48 pages • 1-hour read
Maybe Now
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Chapters 17-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “Sydney”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Outside Ridge’s apartment complex, Sydney runs into Tori. Tori stops to say hello, suggesting they get coffee. Sydney declines the offer and explains how much Tori hurt her.
Back inside Ridge’s apartment, Sydney notices Brennan composing his own impromptu lyrics. Ridge isn’t in the room, so Sydney asks Brennan why he lets Ridge do all the writing when he’s just as talented. She encourages him to write his own lyrics, too.
Bridgette appears in a panic and begs for Sydney’s help. She’s worried that she’s pregnant and wants to take several tests. Sydney stays with her until she gets a negative result and then joins Ridge in his room. He thanks her for being so kind to his friends.
The next morning, Sydney and Warren go out for breakfast. Warren takes her to a hotel, where they sneak in and eat the continental breakfast. He admits he’s taken Maggie there before, and Sydney stiffens. Warren reminds her that Maggie will always be in Ridge’s life and urges her to talk to Maggie. Sydney realizes he’s right. Back at the apartment, she leaves a sleeping Ridge a note and drives to San Antonio to see Maggie.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Maggie”
Maggie spends the morning thinking about her mom and grandparents. Shortly after Maggie was diagnosed, Maggie’s mom moved to France, leaving her with her grandparents and making excuses for not bringing Maggie along. She visited during the holidays but never stayed long. One year, Maggie overheard her grandmother urging her mom to move home and build a relationship with Maggie before it was too late. Maggie’s mother insisted Maggie would die before that happened. Afterward, Maggie told her grandmother she didn’t want to see her mom anymore, and when she was 14, her mom died of a heart attack overseas. Two years later, her grandmother died, and now her grandfather’s health is failing.
Thinking about Ridge and Jake, Maggie wonders if her recent behavior is related to her relationship with her mom. A knock on the door interrupts Maggie’s thoughts. She’s shocked to see Sydney waiting outside and hesitantly invites her in.
Sydney calmly explains why she’s there. She apologizes for kissing Ridge when they were still together and getting upset about the Instagram post. She suggests they work things out so they can all get along and make things easier for Ridge and Warren, who are still Maggie’s primary caretakers. Maggie admits Sydney is right and agrees to apologize to Ridge for everything that’s happened.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Ridge”
Ridge and Sydney spend the night apart so that Sydney can focus on work and school. Maggie shows up at Ridge’s unannounced, and he texts Sydney to let her know. Maggie tells Ridge that her grandfather died and that Sydney visited her. She also apologizes for getting mad at him and suggests they work out an arrangement to ensure they can still be friends and help each other. They talk about love and relationships, too. Although he is sad about her grandfather, Ridge is happy when Maggie reveals she has met someone she likes. They agree, at Sydney’s suggestion, to hang out with Sydney, Warren, and Bridgette so they can all discuss their situation.
Ridge finds Sydney at the library where she works. They talk about their respective conversations with Maggie and share a passionate kiss. Then Ridge writes MINE on Sydney’s hand so that she knows he loves her.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Sydney”
Sydney and Ridge drive to Maggie’s house a few days later. The MINE on her hand has barely faded. Sydney reflects on her relationship with Ridge and their upcoming conversation with his friends.
The friends meet up at Maggie’s, and Warren and Bridgette join them, too. Over a lasagna Maggie made, the friends talk about their situation. Bridgette doesn’t like the idea of Ridge and Warren staying involved in Maggie’s life, but eventually gives in. They all agree it would be best for Maggie to find an apartment in their complex so that Ridge and Warren can more easily help Maggie. Sydney thinks it’s a great plan. Back at home afterward, Ridge thanks Sydney for being so kind and generous. They hug and kiss and reflect on how much has changed in the past year.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Ridge”
Ridge and Warren help Maggie move her things into their apartment—she’s staying with them for a few days until her new unit opens up. Outside, the friends discuss how they feel about the arrangement. Ridge knows it’s strange but admits that Sydney is handling it well. He’s even more thrilled when she texts all the friends—including Maggie—asking if they want anything from Dairy Queen. Back inside, Ridge finds Maggie’s bucket list. He’s surprised by everything she wants to do and feels sorry she can’t have more adventures. He’s also surprised to see she has already checked three things off the list. Sydney joins him and reads the list, too.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Sydney”
Sydney reflects on all the places she’s gone and the memories she’s made after reading Maggie’s bucket list. She finds Maggie in her room, and they talk about the list. Sydney suggests alternative places Maggie can go to that won’t be as hard to access, given her illness. Maggie likes the ideas and retitles the list, “Things I Want to Do. Maybe Now” (286).
