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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, death, and cursing.
At the wedding of his team captain, Carter Beckett, professional Vancouver Viper hockey player Garrett Andersen wins a bet with his teammate Adam Lockwood when Carter accidentally announces that his new wife Olivia is pregnant. Garrett is attracted to Carter’s younger sister, Jennie Beckett, an assertive and sarcastic woman who is also at the wedding. Their mutual friends, including Cara and Emmett Brodie, along with Jennie’s mother, Holly, all tease Garrett, warning him that the overprotective Carter would kill him if he pursued her.
Later, Emmett pushes Garrett onto the dance floor. Jennie teaches him how to dance, but the moment turns tense when Garrett grips her waist just as Carter is watching. After the dance, a woman approaches Garrett in the hallway and gives him her number. Jennie appears and sees the interaction; disgusted, she tosses him a makeup wipe before walking away.
At the end of the night, several members of the wedding party go to Holly and Jennie’s house. Jennie asks Garrett to help her with her dress’s stuck zipper, creating a sexually charged moment. Adam interrupts them before anything happens. Feeling flustered, Garrett returns to his condo building; in the elevator, he sees Emily, a neighbor with whom he has the occasional sexual encounter. He decides to go home with her.
Jennie attends a dance practice where her arrogant partner, Simon, makes unwanted advances, as he has for many years, even though she has said no repeatedly. After practice, because it is her 24th birthday, Simon takes her for tacos but makes insensitive remarks about her diet. Later, Jennie’s family—Carter, his wife Olivia, and their mother Holly—surprise her with a fully furnished condominium as a birthday gift. Carter reveals that Garrett lives in the penthouse of the same building and plans to ask him to look out for her.
Just then, they encounter Garrett, who is coming out of Emily’s door just across the hall. Annoyed, Jennie dismisses Garrett as a “Fuckboy of the Year” (18-19). Later that evening, back in her childhood bedroom at Holly, Jennie becomes emotional as she looks through a photo album of her late father. She clutches a worn stuffed bunny named Princess Bubblegum, a cherished gift he gave her on her sixth birthday, and fingers the locket around its neck with the picture of her father in it.
On the anniversary of her father’s death, a grieving Jennie leaves her new condo to get coffee. She encounters Garrett in the lobby; he has a tray with coffee and hot chocolate that he planned to leave outside her apartment door, not knowing which she would like. He is aware of the significance of the day, and Jennie is touched.
Later, Jennie visits Hank, the elderly, blind man who is like a grandfather to her and Carter, and his dog Dublin. They share memories and console each other, as the day also marks the anniversary of Hank’s wife Ireland’s death 15 years prior. Hank suggests that she is scared to let someone into her life, much like her brother Carter was before meeting Olivia, and encourages her to be more open.
Back at her apartment, Jennie frantically searches her moving boxes for Princess Bubblegum. When she cannot find the stuffed toy, she is overwhelmed with grief and breaks down crying on the floor.
After Carter learns that Jennie is distraught over losing Princess Bubblegum, he asks Garrett to check on her. Garrett finds Jennie crying in her apartment and offers to help her search the last of her moving boxes. He comes across a box labeled “toys” and, assuming the bunny is inside, opens it. He is shocked to discover it is full of Jennie’s sex toys.
Jennie is embarrassed and tries to take the box. During their tug-of-war struggle, something inside begins to vibrate, and the box breaks open. Sex toys fly through the air, and one dildo slaps Garrett across the face. Mortified, Jennie screams at him and shoves him out of the apartment. As he is about to leave, she quietly opens the door to thank him for the comforting hug he gave her earlier.
Jennie’s dance professor, Leah, informs her that she has been recommended for a prestigious teaching position in Toronto. Jennie feels conflicted, as she is unsure about leaving her family in Vancouver, but the offer is a huge honor. Shortly after, her dance partner, Simon, makes an unwanted pass at her. Jennie accidentally knees him in the groin while fending him off, then trips over his legs as she falls, injuring her ankle.
