Only for the Week

Rome, the novel’s other narrator, is Arnold Hightower’s longtime friend and a successful video game designer who founded his own company and uses some of its profits for philanthropic causes. Like Janelle, he believes in using his skills and talents to benefit his community, and their time together affirms that they also have similar interests and dispositions; Rome discovers that he enjoys romance novels, and he and Janelle bond over their shared introversion.

Despite these similarities, Rome initially struggles with his attraction to Janelle. The dual point of view quickly establishes that he has been interested in her since she was dating Arnold but went so far as to temporarily move to California to avoid developing stronger feelings for her. However, he soon decides that his own happiness matters more than abstract loyalty, especially since Arnold is marrying someone else. Moreover, unlike Janelle, Rome has a close and loving bond with his family, which the novel uses to illustrate the positive impact of healthy familial relationships: Jalen’s arrival helps Rome accept that his feelings for Janelle are serious. 

From this point on, Rome devotes his attention to Janelle’s needs to ensure that she arrives at a similar point of self-acceptance, resolving, “[I]f Janelle won’t do things for herself then I’ll do them for her” (58). For instance, he persuades Amerie to make time for swimming with sea turtles, knowing it is Janelle’s lifelong dream. At the same time, Rome respects Janelle’s boundaries. Though he defends Janelle from her mother’s criticisms and pushes Janelle to consider how her relationship with Amerie is harming her, he waits for her to make her own choices about her family. 

Although Rome is largely a static character, he does experience a minor emotional arc as he realizes that Arnold has lost his respect. He tells Arnold that his drunken decision to kiss Janelle was unacceptable because it treated her like a pawn in a game rather than a person. In the epilogues, Rome remains distant from Arnold, realizing that his friend has less integrity than he hoped. Meanwhile, Rome’s proposal to Janelle and sustained commitment to their future confirm that his love for her has never wavered and has become the key organizing principle of his life.

Amerie is Janelle’s older sister, and her destination wedding to Arnold Hightower drives the novel’s central plot. Amerie is demanding and dramatic, routinely insisting that every minute detail of the wedding must be perfect. She constantly belittles Janelle and at one point suggests that their mutual friend Dani would have been a better choice for her maid of honor. Amerie thus takes advantage of Janelle’s good nature, particularly to jockey for favor with their parents; for instance, she tells Janelle that she is not welcome at the family lunch. She is also upset whenever Arnold and Janelle spend time near each other, which, as Rome notes, suggests jealousy and suspicion: “[W]ho is she implying can’t be trusted? Her man or her sister? Neither answer is acceptable” (125). 

Janelle and Amerie’s deteriorating relationship fuels the novel’s conflict. Amerie eventually turns openly hostile when Janelle admits that Arnold drunkenly tried to kiss her, telling her that she has been a terrible maid of honor and attacking her professional competence by remarking, “[I]f this is your idea of perfect, I feel sorry for your patients” (177). Amerie becomes similarly petulant and furious when she discovers Janelle and Rome are a couple. Much of this behavior stems from insecurity: Amerie eventually admits that she envies her sister’s professional success and hoped to alienate her to alleviate her own guilt over falling in love with Arnold. Janelle refuses to accept her apology but decides to attend the wedding to avoid foreclosing the relationship entirely. Amerie’s behavior makes her key to the themes of family dysfunction and Balancing Societal Expectations and Self-Worth, as she is a major source of pressure in Janelle’s life.

Janelle’s ex-boyfriend and Amerie’s fiancé, Arnold works as a successful sports agent. He is generous to and appreciative of his friends but avoids confronting Amerie over her rudeness and dramatic behavior. During the search for Amerie’s ring, he reveals a humorous side by adopting a British accent and pretending to be a detective. His banter with Janelle and Rome in this scene suggests that Amerie is the main source of tension in his other interactions with Janelle. 

However, Arnold does play a key role in escalating the novel’s conflict: While intoxicated, he tries to kiss Janelle, complaining that Amerie’s demands have made him regret ending their relationship. Arnold later tells Rome that this is not true and that he acted in frustration rather than from a sincere desire to cancel the wedding. Arnold is thus so conflict-averse that he resorts to passive-aggressive behavior, hurting those around him. Rome tells him this when he insists that he will keep Janelle away from her family if it is what she needs. Arnold’s selfishness and treatment of Janelle as a means to an end (canceling the wedding) reveal that she was right to break up with him and provide contrast to Rome’s generous spirit and real concern for Janelle’s welfare.

Janelle’s best friend and former roommate, Evie is forthright and open, doing nothing to conceal her dislike of Christian, one of the groomsmen, for his casual womanizing and avoidance of commitment. Evie also has little tolerance for Amerie’s demanding behavior, telling her, “[Y]ou’ve been acting shady with Nelly all week” (130). 

As this defense of Janelle suggests, Evie is the member of the bridal party Janelle is closest to. Evie supports Janelle’s relationship with Rome but is characteristically blunt in telling Janelle to pursue her desires, saying that Janelle clearly sought her out because she “want[s] [Evie] to tell [her] to woman the fuck up and go for what [she] want[s]” (148). Later, she openly castigates Amerie for judging Janelle’s relationship with Rome, saying, “[M]aybe if you weren’t such an asshole to her, she would have told her sister instead of me” (193). 

Though Rome initially suggests Evie’s barbed banter with Christian could indicate hidden attraction, Evie is more interested in Rome’s brother. In one of the later epilogues, she attends a convention with Jalen and his son, which hints that future installments in the series may feature their relationship.

Rome’s older brother, Jalen, is a devoted father who recently retired from his successful basketball career to be more present for his young son, Kam. Jalen knows Rome well and instantly senses that he is drawn to Janelle, refusing to let Rome claim that the relationship is not serious. For example, he tells him, “[T]his little conversation is going in my toast at your wedding” (160), a joke he refers back to repeatedly whenever Rome displays the depth of his regard for Janelle. Jalen himself is interested in Evie, defending her instantly when Arnold’s cousin speaks about her in a sexually provocative way. His attraction to Evie is likely the core of another installment in the series, as the two are together at BlerdCon in one of the epilogue chapters. However, his main narrative function is as a sounding board for Rome and a foil for Amerie: Jalen’s relationship with Rome is a stark contrast to Janelle’s strained one with Amerie, as the brothers remain close throughout the novel.

Dani is the final member of Amerie’s wedding party, a former model who now works as a fashion and lifestyle influencer and also owns a tequila brand. She uses the wedding as a working vacation, particularly the local tequila tasting. Though Dani is more subdued than Eve, she agrees that Amerie’s behavior has become extreme and regularly defends Janelle from criticism. Dani, like Evie, illustrates that Janelle has earned loyalty and respect from those around her and that her family dysfunction is not a reflection on her true character. Dani is drawn to Micah, and their romance is likely to feature in a subsequent series installment.