The Summer Pact
49 pages • 1-hour read
Emily GiffinThe Summer Pact
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Chapters 5-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Tyson”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, racism, substance use, and cursing.
Hannah is subdued and shell-shocked. While Tyson orders pizza, Lainey takes Hannah’s phone and gets Grady’s number. Tyson tells the others that he broke up with Nicole. Lainey says that they should all go on a trip, like the trip the four of them never got to take after they graduated. Hannah claims that she can’t just get away, but Lainey thinks that Grady should repay her for all the furniture she bought for his house, and Tyson thinks that she can sell her engagement ring. Later, Hannah tells Tyson that she’s going to choose Texas as a destination in the hope that Lainey can connect with her sisters. Both Tyson and Hannah are worried about Lainey’s alcohol use and suspect that she is lonely after her mother’s passing.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Lainey”
Hannah’s mother is upset with her for breaking up with Grady. Lainey goes to a restaurant where she has arranged for both Grady and Berlin to meet her. Grady claims that nothing happened when Berlin came to his house, and Lainey pretends that she has a video of them together. Berlin cries, explaining that Grady said things weren’t going well with Hannah. As retribution, Lainey says that she wants Grady to pay Hannah back for everything she’s invested in his house.
Afterward, she tells Tyson and Hannah about the meeting. Lainey goes with Hannah to confront her mother. Instead of comforting Hannah, Mrs. Davis worries about how the situation will appear to other people. She feels that Hannah should try to forgive Grady. Lainey defends her friend and is proud when Hannah finally stands up for herself. To provoke Hannah’s mother, Lainey hints that Hannah and Tyson would make a good couple.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Hannah”
Grady texts Hannah, trying to explain his infidelity. Lainey encourages Hannah not to reply and to block Grady’s access to her. They tell Tyson about their meeting with Hannah’s mother. Hannah reflects on how disappointed her mother was that Hannah didn’t pledge a sorority in college.
They change the subject to discuss destinations for their trip. Tyson chooses Capri because it was where Summer wanted to go. Lainey is upset when she hears Hannah’s choice of Texas and her reasoning; Lainey is convinced that her sisters won’t love her. Lainey chooses Paris for Hannah, who always wanted to go there.
Grady transfers money to Hannah; meanwhile, her mother gives her the silent treatment. Hannah talks with her boss, Jada, who encourages her to take the trip. Jada reveals that she was left at the altar by a fiancé who later came out as gay. Hannah’s bridesmaids reassure her that she will find someone because she’s beautiful.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Tyson”
Tyson sends his letter of resignation and then meets his father for lunch at his father’s country club. His father doesn’t approve of Tyson’s decisions and thinks that Tyson is throwing away the investment his grandparents and parents have made in him. He is dismissive of a trip away, accusing Tyson of trying to find himself. Tyson admits that he is going partially to figure out what he wants in life. When Tyson talks to his mother, she warns him that he can’t run away from his problems. She admits that she is disappointed about his job and Nicole, but she admires that he is a good friend. She reminds him that, as his mother, she wants what’s best for him.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Lainey”
Lainey drinks too much and is hungover on the flight to Dallas, Texas. She feels reckless when she arrives and continues drinking from the minibar in their suite. She has looked up her sisters and learned that Ashley is married and that Lainey’s father and his wife just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. She wants to confront her sisters right away.
They locate Ashley’s house, and Hannah goes to the door with her. Sharon, Ashley’s mother, greets them. She recognizes Lainey as an actor and invites them in. To Lainey, seeing her father is like seeing a ghost. He and his wife are babysitting Ashley’s triplets, and when Ashley returns from the salon, Lainey says straight out who she is and why she is there.
Her father retreats, and Ashley is disdainful. Lainey is shaken and feels like Ashley’s happy family is a slap in her face. She realizes that her mother was a victim all along. To make herself feel better, Lainey goes to the bar in their hotel and starts chatting with an attractive young man named Gus. She takes Gus back to their hotel room to have sex.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Tyson”
Hannah and Tyson sit by the pool and talk about Lainey. Hannah thinks that Lainey is afraid of rejection. They discuss Summer, and Tyson reveals that he and Summer kissed the night of her death and then had an argument; he feels guilty that he didn’t stay in her room that night. While exposing the secret feels like a betrayal of Summer, Tyson also thinks that it feels like a betrayal of his friends to keep the secret.
When they go back to the room, Gus is just leaving. Tyson isn’t happy that Lainey had sex while intoxicated, and Lainey accuses him of being “Saint Tyson.” When Tyson accuses her of being selfish, Lainey starts to cry. She wonders if they should call the trip off, but Tyson insists that they all need this trip and that it’s what Summer would have wanted. Tyson believes that somehow Summer is “[r]ooting for [them] to get our shit together” (156). When Lainey asks Tyson to stop judging her, Tyson asks Lainey to take better care of herself.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Hannah”
Hannah feels guilty about choosing Texas. She goes outside and reflects on her relationship with Summer and what she wishes she would have said in that final conversation. Summer and Tyson’s romantic feelings are a surprise, and Hannah feels hurt that she didn’t know. She remembers that when Summer’s parents came to the university to collect Summer’s things, Hannah and Tyson met with them, but Lainey was drunk. She remembers how Tyson helped her get through the first shock, including watching the movie Stand By Me, which moved them both. Hannah feels that Lainey is fragile, and she wants to help smooth things over.
