The Ex

Cassie is disappointed when Joel doesn’t check in on her after leaving the party. The next morning, Zoe calls with news that the store has been vandalized. She arrives to find books torn off the shelves and the word “slut” written in black marker all around the store. After police leave, Cassie shares with Zoe her suspicion that Francesca is behind the vandalism at the store and her home. Joel appears to take Cassie for lunch and offers to help clean the store.

The Ex receives a text from Joel asking to meet for a drink. Convinced he’s hoping to get back together with her, she dresses up and puts on makeup. When she arrives, Joel begs her to stop playing games. He claims that he spent the prior day cleaning up her mess, and that his new girlfriend called the police. The Ex asks Joel if he loves the new girl, and he says yes. He tells her she needs to move on. Devastated, she flees the bar without responding.

One month after the Halloween party, Anna visits Bookland to buy books on pregnancy and childbirth. Anna apologizes for Lydia’s behavior at the party and reveals that, although Lydia and Francesca were best friends, she never liked Francesca and was glad when Joel broke up with her. Anna explains that she thought Francesca was a little “crazy,” but before she can elaborate, another customer demands Cassie’s attention. Later, Cassie receives a phone call from a blocked number. She doesn’t answer.

The Ex is troubled when her grandmother complains of heartburn, which she knows could be a sign of heart attack. Although she wants to call Joel, she calls his doctor friend Dean, whom she met in Central Park. Dean offers to come to the apartment to examine the Ex’s grandmother, who only agrees to be examined if the Ex will go out with Dean. She agrees, but later regrets it, knowing that she is not truly over Joel.

Cassie and Joel go to visit Anna and Con after the birth of their new baby. As Joel fawns over the baby, Cassie worries that he wants to have a baby sooner than she does. She is jealous of Anna and Con’s easy, obvious love for each other. Lydia arrives with her daughter Violet, who confuses Cassie for Francesca. Lydia rudely corrects her. Cassie looks to Joel for support but finds him texting someone and smiling. She wonders if he’s texting Francesca.

After her grandmother hosts a family reunion at the apartment, the Ex is forced to admit to her extended family that she and Joel are over. Despite knowing that Dean is a good guy who is interested in her, the Ex cannot shake her obsession with Joel and his new girlfriend, whom she believes has bad intentions. When her cousin reveals that he is working as a private detective, the Ex asks him to investigate her and find evidence that she is wrong for Joel.

Joel takes Cassie on a mystery date. As Cassie starts to grow annoyed, she receives another phone call from a blocked number, which she ignores. Joel and Cassie arrive at a hardware store 10 blocks from Bookland, where Joel tells Cassie he loves her and wants her to have a copy of his key. Cassie offers him a copy of her key too. As they kiss, she sees Maureen, the unhoused woman who lives next to Bookland, watching them from outside the store.

After weeks of avoiding Dean, the Ex decides to visit him at his medical practice to see if he’s still interested in her. She pretends to be looking for her grandmother’s lost glasses, but he quickly sees through the ruse and asks her out. Dean invites her to join him at a dance class to prepare for his sister’s wedding, and she accepts. They flirt throughout the class, and she fantasizes about kissing him. Afterwards, he carries her on his back to dinner so she can rest her sore feet.

Cassie reluctantly accompanies Joel to a dinner with Pete and Lydia. Lydia attempts to embarrass Cassie about her unfamiliarity with French food and criticizes her when she looks at her phone during dinner. Lydia asks Pete to take their daughter Violet to her violin lesson the next day, and Cassie laughs at the similarity between her name and the instrument. Lydia reveals that the violin was a gift from Francesca, who is Violet’s godmother.

Dean takes the Ex to a Greek diner owned by his friends. He tells her that he grew up visiting his grandparents in Greece, and the Ex imagines visiting with him one day. The Ex shares that she is fluent in Italian, and Dean asks about her favorite meals to cook. He reveals that he moved to New York from Chicago after a bad breakup. The Ex sympathizes with him, and they toast to something better in both their futures.

Cassie and Joel’s dinner with Lydia and Pete goes from bad to worse as Pete gets increasingly drunk. When Lydia leaves the table to talk to Violet’s babysitter, Pete apologizes for her bad behavior, calling her a bitch. Pete reveals that he is unhappy in their marriage and implies that he wants a divorce. While walking home with Joel, Cassie wonders what it would be like to break up with him, and whether they’d be cruel to each other. She determines not to reveal her secret.

On the walk home from their date, Dean and the Ex share a kiss so magical she wonders if she’s ever been truly kissed before. Although she wants to go home with him, she returns to the apartment she shares with her grandmother. The next morning, she receives a text from Dean asking her on a second date. Before she can reply, she receives a call from her cousin with an update about his investigation into Joel’s new girlfriend.

While getting coffee at Starbucks, Cassie spots Lydia looking worriedly at her phone. Lydia does not see Cassie and is kicked out of the store after she harasses a barista. As she is leaving the shop, Cassie runs into Lydia, who is again absorbed in her phone. Cassie notices that Lydia is crying and asks if she wants to talk. Lydia rejects her, but thanks her anyway. When Cassie arrives at the store, she decides to make a difficult phone call.

The Ex’s cousin warns her to sit down before he shares what he has discovered in his investigation. He explains that her business is failing and that she is in deep debt. The Ex is not surprised, as she has been stalking the business for weeks. Her cousin suggests that, in addition to banks, the Ex might also be in debt to more nefarious groups. He warns the Ex that Joel might also be at risk. She decides to call Joel and warn him.

While Cassie is worrying about the financial state of the store, an old woman enters to ask if she buys used books. Cassie feels like she doesn’t have enough cash to say yes, but she agrees to look at the woman’s inventory anyway. She is shocked to see a full collection of expensive first edition works, and she knows she cannot accept the woman’s low offer. She offers to sell the books online for a 10% commission, but knows she must take more drastic steps to save the store.