All We Ever Wanted

After they get back home from Bonnie’s house, Lyla hears Nina knocking on the door and lets her in. Nina apologizes for what happened at the school, and Lyla goes into her room while Tom and Nina talk.

In her room, Lyla sees a text message from Polly apologizing for calling her a “slut,” and promising that she did not take the picture of her. She claims to have proof of this and asks for Lyla to call her. Lyla does not call her because she thinks it is another scheme, but she also cannot bring herself to delete the message.

A little while later, Polly texts her a picture of Lyla asleep on Beau’s bed from the night of the party with a penis touching her nose. Lyla thinks she recognizes who it is. She calls Polly, who reveals that the photo is from Finch’s phone. She also tells Lyla that she found many other pictures that Finch and Beau took of other girls that are similar to the one of Lyla. When Lyla begs Polly to report this with her, Polly tells her that Finch has videos of Polly and him having sex. Polly would rather take the blame for harming Lyla over her parents knowing the videos exist.

After Nina leaves, Tom tells Lyla that Nina told her she could call her anytime. Immediately after Tom leaves the room, Lyla calls Nina and asks her to come pick her up.

After leaving Tom’s house, Nina cannot bring herself to go back home. She goes to the coffee shop where she first met Tom. While sitting there, Lyla calls Nina and asks her to come pick her up, as she is worried about Polly hurting herself. Nina rushes to her car and tries to call Polly’s parents. However, they do not answer. When Nina gets to Lyla, they decide to go to Polly’s house together. In the car, Lyla reveals that Polly has proof that Finch and Beau have taken many sexually explicit photos with other girls, and that she saw another one of her and Finch. Although Nina does not want to believe it, she realizes that she has always known who her son has become even if she did not acknowledge it right away.

Once they get to Polly’s house, Polly’s parents claim that Polly has nothing else to say about the situation, and they do not let Lyla and Nina into the house. Nina says that Lyla is worried that Polly may try to hurt herself, and Polly’s parents run up the stairs to her room. When Lyla and Nina hear screaming, Lyla calls 911 for an ambulance and begins to run up to Polly’s room. She yells at Nina to move her car for the ambulance. When Nina gets back into the house, she waits for the police and EMTs to arrive, and prays for both Polly and Lyla.

Lyla waits in Polly’s bedroom with Polly’s parents. They watch the EMTs move Polly from her bed to a stretcher. Polly has overdosed on prescription pills and alcohol, and the EMTs start to cut her shirt off in order to give her CPR. Polly’s parents are crying, and Lyla and Nina stand back in the corner of the room. Nina tells Lyla that, while she is unsure of Polly’s future, Lyla has most likely saved Polly’s life. Nina also tells Lyla that she must report the pictures Finch has taken, and explains that she has also experienced a sexual assault. Lyla admires Nina for her honesty and how much she values love and truth. Lyla tries to tell Nina that Finch is not “that bad,” but Nina believes that he is “plenty bad enough” (318). Nina says that not only she is proud of Lyla, but that Lyla has “saved more than one life tonight” (318).

When Nina gets home, she hears Finch and Kirk watching the television. She knows that they are unaware of what has happened with Polly. She goes straight to her room to pack her bag.

Finch appears in the doorway before she can leave. He asks her not to leave Kirk or him. Nina promises that she will never truly leave him and that she will always love him no matter what. He begs for her to stay and says that he did not take the picture. Nina tells him that he must confess because other people’s feelings matter. He starts to cry, and she hugs him before telling him that she will see him in the morning.

When Nina gets to her hotel, she discovers that Kirk has turned off her credit cards, so she uses the money Tom gave back from Kirk. When she gets into her room, Tom calls to tell her that Lyla tracked down Polly’s parents; Polly will be okay but has to spend the night in the hospital. He also says that Lyla’s mother has come into town for a surprise visit, and that Lyla told him about Nina’s support of Lyla. Nina tells Tom how sorry she is. He reassures her that Finch still has potential because she is his mother.

A decade later, Lyla thinks back to her sophomore year of high school and how it no longer affects her. The school didn’t punish Finch because the honor board deemed that there was not sufficient evidence that Finch took the pictures of Lyla. Tom and Lyla thought about pursuing legal action, but they decided against it. Lyla spent time with Bonnie to move on from the situation, and she now works in New York as a defense attorney. After Nina divorced Kirk, she spent a lot of time writing letters to Finch while he was at Princeton. He hardly returned her letters until a few years after high school.

During this time, Nina and Tom began a business together where he sells his carpentry. Nina’s side of the business involves decorating and helping Tom “be more commercial” (326). Lyla reflects about how Nina and Tom only claim to be best friends, but she believes there is more to their relationship.

Lyla flies into town for the design award ceremony that Nina and Tom are winning. Lyla asks Tom if Finch will be in town for it as well. He tells her that he is living in London for business and will not be able to attend. When they get to the award ceremony, Tom parts with Lyla to find Nina, and Lyla sees Finch at the bar. He almost hugs Lyla, but then quickly stops himself. He asks if she got his letter and she nods. She thanks him, but she thinks about how she is more thankful for him showing up for Nina than she is for the letter.

As they watch their parents accept their award, Lyla sees Finch mouth an apology to Nina, and he starts to cry. Lyla comments on how amazing their parents are, and she tells Finch that Nina saved her. He says he knows. She hopes that Finch realizes just how much Nina saved him as well.