Story of My Life

The Bishop family has a typical Bishop breakfast at Laura’s house. The gathering includes Cam and his siblings, Laura, Gage, and Levi; his parents; Cam’s nieces and nephews, Wesley, Harrison, and Isla; and a host of family pets. While the family jokes around and has a healthy dynamic, there is a tension in the air, specifically regarding Laura, who uses a wheelchair after a recent accident left her with a spinal injury.

At the breakfast table, Cam’s father brings up the estimate for the Heart House renovations. He’s thrilled that they’re looking at six figures with a 50% deposit. Gage mentions that he researched the owner, Hazel Hart, and realized that she is the woman he helped at the gas station yesterday. Laura expresses concern that the family will not be prepared to do the labor that Hazel’s house requires. Gage is doing construction part-time while he works as a lawyer, their father has practically retired from jobsites, and the last big job that the Bishops did was a 2,000-square-foot basement renovation nearly a year ago. However, the men insist that they can handle the job. Laura expresses how important it is that they keep Hazel happy: She is a high-profile client, and if she is unsatisfied with their work, it will be bad for business. Considering how slow their business has been lately, the Bishop brothers especially don’t want a formerly thriving generational business to fail. When conversation turns to their mother’s new foster kittens, which he hopes one of her children can take in, Cam and his siblings rush to make excuses for why they can’t, resulting in a good-natured fight in which they “[throw] each other under the bus” (136).

Hazel is woken up by Zoey’s screams from the other room. Hazel rushes inside just in time to witness a raccoon in Zoey’s bed just before it escapes up the fireplace. Hazel begins her morning with a shower and applying makeup and thinks she looks “presentable” for the first time in a long while. Zoey insists that Hazel write 100 words of her new novel to get a head start on putting her “crisis of confidence to bed” (144). Hazel reluctantly retreats to the room she’s designated as her future library and office, where she proceeds to write 257 words inspired by Cam. Cam arrives at the house to take measurements. He hands Hazel a note that was left on her front door, detailing the town meeting that evening at seven o’clock to “Punish Goose’s Killer” (148).

Levi, Gage, and Cam work on the roof of Eileen Dabner’s house while Gage chats about Hazel. Their conversation eventually reveals that Cam left town to build a life and reputation of his own outside the family but was forced to move back home after Laura was hospitalized and the family business began failing. However, Cam admits that the life he built hadn’t necessarily brought him any joy. Their father, Francisco, arrives with coffee just before Hazel arrives on site. Gage becomes immediately enamored with Zoey and accidentally falls from the roof, earning a gash in his chin that Hazel patches up. Levi stares at Hazel throughout this, which rankles Cam. Seizing the opportunity, Francisco speaks with Hazel about the estimate on her house project. Though Hazel is intimidated by the high price, she decides to trust them with the renovations.

Hazel teases Zoey about the special attention that Gage was showing her when they showed up to Eileen’s home. Though Zoey is flattered, she suspects that Gage has many red flags, calling him a “serial monogamist” (159). As the upcoming town meeting approaches, Hazel worries that the town won’t accept her, which might lead her into a “darker, more depressing downward spiral” (160). She admits that she never wants to marry again but worries that she can’t write another realistic love story after her own marriage failed. Zoey reminds Hazel that rom-coms are read to escape depressing realities; therefore, they don’t have to be realistic. They walk to the town meeting, which is held at a funeral home. Emilie leads nearly the entire town in a campaign against Hazel, but Cam insists that she stand up for herself.

Though Hazel gives a public speech in her defense, Emilie and many others are not swayed. The Bishop family displays Cam’s dash cam footage of the accident with Goose, along with updated footage of Goose alive and well earlier that day, turning public opinion in Hazel’s favor. To end the meeting, Cam and his siblings enjoy nominating a resistant Gage to become the town’s new law enforcement officer. Emilie, who nominated herself for the position, isn’t pleased nor willing to give up so easily.

