The Love of My Afterlife

Delphie waits for Jonah at the park where he usually runs, but after two hours, he still hasn’t appeared. She calls the organizer of the running club and learns that events for the rest of the week have been canceled. As she is walking away, Delphie happens to run into Cooper and his family at a café is compelled to accompany them to the aquarium. From Aunt Beverly, Delphie learns that Cooper has been sad for years, and everyone has been telling him to go to therapy. Cooper has told Delphie that Beverly is pushy, and when Beverly tries to get them to take a picture kissing, Amy is able to stop her. Delphie starts to see Cooper in a different light as they hold hands for a picture. When she goes to the bathroom, Delphie sees a message from Merritt, warning her that her time is running out. Suddenly, she remembers someone mentioning the name of a talent agent for the dancers last night. When she Googles the name, she discovers that the agent represents Jonah, who goes by the stage name Jonah Electric. She texts Cooper that she has a lead and needs to leave the aquarium.

Delphie gets a text from her mother, which surprises her because her mother doesn’t seem to have been receiving Delphie’s texts, including a picture of her recent drawing. Delphie goes to Soho to find the talent agency of Maurice Alabaster and slips in the door behind someone else. Maurice is auditioning actors today, and Delphie sneaks in to meet him when he calls for an actor who doesn’t show up. Rather than asking for Jonah’s contact information directly, Delphie believes that she can get Maurice away from the office and search through his file cabinets. Not knowing how to distract him, Delphie sees a message from Merritt appear on the wall behind Maurice, telling her to spill his drink on him. Delphie does so, but when she goes to the file cabinet, all the drawers are locked. A file with a sticky note mentions an event that Jonah will attend in two days, and Delphie takes it as a sign from Merritt as she dashes out of the office.

Delphie researches the Derwent Manor Annual Gala—the event that Jonah is set to perform at—and learns that the tickets are sold out. She reaches out to Merritt for help but hears no response. Delphie wonders how she can sneak into this prestigious gala, whose theme for the year is “famous couples.” Suddenly, she remembers Aled mentioning that Cooper had written a book about a bank heist, and she reasons that might know a thing or two about sneaking into places. Delphie plans to go to the gala with Cooper but knows that she needs a costume to blend in. She enlists the help of Leanne, who makes her own clothes and always looks glamorous, and her boss wonders at how much Delphie has changed in the past six days. Leanne also gives Delphie one of Cooper’s books, which Delphie arranged to have delivered to the pharmacy so that he would not see her reading it.

It takes Leanne and Jan three hours to get Delphie ready for the gala. She will be dressed as Daisy Buchanan, and Cooper will be Jay Gatsby. Delphie is astonished by how good she looks, but she is even more surprised that the women would help her without making any conditions. As she walks home, Delphie wonders what it will be like to kiss Jonah, and she also wonders whether her efforts will be enough to get him interested in her.

As Delphie and Cooper drive to the gala, she tries to talk to him about why he stopped writing, but he evades her questions and asks her why she stopped drawing: a question that she doesn’t want to answer. They discuss the fact that Delphie has essentially never left central London, and although she built her life to be contained in one spot, she wonders why she feels hurt by Cooper’s comments about exploring the world. Cooper has done his research on Derwent Manor and has devised a complicated plan that involves breaking a window and pulling a fire alarm. When the fire alarm goes off and the guests of the manor go outside, Cooper and Delphie will slip back into the crowd unnoticed. Though Cooper keeps most of his plan a secret from Delphie, she realizes that she is having fun with him, and he seems to be enjoying himself as well.

As they run to reach the guests who have left the manor, Delphie notices that Cooper’s hand is bleeding; he cut himself when he reached inside the broken window. She carefully helps him bandage the wound with strips of fabric torn from her shapewear, ignoring Cooper’s protestations that they will be late getting to the manor and the plan will be ruined. They are able to slip in after the last guests return, but only because the bouncer assumes that they left the party to have sex.

After looking for several minutes, Delphie cannot find Jonah or any other dancers. She gets angry with Cooper when he flirts with another woman after failing to mention her suddenly glamorous appearance. As she continues to search for Jonah, she hears the familiar voice of Gen Hartley coming from the stage. Gen’s company has helped to throw the gala, which she reveals is a fundraising event for an anti-bullying charity. Delphie is furious when Gen uses Delphie’s story as her own and starts to talk about how she was a victim of bullying in high school. Delphie cannot help but approach Gen and confront her about her lies. The microphone that Gen was using is still on, and the other guests hear the argument, but when Gen goes to turn it off, Delphie assumes that Gen plans to attack her, so she throws her drink in Gen’s face. When Delphie turns around to see that everyone at the gala is watching her, she finally spots Jonah and goes to him.

In the confusion of the moment, Delphie convinces Jonah to join her in a supply closet near the main ballroom. Though befuddled, Jonah is kind to Delphie and asks her what she wants. However, he mentions that he is at the gala with a woman he is dating. Delphie feels desperate to get him to kiss her, but when she holds his hands, she doesn’t feel the same spark that she felt in Evermore. Jonah is concerned, and the more Delphie tries to explain and convince him to kiss her, the more scared he gets. He finally escapes the supply closet, but Delphie chases him out onto the dance floor, letting it slip that she couldn’t find him at the drawing class or the Shard. Many of the guests are watching her again as Gen approaches Delphie and Jonah. Gen has worked with Johan many times and considers him a friend. Gen asks Delphie to hurry up and forgive her, noting that she hasn’t thought of Delphie in years. Delphie is crushed because she has been haunted by the bullying she endured from Gen and Ryan ever since high school. Cooper appears, and although Gen recognizes him, he brushes her off just as Gen did to Delphie. Cooper and Delphie then leave the gala together.

Cooper asks Delphie if she is all right, and she considers everything she has been through in the past few days. She tells him that she lied about why she needed to find Jonah and explains that the truth is much more complicated. Delphie has lost her shoes after chasing Jonah, and it is a 15-minute walk back to where they parked. As Delphie is contemplating the upcoming end of her life, rain begins to pour down, but Delphie is indifferent to it. Cooper has to carry her back to the car, where he realizes that he has lost his keys. They run to a nearby pub and book rooms for the night, then get drinks. Delphie realizes that she won’t be able to check on Mr. Yoon and make sure that the grocery delivery she ordered for him has arrived. To Delphie’s surprise, Cooper says that Mr. Yoon will be fine; he knows this because he has lunch and plays poker with the man three times a week. Delphie makes Cooper promise to look after Mr. Yoon if she were to die. Cooper doubts that this will happen but agrees. As Delphie considers what she will do with the last three days of her life, she recognizes that she has wasted her time. She goes to the bathroom to call her mother, but there is no answer.

When Delphie returns from the bathroom, she and Cooper learn that the bartender at the pub assumed they were a couple and only booked them one room; all other rooms are booked. As they go to sleep in the too-small bed, Delphie begins to cry as she thinks about the end of her life. Cooper comforts her. He mentions that this is the first time in years that he hasn’t felt lonely, and they kiss. As Cooper continues to come onto Delphie, she mentions that she has never had sex before. Privately, she thinks that she would like to experience it before she dies. Cooper tells her that it is her decision whether or not they continue, and Delphie says yes.