating the complexities of their friends’ and roommates’ intimate dynamics. Maggie has been hesitant about embracing a relationship with Jake because of her cystic fibrosis and recent breakup with Ridge. However, by the novel’s end, all the characters have learned to give themselves over to love in a raw and life-giving way. When they all decide to get engaged, they are all looking forward to the future with excitement and hope.
The characters’ body language at the music venue imagistically conveys their newfound love for one another. Warren “wraps [his arm] around Bridgette’s waist” while she “looks up at him and he smiles down at her” (393). Jake stands behind Maggie “with his arms wrapped around” (393). Ridge “moves closer behind [Sydney] and wraps his arms around [her], lifting one hand to [her] chest” (394). All three of the couples are in close physical proximity. Their bodies are literally threaded around one another, showing their trust, care, and connection to each other. This imagery conveys the novel’s overarching notion that this is “the beauty of love”: “It comes in so many different forms, shapes, sizes, textures. And it’s ever changing” (393). Each couple’s relationship provides an alternate iteration of love and intimacy and proves that love is multivalent.
The Epilogue offers the reader a glimpse into the characters’ future lives. Because Sydney is writing to her baby while she is pregnant, the section takes the epistolary form and employs first-person direct address. The epistolary form also affects an intimate tone, and Sydney can communicate her thoughts, feelings, reflections, and hopes in a private context. By writing the Epilogue in this form, Hoover implies that Sydney and Ridge’s relationship has withstood the proverbial test of time and that the two are looking forward to the next phase of their lives together. This section also reinforces tropes of the contemporary romance genre. In particular, the novel’s ending implies that real happiness (the characters’ happily ever after) begins after marriage.
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