Later, at Carter’s house, Cara jokes that Jennie needs a “golden dicking,” a comment that causes Garrett to choke in embarrassment. Jennie and Garrett share a quiet moment when she helps him fix his tie. During their conversation, she reveals that the missing stuffed bunny, Princess Bubblegum, had been wearing a heart-shaped locket that contained a picture of her and her late father. The locket is also missing.
At the Vancouver Vipers hockey game, Cara continues to tease Jennie about Garrett. During the game, Emmett ties the score before Garrett scores the go-ahead goal, but Garrett is immediately blindsided by the opposing centerman and slammed headfirst into the boards. He is taken off the ice on a stretcher with a mild concussion. In retaliation, Carter starts a bench-clearing brawl.
Since Garrett cannot drive, Carter instructs Jennie to take him home. Back at their condominium building, Garrett suggests they go to the penthouse pool so he can swim to relax his muscles. He invites Jennie to come along, and she agrees.
At the penthouse pool, Jennie falls asleep in the hot tub while Garrett swims laps in the pool. When Garrett wakes her, the close proximity makes them both aroused. As she gets out, her bikini top snags on a bamboo wall and comes undone, leaving her topless. Panicked, Jennie screams while Garrett stares. He tries to downplay the situation but admits he saw her breasts and thinks they are nice. After they get dressed, Jennie pecks Garrett on the cheek and teasingly mentions the dildo that hit him in the face by name, “Indiana Bones,” causing him to spit out his water. Alone in her apartment later, Jennie takes Indiana Bones into the shower.
While the team is away for a road trip, Garrett is forced to stay home because of his concussion. Carter suggests he watch the game with Jennie, who is house-sitting for him. Garrett brings Thai food to Carter’s house, and he and Jennie bond while watching the game and The Lion King. After Jennie attacks Garrett for laughing at her crying during the film, a wrestling match ensues, ending with Garrett pinning Jennie on the couch. The mood becomes sexually charged, and he kisses her.
Startled by her own response, Jennie panics, breaks the kiss, and flees upstairs to a bedroom. Garrett leaves the house but quickly returns to apologize. From downstairs, he hears her call his name and, misinterpreting it as an invitation, enters the bedroom. He walks in to find Jennie masturbating with a vibrator, saying his name.
Mortified, Jennie yells at Garrett. Their argument quickly becomes flirtatious, and Garrett points out that she had been moaning his name. The tension escalates into foreplay, with a newly confident Garrett backing Jennie against a wall and challenging her to be honest about what she wants. In response, Jennie pulls him into a passionate kiss, and he performs oral sex on her.
Afterward, they both acknowledge that it was incredible but agree it cannot happen again because Carter would be angry with Garrett. Garrett prepares to leave but lingers, and they share several more heated kisses before he finally departs. Alone, Jennie reflects on the intense encounter.
In these early chapters, Jennie’s frantic search for her stuffed bunny on the anniversary of her father’s death establishes a core vulnerability beneath her acerbic exterior. Princess Bubblegum and the locket are also introduced, and they will function throughout the narrative as tangible links to a past shattered by loss, embodying her father’s love and the childhood security that his death took from her. Jennie’s breakdown when she fails to find the bunny illustrates the power of her grief, revealing a deep-seated fear of losing connection to his memory. This vulnerability is explored further during her visit with Hank, where their shared anniversary of loss creates a space for mutual consolation, demonstrating that her grief is a foundational part of her character. Author Becka Mack’s own experience with familial loss informs this portrayal of how cherished objects anchor a person to those they have lost. Jennie’s grief is established as a fundamental aspect of her character and a starting point for her character arc, while Garrett’s quiet act of kindness—bringing her coffee and hot chocolate because he is aware of the day’s significance—illustrates the role he will play in her healing and growth.
