The Girls Who Grew Big

Simone reflects on her first few months as a mother, lamenting the fact that her parents rejected her and kicked her out of the house. Although Jayden was only 13 at the time, she still feels lingering resentment for his choice to stay with their parents even after Simone herself was cast out. However, she is grateful that he chose to know his niece and nephew. When he was 14, he drove to the dune lake to meet Luck and Lion, for the first time, and proclaimed them “perfect.” 

Now, Simone needs money to terminate her pregnancy, so she asks the Girls for extra breast milk to sell, but they have none. Crystal suggests asking Emory. Simone initially refuses, then asks Jayden to get the milk for her without revealing why she needs it. Jayden refuses to lie on her behalf, so he urges her to apologize to Emory for the fight with Adela. Annoyed by his response, Simone remembers protecting Jayden when they were children and feels another stab of pain over the fact that her family turned on her after the twins’ birth. She reflects, “I wanted to tell Jayden that Momma and Pops treated me like salt water to gargle and spit out while he got everything” (101).

Luck wanders up with a bird’s nest and a single egg, and Simone tells her to put the egg back so that the mother bird can find it. Deciding to make peace, Simone meets Emory in a Walmart parking lot and apologizes. Emory agrees to give her the frozen milk.

Adela meets Chris for their third date, reflecting that “when [she] was with him, the pregnancy disappeared. The loneliness evaporated. Florida became a possibility for alternate universes, alternate endings” (105). Chris teaches Adela to surf and takes her to a dune crater, where they have sex. Adela revels in the sense that she is deeply loved.

Afterward, Chris lets slip that he is 27 years old and already has two children. Adela pretends to be unfazed by this information and thinks to herself that even though he is too old for her, she doesn’t want to cut off the relationship. 

Later, she goes with Noni to an OB-GYN appointment, where a transvaginal ultrasound shows her the first image of her pregnancy. Shaken as the full reality of the situation hits her, Adela calls her friend, Lindsay, in Indiana, who tells her that David, the boy whom Adela slept with, denies paternity. Adela also learns that gossip has spread throughout her hometown, and everyone knows that she is pregnant. As Lindsay’s conversation takes on a judging tone, Adela makes up an excuse to end the conversation and hangs up. She then asks Noni to drive her to Emory’s house.

At Emory’s, Adela shows her the ultrasound photo. Emory takes her hand in a spontaneous show of empathy, and the gesture steadies them both. Adela, a former competitive swimmer, imagines a life with this new friend as the reality of her pregnancy settles in.

When Adela comes to her door, a retrospective narrator-Emory asserts, “Adela was sent here just for me. I knew it from the minute I saw her. Her pregnancy just confirmed it” (117). As time passes, the two bond deeply as friends. However, from Adela’s withdrawal after the earlier fight with Simone, Emory is keenly aware of just “how quickly Adela could leave” (117). 

As a hurricane approaches, Kai develops a fever and cries incessantly, causing Emory’s grandfather, Pawpaw, to order her to take the baby and leave the house so that he can finally get some sleep. She protests the idea of being kicked out of the house just before a hurricane, but to no avail. Jayden’s parents refuse to let Emory and Kai shelter at their house, so Emory arranges for Jayden to care for Kai so that she can find a safe shelter for herself and the Girls. She calls Adela, who agrees that they can stay at Noni’s but tries to exclude Simone.

Emory refuses to go without Simone and explains that she must go with Simone to Tallahassee before the hurricane hits, as Simone needs to keep an appointment that day to terminate her pregnancy. Adela relents and allows all of the Girls, including Simone, to shelter at Noni’s house during the storm. She explains that Noni takes sleeping pills during the storm and will not know that the Girls are there. 

Emory and Simone drive toward the Planned Parenthood in Tallahassee, fighting through heavy wind and rain, only to find the clinic closed and damaged by a fallen tree. Emory sees unshed tears in Simone’s eyes.

Staring at the closed clinic, Simone breaks down in despair, saying that by the time the clinic is open again, she will have passed the point where Florida law allows pregnancy termination. Determined to return to her children, she then drives frantically through the storm. Suddenly, a truck skids across her lane, and Emory shouts directions that help her narrowly avoid a crash. Although Emory protests the reckless drive through the rain, Simone can only think of returning to the twins. They finally reach the safety of Adela’s basement, soaked and shaken, and join the other Girls. Everyone brainstorms ideas for Simone’s situation. April suggests using a hanger, but Adela dismisses this idea, warning that it can be fatal. Crystal shares a family story about an herbal tea that induces a miscarriage, and Adela offers access to Noni’s collection of herbs. Emory identifies rue as a plant that can end a pregnancy but warns that it can also be poisonous if the tea is too strong. Simone weighs the risks and chooses the tea.

To ride out the hurricane, Noni has taken a sedative and is closed away in her bedroom. Adela and Simone slip inside Noni’s room and search by the light of their phones until they find jars of rue and clary sage. Adela notices Simone’s hands shaking with fear and determination.

In the kitchen, Adela asks Simone why she wants to end this pregnancy when she kept her twins. Simone says that she has changed over the years; although she loves the twins, she knows that she cannot keep sacrificing more of herself to accommodate a third child. Adela brews the tea, thinking about what it means to choose a pregnancy and what kind of mother she will be. Simone lifts the mug and drinks.

Back in the basement, the Girls play Truth or Dare. Adela dares Emory to apply to Stanford, and Emory, who has already written her essays, submits the application while the others cheer. When it is Adela’s turn, she chooses Truth. Emory asks if she has ever been in love.

Adela admits that she is in love now and winks at Emory, who misinterprets Adela’s feelings and privately jumps to the conclusion that Adela is in love with her, just as she is in love with Adela. Suddenly, Simone moans in pain as the rue takes effect.

As the Girls rally around her, Simone urges them to make sure that Luck and Lion will not witness her suffering. All through the night, Simone crouches in Adela’s bathtub, surrounded by the Girls, enduring cramps and bleeding while the house creaks in the wind. As she goes through this process, Simone reflects on the first time she met Tooth. 

Simone was 15 years old and was wearing a bikini as she walked along the beach, planning to sit somewhere quiet and read bell hooks’s All about Love. However, she caught sight of Tooth fishing, and their conversation turned flirtatious. 

In the present, Simone thinks to herself, “I never did finish the book. Maybe if I had, things would’ve turned out different” (146). Adela pushes a sponge between Simone’s teeth so that she will not bite her tongue, and Tori and Crystal hum to cover her cries. After hours, the bleeding finally slows. The Girls clean the tub and help Simone into Adela’s bed. Simone feels a deep sense of relief as Luck and Lion climb in beside her and she drifts off to sleep.