All We Ever Wanted

Lyla and Finch have sex. As they are lying on the couch naked, Polly comes into the house looking for Finch. Lyla stays downstairs. Finch goes up to talk to Polly, who asks if Lyla is there. Finch calls out to Lyla to come talk to them, and Polly cries about how much she loves Finch. She accuses Lyla of sleeping with Finch to get pregnant and tells Finch that Lyla will give him an STD.

Lyla is upset at Polly’s comments. She feels ashamed and embarrassed, even though Polly was not speaking the truth. Even after Finch gets rid of Polly and takes Lyla home, she still feels ashamed. She wonders if Polly was right to call her a “slut.”

That night, Kirk texts Nina to ask her why she went to Bristol. She also sees a message from Melanie that Lyla has been at Nina’s house, where an argument broke out between her and Polly. Although she does not have any concrete information, Nina texts Tom about the concert and that she believes Lyla has been with Finch at her house. She tells him that he can call her but that she is out of town, and he replies that he will talk to Lyla.

Nina sits next to Teddy, and her parents try to ask what has been going on at home. Nina changes the conversation. Her mom tells Teddy how luxurious Nina’s life is. Nina is angry because she feels as though her mom may be “calling [her] out” (263).

As her parents go to bed, her mom says that there is potential for her and Teddy to get back together. Once her parents go to their room, Teddy and Nina discuss the hardships that will come with her divorce. Teddy mentions that he believes Nina broke up with him because he was not good enough. Nina tells him that she felt she was not good enough for him and about the rape. He cries and tells her that he would have been there for her. She wishes she could do things differently.

The next morning Lyla wakes up to Tom scrubbing their porch. When she goes outside to see what he is doing, she sees that someone has spraypainted the word “slut” across their porch. He yells at her to go back inside, and she quickly calls Finch to tell him what has happened. He says that he has not told anyone about them, and they both think Polly did it. He asks if she took a picture of it before her dad started cleaning it. When she says no, he asks if she or any of her neighbors have cameras on the porch to try to catch Polly in the act. Lyla says they do not. When Tom goes to drop off Lyla at school, he gets out of the car to talk to Walter. Lyla tries to stop him. He cuts her off and questions her about the concert and going over to Finch’s house the day prior.

During his conversation with Walter, Tom reveals what happened to his porch. He also talks about his interactions with the Browning family, including Kirk trying to pay him off and what Nina texted him the night before. Walter asks if Lyla knows who spraypainted their porch, and Tom says that he believes Lyla is keeping it from him. Finch comes into Walter’s office and says that he believes that Polly or her friends spraypainted the porch because she had called Lyla a “slut” the day before. Tom asks him if he thinks the picture he took could have also been a catalyst. When Finch says no, Tom lunges at him. Finch quickly yells out that Polly took the picture and wrote the caption. He claims that he covered for her, but that he does not feel like her actions warrant further protection. Tom thinks about how Finch is “either more like his mother or exactly like his father,” and he plans to discover which it is (278).

Nina wakes up early in the morning and tries to sneak out of her parents’ house. She regrets not telling Kirk about her decision to file for divorce first. Her mother is sitting at the kitchen table and asks why Nina is leaving so early. Nina has a cup of coffee with her mom before leaving.

On her way back to Nashville, Walter calls her in for an emergency meeting regarding Finch and Lyla. When she gets to the school, Tom, Finch, Polly, and her parents are all in Walter’s office. Tom fills Nina in on what has happened in her absence. Polly’s father says that Polly admitted to calling Lyla a “slut” but nothing else. Tom lashes out in anger and yells about how Lyla is being “victimized.” Walter tries to calm Tom down, but Tom demands his daughter be taken out of class. When Tom leaves the room, Finch looks at his mom and swears he did not do any of it.

After a few minutes of waiting on Lyla, Tom lashes out at the receptionist and heads down the hall to the classrooms to get his daughter. He quickly gets stopped, and Lyla appears from around the corner. He forces her to leave the school without gathering her things, and questions why he ever allowed her to attend Windsor in the first place. Lyla cries in the car ride home, and Tom decides to take her to Bonnie’s house.

Before they get inside, Lyla asks if Tom is dating Bonnie. She looks disappointed when Bonnie opens the door and is an elderly woman. Bonnie makes them tea and shows Lyla the treehouse her father built in her backyard. She makes Lyla and Tom discuss how they are both feeling about the photo and situation. Lyla says that she wishes Tom would trust her more to make her own judgments and decisions, while Tom wishes Lyla could see why he is being so protective. After they both calm down, they decide to start accepting each other’s perspective. Bonnie gives Lyla a tour of the treehouse.