Both Garrett and Jennie initially present carefully constructed personas to the world, a dynamic that introduces the theme of Inauthenticity as a Barrier to Intimacy. At her brother’s wedding, Jennie performs the role of the “unfiltered smart-ass like her older brother” (2), a sarcastic and confident woman who trades barbs with Garrett. This performance is a shield, protecting her from the unresolved sorrow of her father’s death and her perception that people only like her because her brother is famous. Garrett, meanwhile, projects a casual player image that he confirms by going home with Emily, even as he is internally flustered by Jennie and intimidated by Carter. His awkwardness is most apparent when he is not performing his public role; he feigns a knee injury and fear of elevators to avoid an uncomfortable encounter with Jennie in the lobby, a moment that highlights the chasm between his private anxiety and his public-facing identity as a confident athlete. Their initial interactions are defined by the distance created by these performative personas, which must be systematically dismantled for any real connection to form, setting up the challenge Jennie and Garrett will have to overcome for a relationship.
The narrative uses farcical humor to break down the characters’ defenses, most notably when a box of Jennie’s sex toys explodes in Garrett’s hands. The scene shatters the escalating sexual tension between them with absurdity. The motif of sex toys is introduced here, initially representing Jennie’s sexual independence and private self-reliance, but it also becomes a catalyst for shared mortification. This experience creates a unique form of intimacy built on mutual, comical embarrassment. By forcing them into a situation that is impossible to navigate with their usual performative cool, the scene strips away their pretense and creates an unexpectedly honest bond. This comedic set piece establishes the role of humor in the text and also serves as an important turning point, moving their relationship beyond witty banter and judgmental labels and into a more genuine, albeit awkward, space where their shared vulnerability is laid bare.
The other main obstacle to Garrett and Jennie’s relationship, Jennie’s brother and Garrett’s team captain, Carter, is also established in these chapters. The relationship between Garrett and Jennie develops under the constant weight of his watchful eye, and Carter’s overprotective nature immediately frames their dynamic, as he tasks Garrett with being Jennie’s “babysitter” and an “extra set of eyes” (19), effectively forbidding any romantic entanglement. This dynamic is central to the theme of Defining an Identity Separate From Family, as Jennie chafes at being treated like a child who needs surveillance rather than an independent adult. Her career crossroads—a prestigious job offer in Toronto—further complicates this theme, presenting a path to an identity forged outside of her family’s immediate influence and the Vipers’ social sphere. For Garrett, Carter’s protectiveness is a direct threat to his career and friendship, raising the stakes of his attraction to Jennie. Their burgeoning connection thus becomes a subtle act of rebellion, a private world they must build in defiance of family roles and team loyalties.
Power begins shifting between Jennie and Garrett early in the narrative; their encounters move from awkward to intimate, beginning with their playful wrestling match and culminating in Garrett discovering Jennie masturbating. Her vulnerability paradoxically empowers Garrett, who sheds his timid persona and becomes a confident, assertive figure. He confronts her directly, challenging her to be honest about her desires by stating she will “have to be explicit” (88). This role reversal is important; he moves from being intimidated by her sharp wit to being her equal, capable of meeting her intensity. This new confidence allows him to push past her defenses, forcing a raw honesty that she typically avoids. The resulting sexual encounter is a culmination of this broken-down artifice, yet their immediate agreement that it cannot happen again reinstates the external conflict posed by Carter.
Jennie’s character is further complicated by the fact that despite her cynical exterior, she harbors a romantic idealism revealed through her love of Disney movies & songs. Her visceral, tearful reaction to The Lion King and her use of a deeply romantic James Arthur song for a dance routine expose a hidden vulnerability and a yearning for deep connection. These moments contrast with her sarcastic persona and her insistence on total self-sufficiency, suggesting that beneath her carefully constructed independence, she craves the kind of epic love story depicted in these narratives. This internal conflict complicates the theme of Reconciling Independence and Romantic Love, as her emotional responses to art reveal a desire for intimacy that her conscious, guarded self is not yet ready to admit or pursue.



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