The Husbands: A Novel

The party goes well due to Nora and Hayden’s tacit agreement to pretend everything is fine. Nora asks him to consider couples’ therapy and is surprised by his willingness. He claims he can talk about feelings, that he’s not a “caveman,” and Nora thinks that 80% of the women she knows have “downloaded [this] Dad Version 2.0,” this “breed of guy” (156), who feels he’s a hero because he does things his dad didn’t. Nora worries that therapy could reveal his real feelings about Liv’s accident.

Cornelia tells Hayden and Nora that her sessions are immersive and unconventional, and they officially consent to treatment. Later that night, Nora stops by the charred remains of Penny’s home and finds Francine and a boy there, smoking and drinking. The boy clearly wants to say something when Nora questions Francine about the fire. Francine avoids Nora’s questions because Nora is her mother’s friend. The boy can’t maintain eye contact with Nora.

Nora asks Penny about Francine, and Penny says they haven’t spoken for a while because Francine thinks Penny is a tattletale. Francine was in a relationship with a boy, Devin, and Cornelia convinced them to do couples’ therapy, which shocks Nora. Penny describes Cornelia’s belief that “early intervention” gets better results than can be achieved in adults.