Summer in the City

Parker takes Elle home and runs to the pharmacy to get her Pedialyte while she stews in mortification. The next morning, Parker shows up at her door with a latte and her favorite pastry. Parker has a day planned for them, and Elle agrees to let him surprise her. They travel first to the New York Botanical Garden where they admire the greenery and flowers. Elle admits that while flowers are beautiful, she doesn’t like to own them because she hates watching them die—which reminds her of her mother. She prefers to remember them only in a thriving state. Next, they go to the Yankee Stadium to watch a baseball game. Though Elle knows nothing of baseball, Parker seems to like it. He admits that he used to go to games with his father when he was trying to bond, despite disliking the sport. He eventually grew to like it even if it’s now associated with memories of his father.

After the game, they travel to Arthur Avenue—the Little Italy of the Bronx. They eat at Enzo’s and have Gino’s for dessert. On the car ride home, Elle falls asleep on Parker’s shoulder. He jokes about it when she wakes, to which she replies: “[I]t’s a good sign if you’re always falling asleep on someone. It means you trust them. It means you feel safe” (176). Lastly, they stop on a street in Manhattan to watch Manhattanhenge—a four-days-a-year event where the sunset perfectly aligns with the street grid. For the first time in a long time, Elle feels wonder in the city again.

At the end of their night, in the hallway between their apartments, Parker invites Elle to a party next weekend. When he admits it’s at the same club they met, she has complicated feelings. However, she’s since learned that Parker is not the man she first assumed he was and agrees to attend.

The next week, Elle spends every morning at her coffee shop. She has fallen deeply into writing the script, which is flowing out of her effortlessly. Before, she’d let this part of the process turn her into a hermit, but this time, she takes breaks between writing to spend time with Parker or her girlfriends.

By Friday, Elle is halfway through the screenplay. On Saturday, she attends the club event with Parker. Elle spends time with Parker before enjoying fun on the dance floor with two other women, Adriana and Mira, while he continues his business networking with others in attendance. Eventually, Parker and Elle reunite. An acquaintance of Parker’s, Benson, makes a move on Elle by bragging about his yacht, but Parker claims she’s not impressed by money. Elle states she’s impressed by money sometimes, such as when a big donation comes at a place she’s volunteering. This prompts Parker to ask Elle for her favorite cause and give him a number; she picks an endangered animal fund and gives him a ridiculously large number, to which he adds on another zero before donating that amount. Afterward, he asks her to make a list of charities, and he will donate that same amount to each one. Elle finds this attractive, and they leave the club to return to their apartments, where they give into their feelings for each other. Though they don’t have sex, they are physically intimate.

The next week, Parker and Elle continue being affectionate with each other. When she grabs dinner with Taryn, Taryn notices Elle looks happy. As July transitions to August, Elle finishes the second act of her script. Parker and Elle attend a gala for one of the charities on her list—benefiting art programs for children. Elle wears a red gown with the ruby earrings Parker bought for her at the art auction. At the gala, Elle is approached by the CEO of one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world—David Salazar. When she rears back as his hand makes contact with her arm, Parker steps between them to defend her but learns that the man is her father.

David can’t believe that his daughter is dating a tech protégé and openly asks what she has to offer him. He assumes Parker supports her financially because her sister, Cali, has told him that Elle merely writes movie reviews for a small outlet. Elle doesn’t bother giving her father attention and leaves the venue with Parker. In Parker’s apartment, Elle explains the rest of her complicated family to Parker. She reveals that her father got into the MBA program at Stanford shortly after moving to the US from Colombia. Because her mother didn’t like driving, he drove her everywhere and let her license expire. He insisted she didn’t need to learn English because he could communicate for them. He took charge of the money because he had the MBA. Soon, Elle’s mother depended on him for everything. He preferred the control but only got more controlling as time went on. Her mother eventually started taking English classes, saved money, and left him. He sabotaged her after, intentionally withholding child support and using his connections to interfere with her job search. Money was at the center of everything he did.

When Elle and her sister were older, Cali wanted to reconnect with their father. She wanted the life of wealth he had, but their mother refused to let her go. When their mother got sick and the money eventually ran out, Elle went behind her mother’s back to ask her dad for help. He gave the money for treatments but demanded something in return. Though it began with forging a relationship with Elle, he eventually tried to control her college major and her internships, which she refused to let happen. He then wanted to meet Cali; agreeing to it was one of the biggest regrets of Elle’s life. He would pay for everything Cali wanted, as long as she did exactly what he wanted—and because Cali wanted that life, she allowed herself to be controlled by him. When their mother found out, she was so disappointed in Elle. By the time their mom passed, Cali was a different person. She didn’t care about school and didn’t plan on getting a job, instead relying on their father’s wealth. Every lesson drilled into them by their mother was forgotten. Elle reveals that her screenwriting career is intentionally anonymous because she doesn’t want that to be taken from her by her father. If he knew, he’d try to control that narrative; she wanted to succeed on her own merit without him intervening. Elle finally admits that she has worked too hard to be someone her mom is proud of, only to risk it being erased by a partner.

