The Love Haters

Talking with Katie, Cole describes his brother, Tom Hutcheson, as irritatingly perfect. Everyone calls him “Hutch,” a ridiculously cool nickname. Since rescuing Jennifer Aniston’s dog, he has been dubbed “Puppy Love” by the media. He drinks only water, eats only healthy foods, and performs virtuous deeds all the time. He seldom talks, never has fun, and has “no inner life.” Hutch hasn’t dated anyone in over a year, and Cole argues that he must therefore hate love, as someone as attractive and desirable as Hutch would have no other reason not to date. Katie wonders if she also “hates love,” as she, too, has avoided dating for over a year, still emotionally recovering from being jilted by her fiancé, Lucas Banks, a musician whose song went viral immediately after their proposal. Though Katie describes herself as a “pleasant” looking person, her appearances with Lucas often triggered cruel online comments about her looks, leading her to develop an eating disorder. Soon after Lucas got famous and went on tour, he started ignoring Katie and began an affair with another celebrity. Katie has been kinder to herself since the breakup, but she still feels she is recovering. After she and Cole agree to the project, he tells her “don’t forget to pack your bikini” (24), and Katie bursts into tears.

Katie calls her best friend and cousin, Beanie, to tell her about her Key West job and about crying at Cole’s bikini comment. Katie and Beanie have been close since childhood, and Beanie knows all about Katie’s history with swimming. When all Katie’s cousins took swimming lessons, Katie abstained because her boy cousins frequently teased her. Her mother left, and her father soon began dating a woman named Angela, who pushed Katie to diet and made her feel ashamed of her body. Beanie has always wanted Katie to get in the water to combat her body-image issues. Once Katie tells her about the “love hater,” Beanie suggests that Katie should sleep with Hutch, as a no-strings-attached fling would be good for her after her year away from Lucas.

Katie tells Beanie what she feels is the worst part about this assignment: Everything that goes into the helicopter must be weighed, including the passengers, and she feels self-conscious about the whole crew knowing her weight when she hasn’t even weighed herself in a year. Beanie keeps reassuring Katie that she can learn to thrive on this trip, but she is suspicious about why Cole is refusing to go to Key West. Beanie also reveals that in a recent interview, Lucas mentioned that he regrets losing Katie. Katie thinks about a self-help book she tried to get Lucas to read, which focused on creating a “culture of appreciation” with your partner, and Katie thinks she can apply this to herself. She starts trying to think of a list of 10 things she loves about herself to help with this, but she can only think of one: her earlobes.

After a hellish travel day, Katie is astounded by the beauty of Key West. Cole’s aunt, Rue, who is renting her a place at her Starlight Cottages for her stay, comes to greet Katie and helps her shop for new things at her clothing store because Katie’s luggage was lost. Though Katie wears black t-shirts and jeans exclusively, Rue convinces her to get a bright orange caftan and flip-flops, which align much more with Rue’s colorful style. Rue leaves Katie alone in the store to wash her clothes—which had coffee spilled on them at the airport—when an attractive man enters the store looking for Rue. When Katie looks at the man, she questions if people can fall in love at first sight, then realizes that this is Tom Hutcheson. Hutch makes a friendly comment on the hibiscus hairclip Rue has just given her, and Katie does not know how to react, as Cole had described his brother as cold and silent.

Katie calls Beanie in a panic the next morning because Rue has gotten her a swimsuit and insisted she join her for a swimming lesson at the Starlight’s pool that morning. Katie can’t seem to put the bathing suit on, feeling too vulnerable, and Beanie understands that she is experiencing what she calls “stepmother-based shame” (48). Beanie wonders if Katie has a phobia of swimsuits and suggests she try exposure therapy by putting it on. Katie eventually puts on the swimsuit and goes to the pool, where she is surrounded by several older women who encourage her to join them. All the women, whom Rue calls “the Gals,” live at the Starlight and are a close-knit group of friends, and Katie instantly feels comfortable and welcome.

However, she starts to panic again once she sees that Hutch is their swim instructor. Katie worries about what he will think if he learns she is his video producer and can’t swim, and she freezes when the women try to introduce him to her. She also worries about Hutch seeing her in a bathing suit, but before he can, his enormous Great Dane races at Katie and tackles her onto the wooden pool deck. Hutch comes to help her, examining the wound and all the splinters that have appeared in her backside. Katie is surprised when Hutch starts to joke with her while he gently removes her splinters, as Cole had told her that Hutch was always serious and didn’t know anything about fun. He tells her about how he rescued his dog, George Bailey, and how he seems happy after being kept in a cage and not socialized until Hutch met him. After Hutch is done tending to Katie’s wounds, the Gals tease her about their “first date.” As they are doing so, Rue tells Hutch that Katie needs to learn how to swim in the next few days, and he should give her private lessons.