You Deserve Each Other

The next morning, Naomi creeps into Nicholas’s bedroom, where she’s shocked to find he has an old photo of them on the wall and has kept seemingly worthless keepsakes like a straw-wrapper bracelet she made. She finds Nicholas on the couch downstairs, coughing in his sleep. Outside, there are at least four inches of snow, and the view is breathtaking. With a jolt, Naomi realizes Nicholas hasn’t gone to shovel his parents’ driveway. While she still dislikes that he defers to his parents, she also knows he’ll feel guilty if he doesn’t help them.

Naomi bundles herself up in Nicholas’s cold-weather clothes and goes to shovel. Suddenly, she realizes she doesn’t know how because Nicholas always shoveled, which included cleaning off her car, and she understands how much she’s taken these things for granted. The drive feels longer than it is, and for Naomi, it is “entirely too much time alone with the disturbing revelation that [she’s] an asshole” (231). When Naomi arrives at the house, the sight of the snow-covered driveway enrages her because it feels like something Nicholas’s parents use to control him. The anger increases when Deborah comes out with a cup of hot chocolate that’s better than anything she’s ever served to Naomi.

Two hours later, Naomi finishes and goes to pick up food and extra medicine before heading home. Nicholas is waiting for her, having gotten a call from his mother. He’s stunned at what she did, which makes Naomi feel guilty for treating him so poorly. Naomi takes a nap. When she comes downstairs, Nicholas has rearranged his office so it’s a shared space with plenty of room to look out the windows. They make plans to pick out a couch for the room tomorrow and then settle in for a dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

On Thanksgiving, Nicholas plucks a dying wildflower from the barn and puts it in a cup for Naomi. Naomi knows she doesn’t need flowers, but the simple kindness of the gesture stuns her. Later, they go shopping for a centerpiece for his mother’s dining room table. Nicholas shocks her by going to a local craft store where Naomi has applied for a job but never heard back. She feels uncomfortable the whole time, sure the manager is watching her on a camera and laughing at her desperation. What feels like an eternity later, they pick out a turkey-shaped cookie jar, fake pinecones, and other miscellaneous items. The cashier is Melissa, who just started a few days ago, meaning she got the job Naomi applied for.

Melissa knows Naomi applied to the craft store and passive-aggressively taunts her about it. Nicholas defends Naomi, which helps Naomi find her courage and stand up for herself. Nicholas and Naomi badger Melissa, asking her to double-wrap and bag things that don’t need it. As they leave, Melissa calls “You two are assholes! […] you deserve each other” (250). In the car, Naomi thanks Nicholas and tells him to do the same for himself—not be afraid to stand up for his feelings. Nicholas admits he doesn’t know how, and Naomi promises to help.

When they get to Deborah’s house, she immediately nags Nicholas about their wedding invitations, which he still hasn’t sent out. Watching Nicholas flounder, Naomi remembers how grateful she felt when he defended her at the store. Deborah orders Nicholas to come over next week to do the invitations, but Naomi cuts her off, saying they are booked solid fishing in their canoe. From there, Naomi engages Deborah in conversation about the food, furniture, and anything else to keep the woman from badgering Nicholas. When Deborah finally goes to get the dessert, Naomi catches Nicholas looking at her with gratitude. Though she’s exhausted, that look makes everything worth it, and Naomi would “go ten more rounds with Mrs. Rose if it means [she’ll] get another look like that at the end” (258).

Deborah brings out an enormous cake. She cuts two pieces, one for herself and one for Nicholas. When Naomi reaches to cut a piece for herself, Deborah stops her, telling Naomi not to have any.

In a syrupy-sweet, insulting tone, Deborah explains that Naomi should avoid eating too much so she looks good in her wedding pictures. When Nicholas objects, Deborah ignores him. In a rare moment of resolve, Deborah’s husband grabs the cake and scoops out a slice for Naomi. Deborah rushes to grab it, admitting she had the seamstress take Naomi’s dress to a smaller size. Enraged, Nicholas turns on his mother, announcing Naomi is “beautiful and perfect, and [he] won’t have her spoken to like this by anyone” (264). He uninvites Deborah from the wedding and leaves, walking so fast that Naomi can barely keep up. At their car, he kisses her, not stopping when his mother comes to stare.

When they get home, Naomi shows Nicholas the note on her phone with all the jobs she’s applied to, most of which were rejections. Nicholas realizes how much she misses her job at the Junk Yard, and Naomi explains the store was everything she wanted—a place where she enjoyed the work and found a community. Nicholas shows Naomi a computer game called Nightjar he’s been playing for years, where he goes on adventures to find a prophecy left by a wizard. Naomi’s amazed at this part of him she never knew and asks him to make her a character so they can play together.

After half an hour of playing, Naomi accidentally minimizes the game and finds an icon on the desktop called “Dear Deborah.” It’s full of anonymous questions Nicholas has sent in to his mother’s column in the local newspaper. Despite Deborah’s real-life demeanor, her answers reflect a completely different persona, prompting Naomi and Nicholas into fits of laughter. The night blurs past until Naomi is suddenly “struck by the realization that [she and her fiancé] are becoming friends again (279-80).

While Nicholas is at work the next day, Naomi plays Nightjar, texting him about all the treasures she finds that he never did. When he gets home, he rushes to join her, but the arrival of his parents stops them short. Nicholas and Naomi don’t let his parents inside, and Deborah stands outside for 15 minutes, ranting to her husband about how unfit the house is for her future grandchildren. Naomi drags Nicholas upstairs and opens a window in the room over the front door, leaning out to yell down while Nicholas hides. Deborah insists Naomi go get Nicholas, but Naomi comes up with excuses why she can’t, including that Nicholas left on a spaceship. When Deborah doesn’t leave, Nicholas joins her, hollering about how he’s been replaced by an imposter and banishing her with a theatrical wave of his hands. Finally, Deborah storms off, leaving Nicholas and Naomi to laugh uncontrollably.

The following Monday, Naomi fills out a job application, only to find the position requires five years of experience when she gets to the last page. When she tells Nicholas, she is surprised and grateful for his compassionate understanding. He tugs her into the kitchen to help him make dinner, and they dance to a song they used to listen to together. Later, they have a picnic in the living room, after which Nicholas falls asleep. Naomi watches him for a while, hoping there’s still a chance for the two of them because “Nicholas Benjamin Rose is a good man right down to his bones” (294).