51 pages • 1-hour read
The Love Haters
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Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, mental illness, disordered eating, substance use, sexual content, illness, and emotional abuse.
Chapter 16 Summary
There is a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, and George Bailey gets scared and hops on top of Katie, who is sleeping on Hutch’s sofa. Hutch is awakened by the commotion of them knocking the coffee table over, but when he tries their usual routine of comforting the dog in his bed, George Bailey wants to stay with Katie. George Bailey tugs Katie into Hutch’s bedroom and won’t let her leave. Trapped in the bedroom with Hutch, Katie decides to finally ask what caused the rift between him and Cole. He reveals that Cole was supposed to get married a year ago to a flirty woman named Scarlett, but Scarlett drunkenly proposed to Hutch the night of their rehearsal dinner. Cole and Scarlett reconciled and got married that night, with both blaming Hutch for what she did, but they divorced shortly after. Katie mentions how easy it would be for any woman to be attracted to Hutch, emphasizing the point when he doesn’t recognize how handsome and appealing he is. Just when Katie thinks they are about to kiss again, Hutch tells her she should go back to the sofa. The rejection stings and confuses Katie, but as she goes to leave, George Bailey, who had been asleep, wakes up and forces her back in bed. Katie wakes the next morning feeling George Bailey on top of her, but when she opens her eyes, she sees it is Hutch instead, who has rolled over on her in his sleep. She gets up to leave again, and the sting of rejection causes Katie to skip work that day.
Chapter 17 Summary
Katie calls Beanie, to whom Hutch’s rejection also comes as a shock. Before hanging up, she makes Katie add to her beauty list again, and Katie says she appreciates her mouth, which she declares is “objectively kissable” (166). Katie starts to recognize that she doesn’t need validation from others, only from herself. Rue brings Katie two options for dresses to wear to dinner, and Katie chooses a bold red one over a plain black one. Hutch also comes to dinner that night, as it is one of the Gals’ birthdays, and he and Katie end up dancing together. However, they abruptly stop when someone tells Hutch to “get your hands off my girlfriend” (170), and Katie sees that it is Cole.
Chapter 18 Summary
It takes Katie a moment to realize that Cole is referring to her as his girlfriend, and when they exchange a tense hug, Cole tells Katie that they have an emergency and she needs to follow his lead. Katie then sees that Cole has brought Sullivan with him and is even more confused, but everyone except her and Hutch is excited to see Cole. While Cole attempts to make a big announcement in front of everyone, Katie storms off, and he follows. She forces him to explain what is going on, and Cole admits that when he called Hutch the other day, he told him that Katie was his girlfriend. Knowing his brother would do anything for him, especially because of what happened at his wedding, Cole knew Hutch would help out his girlfriend. Katie finally understands why Hutch has been acting so distant since they kissed, and she is even more angry at Cole, especially for forcing Hutch’s hand when she knew why he didn’t want to make the “Day in the Life” video in the first place.
Katie berates Cole for his selfish actions, but he says he can’t tell the truth now because he also told Sullivan that they were dating as his lies snowballed, leading to him telling Sullivan that he was coming this weekend to Key West to propose to Katie. Cole argues that both of them will be fired if he comes clean, yet he also reveals the bombshell that Rue is terminally ill, and no one but him knows. That Friday, October 4th, is the anniversary of their family’s car accident, when the whole family always gets together, and he is in Key West only because Rue wanted him to be. Cole wants Katie to go along with his lies until Friday, because he knows it will make Rue happy, and Katie knows she can’t hurt Rue. Katie agrees not to contradict Cole about his lies until after Friday, but she threatens to kill him if he thinks about proposing.
Chapter 19 Summary
Over the next few days, Katie keeps her promise to Cole as Hutch seethes about the situation. Sullivan ceaselessly flirts with Hutch, but the Gals, seeing that Cole might not be telling the complete truth, befriend Sullivan and keep her away from Hutch. Still, the Gals are desperate to talk about Cole and Katie’s relationship, making her extra uncomfortable. Rue convinces Katie and the brothers to go out to a local bar together, where Cole gets extremely drunk. He challenges Hutch, who doesn’t drink, to a drinking contest, by offering a kiss from Katie as the prize, against her wishes.