Chapter 23 Summary: “Maggie”
Maggie returns home from her doctor’s visit to find Sydney and Ridge reading aloud together. Seeing them, she realizes how much she likes Sydney and how happy Sydney makes Ridge. When she found his and Sydney’s texts last year, she had realized that she and Ridge weren’t as close as Ridge and Sydney.
Ridge goes to his room, and Maggie and Sydney make plans to visit some local caves together on Saturday. They talk about their relationship and the past, agreeing that they want to be friends. Then Maggie opens up about Jake, and Sydney encourages her to call him. Maggie takes her advice, but Jake sends her call to voicemail. She leaves a message but isn’t sure she did the right thing.
A few hours later, Jake calls Maggie back. She tells him she wants to see him again, and he asks her for more consistency. She apologizes for her indecisiveness and invites him to join her and her friends on Saturday. After hanging up, she wonders if she made a mistake.
Chapters 17-23 Analysis
Chapters 17-23 develop the novel’s explorations of the Importance of Communication in Relationships. Throughout these chapters, Hoover uses both scenes of dialogue and her main characters’ first-person points of view to enact her theme. In the scenes of dialogue, the characters begin to open up about what they want and need. They also confront one another about being more honest about their emotions and making amends for their mistakes. These dialogues all have a vulnerable tenor but a friendly mood. For example, when Warren reminds Sydney that she’s always known Maggie would be “a part of [Ridge’s] life” and suggests she “owe[s] her an apology” (219), Sydney knows Warren isn’t attacking her; he is communicating with her like a close friend. Intimacy requires bluntness. Warren doesn’t disguise his opinion from Sydney because he wants her to understand his point of view and to reevaluate her behaviors. These same principles apply to Sydney’s surrounding dialogues with Maggie, Bridgette, Brennan, and Ridge, and Ridge’s dialogues with his friends, too. By communicating their feelings without hostility but with honesty, the friends strengthen their relationships.
The characters’ intersecting first-person points of view formally enact their work to communicate with one another. In the same way that Sydney, Ridge, Maggie, Warren, and Bridgette are learning to have hard conversations with each other in person, their overlapping storylines communicate with each other on the page. For example, the movement between Sydney’s narration in Chapter 17 and Maggie’s narration in Chapter 18 formally captures the two women’s attempts to confront and reconcile their differences. At the end of Chapter 17, Sydney’s internal monologue reveals her introspective, humble, and brave character traits as she admits, “My stomach turns at the thought of being face-to-face with Maggie after everything that has happened,” but “I do take responsibility for the fact that I was a Tori for a hot minute and never once reached out to her to apologize” (220). Sydney owns the mistakes she made and seeks Maggie out to make amends despite the situation’s awkwardness. In doing so, she’s pursuing healing and renewal. In Chapter 18, Maggie’s first-person point of view reveals that she’s also willing to humble herself to make things worth with Sydney and their mutual friends: “When a person takes the high road,” Hoover implies, “it encourages those around them to do the same” (235). Sydney and Maggie don’t articulate everything they’re thinking during their visit. However, their alternating first-person accounts show their internal work to get along and find points of connection. One character’s narration echoes the others, enacting their work to navigate their complex dynamic like mature adults.
The scene where the friends eat lasagna at Maggie’s all together is a metaphor for community and healing. Although Sydney, Maggie, Ridge, Warren, and Bridgette have their differences, they’re able to set these differences aside to enjoy a meal and openly discuss the conflicts between them. The lasagna is symbolic of family and connection—they’re sharing food, which shows that they’re sharing time and space. Lasagna is also a family-style dish made of many layers, just like the many layers of friendship and experience Sydney, Maggie, Ridge, Warren, and Bridgette bring to the proverbial table. By the dinner’s end, the friends have come up with an arrangement that works for all of them. In the subsequent scenes, they begin to share the same physical space—Ridge and Warren’s apartment—which circumstantially offers them new opportunities for connection.
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