PS: I Hate You

A few months later, Maddie and Dom travel to South Dakota, where they hike a few miles through the Badlands. Maddie struggles with her asthma, and Dom is attentive. They read Josh’s letter when they reach the top of the trail.

Josh asks them to take in the view and capture a photo before leaving him behind in a place with a good view. He then directly addresses Maddie, expressing pride that she made the hike. He offers her a reward, revealing that Dom has a talented singing voice; he designates Dom as her personal radio on the return trip and requests that he sing Josh’s favorite songs.

After spreading Josh’s ashes, they begin the trek while Dom sings Josh’s favorite songs. The hike down is faster than the hike up due to an oncoming storm. Maddie struggles harder with her asthma, and Dom offers to carry her. They make a deal—if Dom carries her all the way down, he will be allowed to stay the night at her place before they go to Idaho; if he fails, Maddie will get the letterman jacket that he got from his workplace.

Dom wins the bet, earning a stay at Maddie’s place before their Idaho trip. During the drive back to their rental place, Adam texts Dominic. Maddie reads it aloud. Adam reveals he is stuck choosing between two opportunities—a full-time paid gig working in the shop of a big-name furniture designer or training to swim in the Olympics. Dom has Maddie send back a text saying he will call Adam tomorrow to talk it through.

The situation leads to a conversation about how Dom’s brothers look up to him and value his opinion. Dom mentions that during the summer that Maddie looked after the twins, they admired her most and obeyed her more than him or his parents. When Maddie jokes about taking these trips with Adam, who had a crush on her back then, Dom grabs her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. She is confused but doesn’t pull away.

Returning to the topic of his siblings, Dom mentions that Carter has dyslexia, which they wouldn’t have discovered if not for Maddie’s involvement in their lives that summer. Her introducing Carter to graphic novels allowed him to enjoy literature and also communicate to his teacher that he struggled with the language in other types of books. He was able to get a special tutor and now wishes to be a writer himself. Dom reflects on that stressful summer of his mother’s accident and admits that he felt like he could breathe when Maddie was there, and he truly saw her. When Maddie asks if he sees her now, Dom tells her she’s all he sees.

When it starts snowing too hard, Maddie and Dom are unable to drive up to North Dakota, their next destination. They return to their rental for another night but discover their previous rooms have already been booked. They are placed in a shared room with a queen bed and a day bed, where they shower and settle in before grabbing dinner.

Dom is quiet and thoughtful at dinner, which annoys Maddie, who believes he’s pulling away again. However, when she orders an alcoholic beverage, he stops her before she can take a drink. He asks her not to, explaining that every time she kissed him, even when she was 19, she’d always had a few drinks first. Maddie realizes he’s right. Dom says he wants Maddie to kiss him if she truly wants to, not because she’s influenced by alcohol.

When they return to their room, Maddie decides she’s not going to kiss Dom first. She needs clarification of where his feelings lie, so if he wants to kiss her, he needs to make the first move. Dom kisses Maddie passionately but is cognizant of her asthma the entire time. They quickly become more intimate, but when Dom tries to pleasure her, Maddie tenses up and breaks away. She remembers the last time they got intimate—which ended in him proposing to Rosaline the next day—and worries about it ending in heartbreak again. Rather than end their intimacy completely, Maddie instead seeks to even the score by pleasuring him. Afterward, they sleep together.

The next day, they continue their intimacy. Neither one brings up the past or their grief, terrified it might break the fragile new development between them.

When Maddie returns to work the next week, she finds it hard to concentrate. She agrees to take on more tasks that aren’t in her job description. Though she feels overwhelmed, she convinces herself it’s a good thing to be invaluable and appreciated in this way.

Upon returning to Seattle the week before, Maddie and Dom had both confirmed they are not seeing anyone else. He also invited Maddie to his brothers’ college graduation, which she’d told him she’d think about. She still hasn’t sent him an answer, because she’s afraid to cross more boundaries with him.

Maddie is annoyed with Josh and his quest to force her to risk her heart again, but she also understands that he’s forcing her to have adventures she otherwise wouldn’t have taken. Maddie begins to wonder what will happen after their final trip to Alaska, when the last of her brother’s ashes are gone. She wonders if she will take Dom into the future or let him go too. The thought prompts her to text Dom, accepting the invite to his brothers’ graduation. Dom is excited about her confirmation, offers to pick her up at the airport, and invites her to stay at his place.

Dom picks Maddie up at the Philadelphia airport and loads her bag into his car before kissing her. When they arrive at his place, she showers and hangs her dress for the graduation ceremony in his closet. She finds the safe with the letters and uses her birthday code to unlock it and touch them. Afterward, she joins Dom in bed, where they have sex.

As they head to the graduation the next morning, Maddie asks what they will say to his parents. Dom asks her thoughts, and Maddie errs on the safe side, saying they should claim to be friends only. Dom isn’t thrilled about this answer but agrees to do as she wants.

When they arrive, Maddie briefly greets his parents but is pulled away by a work call. She regrets telling Pamela that she would be available in an emergency but quickly handles the call before returning. When she returns, she sees Rosaline with Dom and his parents and feels immediately unsettled. She wonders if he will leave her to go back to Rosaline again.

After graduation, the twins celebrate with their teammates, leaving Dom, Maddie, Rosaline, and Dom’s parents to wander around UPenn and share stories of their time in college. Maddie struggles with complicated feelings about all of Dom and Rosaline’s shared stories.

When they arrive at a rooftop bar and Dom excuses himself to use the restroom, Maddie ventures outside to the deck for air. Rosaline follows her, and though they’ve never talked much, she offers to talk to Maddie about their memories with Josh. Maddie thanks Rosaline for the offer just as Dom finds them and asks if Maddie is ready to leave. Sensing Maddie’s off-mood in the car, Dom mentions that he didn’t invite Rosaline—his mother did. He assures Maddie that when she’s in the room, she is all he sees. Maddie admits the same back to him.