Despite his aversion to drinking, Hutch wins the contest to prevent Katie from having to kiss Cole against her will. Cole tries to force him to take his “prize,” but Hutch says nothing could make him kiss Katie tonight. Seeing that Hutch wasn’t going to do it, a drunk old man at the bar offers to kiss Katie instead, but ends up getting into a fight with Cole. Hutch pulls the man off his brother and stops the fight, telling everyone no one will be kissing Katie. As they take Cole home, Katie notices that Hutch is less sober than he appeared at the bar, and Katie has to drive him home.
Chapter 20 Summary
Katie helps Hutch get back to his houseboat safely, but Hutch fights her the whole time. When they get his door open, Hutch refuses to go inside until Katie leaves, saying that he is trying hard not to kiss her. Katie says he has her permission to kiss her, and she won’t tell Cole, and he wonders why she let him kiss her the first time. Katie wrestles with the idea of telling Hutch the truth, but she knows if she kissed Hutch, he would blame himself for how it affected his relationship with Cole.
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
Lies and secrets continue to snowball out of control in these chapters of the novel, and particularly in Chapter 18. As Cole reveals what he has been telling others, Katie recognizes that his secrets won’t just hurt the two of them, but Hutch, Rue, and even Sullivan. Katie is torn between protecting herself, Hutch, and Rue, and she has to weigh the consequences of sacrificing Hutch’s feelings and their growing romance for a few days. Ultimately, Rue’s health crisis is what makes Katie decide to “protect Rue at all costs” (191), though she knows it can only hurt her relationship with Hutch. The lies Cole tells show that he is always forcing Katie’s hand for his own benefit, positioning him as a foil for his brother: While Hutch always places others’ needs above his own, Cole lies and manipulates for his own benefit. Yet the secrets Cole keeps also reveal a great deal about his relationship with his brother.
The fact that Hutch feels responsible for Scarlett’s attraction to him further reveals his selfless character and how he always puts his brother first, juxtaposing him even more with Cole. Katie sees the heart of Cole and Hutch’s problems again when Cole arrives in Key West and wants to steal Katie from Hutch. Now knowing the character of both brothers, Katie sees that Cole is not doing this for purely professional reasons, but for revenge: He enjoys taking someone away from Hutch, as he believes Hutch took Scarlett away from him. Even Cole’s drinking games at the bar are a reaction to his relationship with Hutch, with Katie calling it “psychologically transparent—how bad Cole wanted to beat his perfect older brother at literally anything” (188). Though Hutch knows Cole is baiting him, he continues to put Katie and her safety first and would rather risk his own well-being to make sure she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to. Yet Hutch’s focus still returns to Cole when he wants to kiss Katie, questioning her morals about kissing him earlier when she was already dating his brother. Whether he puts Katie or Cole first, Hutch always puts himself last, showing the selflessness that makes him great at his heroic occupation. Yet Hutch can also take his selflessness too far and forget to consider what he wants in these circumstances.
Hutch’s urge to be constantly heroic is apparent in these chapters, even though he is never seen at the air station or going on rescue missions. He wants to save Katie from kissing another man at the bar and being dragged further into Cole’s games, and he risks his sobriety to do so. Though he is angry with Cole, Hutch still feels he needs to save Cole from a fight with another bar patron, calmly rescuing his brother from his own actions. These displays of quiet selflessness illustrate The Varied Forms of Heroism. After helping Katie out of the bar, though, he refuses to let her help him get home, not wanting to be a burden on her. While Hutch’s natural selflessness makes him good at rescuing others, it often comes at his own expense, showing the downsides that come with being a hero. Hutch’s refusal to kiss Katie or engage in any intimacy stings her, but it also inspires her embrace of The Importance of Body Positivity more than ever before. Keeping her promise to stand up for herself, she calls Beanie and adds a new item to her “beauty list”: her lips, which she describes as “objectively kissable” in defiance of Hutch’s refusal to kiss them. This is the first time she has included in the list a body part that is typically associated with beauty and attraction, and it marks a significant step toward self-acceptance.
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