The Good Part

Lucy receives a call from Coleson Matthews, whom she remembers as the new runner at her job 16 years ago. He reveals that they are now competitors: The pitch-off that Michael was referring to is against Coleson’s company, Ferret Productions. Lucy finds the email from Gary Snyder, CEO of Bamph, who incorporated Lucy’s and Coleson’s TV companies. He explains that they will have a pitch-off for a prime-time Saturday slot; those at the winning company will keep their jobs, while those at the other company will not. Lucy is at first shocked by the high stakes but then is energized that her ideas matter, and she starts thinking about the joy of pitching.

Sam and the children are happy to see Lucy out of bed again, and Lucy feels the flutters of a crush on Sam beginning.

Felix puts together a digital rendering of the wishing machine based on Lucy’s description. He urges her to put it online in forums for old arcade machines so that they can find the portal and put her back through it so that he can get his mother back.

Lucy attempts to help Felix with his end-of-year project fair entry, but the heart that they try to build together is a failure, and Felix throws it in the trash. Lucy then tries to make dinner, risotto balls, and both children reject the food.

Lucy’s parents arrive on a scheduled stop on their travels to stay the night. Lucy’s mother, Margot, comments on the messy house. Then she tells Lucy that Lucy’s father is having memory issues and that she is worried about him. While Lucy and Sam agree not to worry her parents with Lucy’s own “memory loss,” it comes up anyway by accident. Margot wants to help, and Sam has a suggestion he does not name in the chapter.

Sam suggests that Margot babysit so that he and Lucy can go on a date—something Margot agrees to enthusiastically because she believes it is important to have dates to keep relationships strong.

Lucy attempts to get to know Sam better by asking him questions, just like she did on their first date that she does not remember. She asks him what attracted him to her, and he says she was gorgeous and confident while singing in the karaoke bar. When she asks why he does not write songs anymore, he passes on the question, and they talk instead about their childhoods. It is the best date that Lucy has ever had, and they end up sleeping together. However, when Lucy remembers she has only known Sam for a couple of days, she slips out of his arms and sleeps on the other side of the bed.

The morning after their date, Sam tells Lucy that he needs to go to Manchester for a recording. Maria should be available for Monday morning to get the children ready for school and daycare, so Lucy assures Sam and her mother that she can handle the kids by herself overnight. Lucy’s mother encourages her to get back to her working life, so Lucy spends some time in her home office familiarizing herself with what is there.

Lucy’s mother and father prepare to leave, but they are still concerned about her. She assures them that she will be just fine, but she struggles with the demands of taking care of the children. Amy is up several times in the night, and Felix is distraught about losing his toy armadillo named Hockey Banjo. 

Then Maria calls to say she is sick and cannot help get the children ready—Lucy is on her own. When she tries to drop Amy off at daycare, Amy throws up, and the daycare worker tells Lucy that Amy cannot come in if she is sick. At home with Amy, unable to go to work, Lucy gets a call from Felix’s school saying that he does not have the color jersey that he needs. The jersey is dirty, so Lucy attempts to use the washing machine, with its unfamiliar buttons. When the energy meter reader rings the doorbell, Lucy is at her wit’s end. 

Later, Lucy rushes a still-damp jersey to Felix’s school, Amy in tow, to discover that she put peanuts in Felix’s lunch, which are not allowed due to food allergies. Due to some comments that Felix made, Mrs. Barclay, the head teacher, asks if everything is okay at home. Amy then throws up on Mrs. Barclay’s desk.

Lucy’s mother and father prepare to leave, but they are still concerned about her. She assures them that she will be just fine, but she struggles with the demands of taking care of the children. Amy is up several times in the night, and Felix is distraught about losing his toy armadillo named Hockey Banjo. 

Then Maria calls to say she is sick and cannot help get the children ready—Lucy is on her own. When she tries to drop Amy off at daycare, Amy throws up, and the daycare worker tells Lucy that Amy cannot come in if she is sick. At home with Amy, unable to go to work, Lucy gets a call from Felix’s school saying that he does not have the color jersey that he needs. The jersey is dirty, so Lucy attempts to use the washing machine, with its unfamiliar buttons. When the energy meter reader rings the doorbell, Lucy is at her wit’s end. 

Later, Lucy rushes a still-damp jersey to Felix’s school, Amy in tow, to discover that she put peanuts in Felix’s lunch, which are not allowed due to food allergies. Due to some comments that Felix made, Mrs. Barclay, the head teacher, asks if everything is okay at home. Amy then throws up on Mrs. Barclay’s desk.

On the phone, Faye sympathizes with Lucy’s rough day, saying that it was “a pretty normal day in mothering land” (195). Felix reassures Lucy that his “real Mummy” finds parenting challenging too and that she is doing okay. Lucy follows through on her promise to Felix to help him upload his rudimentary sketch of the wishing machine to some websites in hopes that someone will know where the machine is.

Lucy plays a game with Felix and Amy in which Amy is a “princess” and “Captain Felix” needs to help Lucy get her fed, upstairs, and in bed. The laundry basket is Amy’s boat, the laundry becomes the sea, and they defeat the “octopus king” and travel up the waterfall (the stairs). This imaginative play engages both Felix and Amy, and they finally get Amy to bed. Down in the kitchen, Felix is helping to prepare broccoli when Sam walks in. Sam is horrified that Lucy handled the day on her own given her memory loss. He says, “I wouldn’t have left if I thought you’d be on your own. You should have called me, Lucy” (204).

Sam and Lucy have a moment that feels flirtatious and might lead to intimacy, but Lucy says she’s never had shower sex before, and Sam is pulled out of the moment, realizing that Lucy does not remember their history. The sexual tension leaves, and both are disappointed and hurt.