The book begins when a young woman, Cece, comes to Salish, Montana, a small touristy town, in order to finish the preparations for her wedding. Cece is marrying Charlie, and the wedding is taking place at his family's summer cottage in Salish. While there, Cece meets Charlie's best friend and old roommate, Garrett, whom Charlie has asked to be the officiant at their wedding. Garrett has been through some struggles. He had something of a breakdown after the death of one of his best friend's in college. He quit school and is working as a baggage handler at the local airport. In addition, Garrett's father is dying of cancer.
Cece is initially put off by Garrett, but they spend some time together before Charlie comes up to meet her and something happens. Despite most of the wedding party getting Norovirus and whatever deep connection Cece and Garrett have, the wedding goes on as planned. Afterwards, Cece is too ill to fly home. And then she never leaves. She leaves Charlie for his best friend, Garrett, staying and building a life with him.
The book continues to follow Cece, Garrett, and Charlie as they have kids and grow older. After many years, Charlie forgives Cece and Garrett for the betrayal and loss. The two families spend a lot of time during the summers together in Salish. But Charlie still has a strong underlying layer of grief and want when it comes to Cece. He may see her as the one that ruined his life because his relationships are not successful after her.
And unlike the movies, Cece's life did not turn into happily ever after when she married Garrett. She loves him, but they struggled for money. Also, Garrett spends a huge chunk of his time up in the mountains studying wolverines. She had bigger dreams than waitressing in a small town with life a constant struggle.
She'd always imagined she was special, destined to do something original with her life, maybe even becoming someone great, and this, ironically, was what had drawn her to Garrett in the first place. Running away with him, as far as she'd thought about it consciously, was meant to be part of this becoming. And yet what had she become?
As they grow older, the children have their own lives and problems as the adults start facing some of the problems of old age. In addition, the summers in Salish become more and more unbearable as climate change causes heat and smoke from fires to increase exponentially.
What I liked most about this book was how Puchner wrote realistic relationships. Everyone in this book makes a mistake at some point, but they do their best and continue living. The relationship between Garrett and Charlie and Cece and Charlie was especially interesting after their betrayal. It was even something to see how it affected their children. In addition, Garrett and Cece really felt like a good, loving couple, but they had their struggles. I loved reading about the little moments that made their lives better. Recommended.
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