In the past, David’s attempts to edge his way back into Elle’s life left her unstable and unable to write. However, this time, she is not hindered by his appearance because telling Parker makes her feel better. Progress is made on the renovations, and during the second week of August, Elle and Parker volunteer to do Street Tree Care through NYC Parks. On their way home from a productive day of volunteering, they pass by Gramercy Park, and Elle admires her dream townhouse like always. She witnesses a construction crew going in and out and worries that it has already been purchased. Parker pulls a key to the exclusive park from his pocket and opens the gate, allowing Elle to enter for the first time. He tells her he has a key because he rents an apartment in the park for it. Elle finds herself falling for Parker more and wishes their arrangement had a chance of lasting past the summer.

Penelope calls Elle at 6 o’clock in the morning sounding grim. She has bought a plane ticket to NYC and is on her way. Elle views notifications about a new headline going viral: It reveals her secret identity as a highly successful anonymous screenwriter. The article outlines every screenplay she’s ever written and features a quote from her father, in which he credits himself for supporting her career and helping her become one of the world’s leading screenwriters. Elle becomes sickened and enraged that her father took her accomplishments from her and that people will now assume he’s responsible for her career. The comments on the article speculate that Parker likely funded her last movie. Others bitterly comment that she was handed her career instead of working hard for it. Parker visits Elle’s apartment. He apologizes profusely and claims he has his lawyers ready to take anyone to court. He offers to buy the newspaper and have them retract it. Elle is annoyed that Parker thinks he can buy their way out of this; she claims the damage is already done—the news is out, and it cannot be unlearned. Elle ends their fake-dating arrangement immediately. Penelope arrives, and Taryn, Gwen, and Emily join them for takeout, ice cream, and a movie to comfort Elle.

The next morning, Elle goes to brunch with her friends. Elle is unsure about what the future of her career holds. Now that she’s no longer anonymous, she worries how her work will be received. She stresses about meetings she’ll need to attend and executives she’ll have to face, as well as the online presence that might be required of her. Despite not appreciating the truth being leaked, she is relieved that the secret is no longer weighing on her. After brunch, Elle packs her things to stay with Taryn. From a new location, she continues working on her screenplay, which is due in three weeks. Meanwhile, Penelope stays in Cali’s apartment to oversee the rest of the renovations, and after ending things with the hot surgeon she was seeing in LA, she enjoys casual sex with Luke the contractor.

Elle receives a call from Cali, who is hurt that Elle never told her that she was dating Parker Warren. Though Elle is annoyed that her sister cares about this, she learns Cali hasn’t yet heard of Elle’s career. Elle tells Cali that she is a screenwriter. Elle receives an email from a freshman college student in Texas named Elena who claims that Elle is her favorite screenwriter, inspiring Elena to write movies. Though she didn’t go to college to study screenwriting, learning about Elle’s real identity gave Elena the inspiration to double major in creative writing: She has begun writing her first script. Elle is touched by the impact her stories have had on someone else.

A week later, Penelope returns to LA, and Elle returns to the apartment with a nearly complete script. She receives a call from Paola, her sister’s assistant, informing Elle that her sister is in labor and wants her there with her for the birth. Elle panics because Cali is on the other side of the world and accidentally knocks a piece of art off the wall when she stumbles. Parker hears the commotion and rushes over. After being informed of the situation, he offers to escort Elle in his private jet.

They are at the hospital in Palermo, Sicily, seven hours later. Elle is there for the birth of Cali’s baby girl, whom she names Isabella—after their mother. Parker and Elle stay in Italy for a few more days to help Cali and Pierre get situated with Isabella. Elle and Cali use this time to have a heart-to-heart in which Cali reveals that unlike Elle, whose dreams align with her career, Cali’s dreams were to have a family and be a mother. Cali asks if Elle will ever forgive their father, to which she says no. Cali says she hasn’t forgiven him either, but she’d rather have one parent than be an orphan. When Elle accuses her of choosing money after everything their mother preached, Cali tells Elle that their mother was no saint—she made mistakes, too. She reveals that their mother refused child support payments, causing them to suffer more than they had to. She also knew she was sick well before she told Elle about it; Cali found out early on by accident and was begged to keep it a secret. Cali claims she’s made her choices and she’s happy with them, bringing Elle a measure of peace. She no longer needs to feel guilty for Cali going down a different path, nor should she try to control her sister.

One night, Parker joins Elle on the terrace overlooking the Palermo coast. She tells him that she needs to return home because her screenplay is due in a week, and she has one more scene to write. Remembering that the scene is located in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, Parker insists they go.