The town quickly forgives Hazel, and Zoey moves into a room at a local lodge to escape the raccoon at Heart House. Cam confronts Hazel after the meeting. In return for his family clearing her name with the town, Cam wants her personal guarantee that she won’t cancel the renovation job with Bishop Brothers Construction. He explains that the job is imperative to the continuation of their third-generation business. Hazel shares about her ex-husband evicting her from their apartment and the pressure she feels to write a book so that she’s not dropped from her publisher and so that Zoey can become re-employed. She tells him that she’s dumped her life savings into Heart House and plans to stay for a while because she has no life to return to in the city. She promises that she won’t leave the house, town, or his family business worse than she found it. After their conversation concludes, Cam drives Hazel home. She briefly sees drafted plans for a remodeled, wheelchair-accessible bathroom for his sister in his truck, but he snatches the plans away. On the ride home, Hazel asks for a favor in return for the financial boost she is giving to his family business: pretend to flirt with her and take her out on a date for research purposes. She explains how the article, and seeing his picture, inspired her novel idea and her move to Story Lake. By pretending to date her, he can help give her more inspiration for her main characters and the plotline of her novel. Cam is shocked that she finds him inspiring, especially for the hero in her story. However, this isn’t enough to make him agree to her plan. He decides to think about it.

Early the next morning, Cam and his brothers arrive at Hazel’s home to begin demolition. Hazel is disoriented, as she was up late writing a newsletter about her first two days in Story Lake, which she sent out to her readers. In privacy, Hazel asks Cam if he’s thought about last night’s proposition. He claims that he’s still thinking it over. Hazel showers upstairs while the men begin work. Shortly after, their large family dog, Melvin, barges in and hops into the bathtub, where he begins to lap at the draining water. Imagining a rom-com scene in which the heroine has to be rescued by her surly contractor after being tangled in a shower curtain post-shower, Hazel grabs her laptop and begins typing while she’s still in only a towel. Her writing is interrupted by a call from her mother, Ramona, who reveals that she’s engaged yet again—to the latest in a long line of much older, rich men. After the call, Hazel helps a struggling Melvin out of the bathtub, but they both fall, getting tangled up in the shower curtain that is ripped from its rings.

Cam and Levi come to investigate the commotion and find Hazel and Melvin in their struggling state. Levi helps Hazel to her feet while Cam untangles Melvin. When Cam catches Levi eyeing Hazel’s legs, mostly uncovered by the small towel, he offers her the shower curtain to cover up with. As Levi goes to inspect the source of the knocking at the front door, Cam enlists Hazel’s help in towel-drying Melvin so that he doesn’t make her house smell like wet dog. Hazel is thrilled to learn that the visitor at her front door is the movers bringing the rest of her belongings, including her books and her beloved bike.

As Cam and Levi get back to work, Cam becomes increasingly annoyed at Levi’s many excuses to leave the room—excuses that take him past the study in which Hazel has been busy drafting her novel. Cam suspects that Levi has taken a liking to Hazel, which he doesn’t appreciate. When they overhear Gage arriving and speaking with Hazel, eliciting laughs from her, they make up an excuse—a question about tile—to interrupt the two in her study. After overhearing part of their conversation, Cam suspects that Hazel is priming to ask Gage to help her with the dating research in Cam’s place. Cam dismisses his brothers back to work, and when he’s alone with Hazel, he finally accepts her proposition. He tells her to prepare for a date on Saturday night at seven o’clock but to keep it secret from the town unless she wants worse rumors to start up.

Even though the date is fake, Hazel is anxious about it and worries over what to wear. Gage informs Hazel that Laura wants to take her shopping for light fixtures, tile, and other finishes. Unable to focus enough to write, Hazel plans to ride her bike to the lodge to visit Zoey. Hazel’s quirky video-game-designer neighbor, Felicity, supplies a tire pump to air up the flat tires on her bike. Meanwhile, Felicity expresses admiration of Hazel’s bravery in picking up her life and moving to Story Lake on a whim. The two women immediately get along and can see themselves becoming good friends. When Hazel arrives at the lodge, she finds Zoey getting ready for an upcoming Zoom call with an online magazine to talk about Hazel’s newest career developments. Her latest newsletter is doing better in audience engagement than previous issues.