58 pages • 1 hour read
Slow Dance
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Chapters 70-84Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 70 Summary
Shiloh examines Cary's tattoo on his ribs. It’s an anchor with the Navy’s core values. “HONOR. COURAGE. COMMITMENT” (349). He thinks they should get married immediately, but Shiloh disagrees. He touches the dog tag chain that she’s worn since he left after visiting her in college. They laugh as Cary tells her he was upset Mikey said she had voted for Ralph Nader.
Chapter 71 Summary
The following day, Gloria sees that Cary spent the night. She smiles, and they have coffee together.
Chapter 72 Summary
Ryan refuses to amend the divorce agreement to allow for overnight guests, but since Shiloh is engaged, she’s technically not violating it. She plans to wait to tell the children until after Cary leaves, and he’s waiting to tell Lois until her house sale is finalized. Shiloh tells Tom and her mother, who are both overjoyed.
Chapter 73 Summary: “Before”
Chapter 74 Summary
Despite Angel and her three kids still living in the house, Cary moves forward with cleaning it out to sell it. Shiloh brings Junie and Gus and offers her help. Instead, they go for ice cream, and Cary brings Angel’s kids. Cary only has seven days until he leaves and feels overwhelmed with the house issue. He wants to take Shiloh to the courthouse and get married. After the ice cream trip, Angel won’t speak to him. When they’re alone, she finally admits that she isn’t his niece. She wants Cary to recognize her as his sister. Even though Cary is overwhelmed with his family situation, he empathizes with Angel and listens to her concerns. Angel tells him she plans to move in with Jackie (their biological mother) and her husband, even though she admits they’re bad people. Cary offers her Lois’s car and television and says he will help her with the finances of getting an apartment. They agree they won’t tell Lois that they know she’s their grandmother. Shiloh, Angel, and Angel’s boyfriend help Cary finish cleaning out the house.
Chapter 75 Summary
Chapter 76 Summary
Chapter 77 Summary
Getting Lois’s house clean feels like an unending task to Cary, but he and Shiloh spend every moment they can together as the days tick off the calendar. Alone in Shiloh’s house, they have sex on the couch, and Shiloh worries that Cary hates her cluttered home because it reminds him of his mom’s house. She wears her ring, which makes him happy. He says even though he knows they’re “going to have problems in the future, all [he] think[s] about is how lucky [he is] to have a future with [her]” (372). While showering, they argue about getting married before he leaves because Cary wants Shiloh to have his benefits if he dies.
They bring Lois dinner, and she feels sad Cary is leaving because she worries about who will care for her in his absence. Shiloh tells her he’s coming home again soon and reveals their engagement. Lois is moved to tears, and they celebrate together. They argue again on the way home about the timing of the wedding.
Chapter 78 Summary
Chapter 79 Summary
Chapter 80 Summary
Shiloh visits Cary in San Diego. She shares with him the harrowing story of her divorce. Since Shiloh had a tubal ligation after Gus was born, Cary has been researching tubal ligation reversal. Shiloh wants to table the discussion for now but recognizes that Cary wants to have children with her. He applies for STRATCOM and is hopeful he and Shiloh can live close to Mikey.
Chapter 81 Summary
Chapter 82 Summary
Shiloh takes the children to San Diego to visit Cary. At first, being under the same roof together is awkward, but Cary does his best to make the children feel at home. He takes them to Disneyland, and Shiloh worries that caring for the children is a burden. Cary assures her that he is happy and loves the children.
Chapter 83 Summary
Cary and Shiloh get married at the courthouse while he’s on leave and later have a ceremony for friends and family. Cary opts not to wear his dress blues and instead wears the suit he wore for Mikey’s wedding. Shiloh still hates dancing in front of people and asks not to have a first dance with Cary. Instead, he dances with Lois, and Mikey dances with Gloria, which makes Shiloh cry. After almost everyone leaves, Cary forces Shiloh to dance, and the kids join them, swaying to “Babe” by Styx. Gloria takes the kids so the couple can dance alone. Shiloh tells Cary she wants to spend the rest of her life filling his mind with memories so good they all blend in “a bright gold streak” (388).
Chapter 84 Summary: “Before”
Chapters 70-84 Analysis
The consummation of Cary and Shiloh’s physical relationship as adults represents the culmination of sexual and romantic tension that’s existed between them for so long. Yet, even as they bask in the romance of it, they know the real work of building this next phase of their relationship has just begun. The Complications of Adult Relationships extend beyond just reconciling past mistakes—they require both embracing romance and remaining tethered to reality. Cary’s family situation occupies much of his emotional and physical energy in the few days he has left of his leave. His interactions with Angel reveal the depth of his character when, despite his physical and emotional exhaustion with cleaning out the house, he pauses to connect with Angel and offer her assistance in starting over. Shiloh demonstrates her willingness to be a true partner to Cary by helping him clean the house and supporting him throughout the process. In turn, Cary maintains a healthy distance from Shiloh’s house and the children to give them space to process his being in their lives.
With Cary’s departure, he and Shiloh must work together while apart to maintain their connection and communication and begin to build their new life together. They use technology to keep the lines of communication open and even work through disagreements over housing arrangements, demonstrating that a relationship can survive and thrive over long periods of separation and complicated familial logistics. Shiloh’s visit to San Diego gives her a glimpse into the solitary nature of Cary’s military lifestyle. Yet, the visit where she brings the children represents the true turning point in their relationship. Cary goes out of his way to make Shiloh and the children feel comfortable in his apartment and plan activities everyone will enjoy. Rowell’s narrative positions wrangling two young children at a large theme park as the ultimate act of cooperative parenting, and in planning the Disney trip, Cary demonstrates his willingness to be a parental figure for Junie and Gus and a supportive partner to Shiloh as she raises her children.
Shiloh and Cary’s wedding represents a full circle moment as the story ends where it began. Symbolically, Cary wears the blue suit from Mikey’s wedding, where he and Shiloh reconnected. Cary’s choice not to wear his uniform represents a Cary stripped to his essence without the overlay of the military garb, something he’s worn all his life, like protective armor. He no longer needs to hide as he and Shiloh are together, married, and fully exposed to one another, flaws and all. The wedding dance, the final of three in the story, represents the coming together of Cary and Shiloh, a blending of two families, and the joy that can come from Finding New Beginnings in Familiar Places as they share their wedding dance with the children and with Lois and Gloria.
The final chapter emphasizes The Enduring Power of First Love, as Rowell flashes back to the moment when Mikey first recognizes that Shiloh and Cary belong together. The flashback closes the loop on the story’s fragmented refractions to the past. The memory both evokes and reimagines a quintessential meet-cute trope where a character chases after a hat and reunites it with its owner, instigating their romantic arc. Rowell positions Cary’s desperate chase after Shiloh’ quirky, vintage straw hat as a metaphor for his quest to capture her heart. Free-spirited and tossed about by the wind, Shiloh was always hard to pin down, physically and emotionally, and the journey to get to her wasn’t easy. The flashback also encapsulates their youthful naivete and the unpredictability of the future. Cary runs headlong after the lost hat, with no guarantee that he’ll capture it and no idea what obstacles might lie in his path. In the same way, the pair could never know the twists, turns, and roadblocks they will face in the future on the journey back to one another.
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By Rainbow Rowell
