The Upside of Falling

On Sunday morning, Brett’s father returns from his trip to New York. Brett takes Becca’s advice, accepts his father’s apology for missing his game, and enjoys the evening. However, during dinner, Mr. Wells announces that he has to go out of town again the following weekend, and Mrs. Wells becomes very upset. Brett realizes that his father has “been leaving more often than usual in the past few months” (97), but he doesn’t understand why his mother is taking his father’s absences so hard. The next morning, Brett’s mother is still acting strange, and so is Becca. During lunch, Becca ignores Brett and reads a book instead, but he finally tells her that he is “having a pretty rough morning and [his] girlfriend being mad at [him] is not helping” (99). He tells Becca about everything that happened with his parents over the weekend, and Becca listens attentively and offers comfort and support. Still, she encourages him not to think about it too much: After all, it was just one strange night at home. Brett also realizes that Becca is upset about something, but when he asks her about it, she avoids answering him. Jeff joins them at the table and invites Becca and Brett to the marsh party at Lovers’ Lake on Friday.