Hannah sends a message to Olivia, Lainey’s other sister, apologizing for what happened. Olivia replies that she and her sister lead separate lives. When Olivia calls, Hannah explains the situation and the meeting. Olivia admits that she isn’t close with her family, in part due to politics and in part because Ashley always has to be the center of attention. Hannah confides that she just broke up with her fiancé. Olivia, who plays tennis, is currently training in Italy. She loves her family but needed to take a break from them. Hannah feels an unexpected connection with Olivia, but when she talks to Tyson, he advises her not to tell Lainey anything. Hannah agrees, thinking that love has never solved anything for her.
Chapters 5-11 Analysis
In these chapters, the plot arc begins to resemble a quest narrative as the characters decide on a change in setting and a temporary break from their current situations. The destinations that they originally chose for their trip, back in college, provide a snapshot of their younger selves, hinting at their likes and aspirations. In contrast, in the present, the destination that each character chooses is motivated by their care for the others, highlighting The Power of Friendship. Tyson chooses Capri to honor Summer’s memory, hinting at how she continues to motivate and connect the friends. Hannah chooses Texas because she worries that Lainey is becoming reckless and unrooted and she believes that a connection with her sisters might help. Lainey shows her deep understanding of Hannah when she chooses Paris because she understands how Hannah often compromises or gives up on something she wants to please others. This shift in their destination choices reflects a growing maturity in the characters while confirming their loyalty and their dynamic of looking out for and wanting the best for one another. This loyalty is one expression of unconditional love, the defining quality of the friendship that the three protagonists share.
This need to look out for and encourage one another also, ironically, adds conflict to the narrative and develops the theme of Managing Difficult Family Dynamics. Lainey’s talent for drama plays out in the revenge scenario she orchestrates on Grady and Berlin, but her actions also reveal a thread of recklessness and illustrate how her tendency not to be concerned with what others think or feel can sometimes cause her friends pain. While her intentions are to protect and support Hannah, Lainey’s decision to “burn” Mrs. Davis with the hint that Hannah might get together with Tyson disregards both of her friends’ feelings. She suspects that Mrs. Davis’s disapproval of Tyson might have something to do with him being Black, and while she intends to unsettle Mrs. Davis, she also hurts Tyson by using him this way.
The introduction of Lainey’s relationship with alcohol as a concern adds a further source of tension. Getting intoxicated is a habit of hers, stretching back to the weekend when she was unable to join her friends or Summer’s parents to grieve Summer’s death and instead chose alcohol and escape. While Lainey sees herself as having a good time, her friends worry that she is using substances to avoid painful realities.
New information about Tyson in these chapters reveals that he, too, has a difficult family dynamic. While his mother is portrayed as supportive if a bit stern, Tyson’s father emphasizes appearances—much like Hannah’s mother, but for different reasons. For Tyson’s father, success and recognition are a reward for and reflect well on his family and his culture. In wanting to explore what he might become if he chooses his own direction for his life, Tyson is considering the same question that Lainey and Hannah are both confronting, but his father sees it as a betrayal. Like Hannah and Lainey, Tyson is dealing with the conflict between family expectations and desiring control over directing one’s choices. This shared goal unites the novel on a structural level as the three different points of view all explore the same issues in different contexts to carry the narrative forward.
The issue of betrayal also develops in each of the characters’ lives. This topic is first introduced through Hannah’s story and Grady’s lies about his affair with Berlin. However, in these chapters, it is further explored through Tyson, who feels that keeping his past relationship with and romantic feelings for Summer is a kind of betrayal. Lainey also grapples with secrets in her personal life with the awareness that she was her father’s second family and that her mother was always the other woman. These secrets have powerful consequences, at times leading the characters to question the nature of their relationships. Hannah wonders how sincere her friendship with Summer was if Hannah confided everything to Summer while Summer kept secrets about Tyson. Lainey expresses hurt at having this knowledge kept from her, highlighting the importance of honesty in friendships.
Throughout these chapters, as the characters confront their histories and wishes for the future, the theme of Self-Awareness as an Aspect of Resilience continues to be developed. Tyson’s parents, who are deeply concerned for his best interests but expect him to meet incredibly high standards, are a contrast to Hannah’s parents: While her father adores her, he never steps in to defend her from her mother, who is never satisfied with anything Hannah does. Lainey is confronting the loss of her mother and contrasting her situation with Ashley, who shares the same father and has both parents’ love, attention, and support, along with a comfortable home, a husband, and children. As the friends deal with their issues, they develop a new sense of themselves. This newfound self-awareness offers a path toward resilience and a way for them to find a new path forward.
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