After Chapter 49 – A Hormance for October

Previously: Hardin broods.
—

Marines: Karen and Tessa make small talk about baking. Karen offers to teach Tessa how to bake. Tessa accepts the offer because apparently Karen is trying really hard to get to know Tessa, assuming that she is Hardin’s girlfriend. No one has corrected her on the matter– not even Hardin– and that makes Tessa happy in the pants.

“He is being nice, for the last hour at least, and his thumb rubs over my knuckles in a gentle gesture that gives me a constant string of butterflies. The rain continues to pour outside and the wind howls.”

HOW OMINOUS, I LOVE IT. Hardin is nice; nature reacts with wind howling. Seems legit.

Samantha: Nature is just trying to warn Tessa that the son of Satan is never truly nice.

Mari: Too kind, Nature. Too kind.

After dessert, Hardin stands and Tessa looks at him questioningly. He has to explain that he’s “going to the loo” so she doesn’t completely despair. Once Hardin leaves, Karen takes the opportunity to again thank Tessa profusely for getting Hardin to the dinner table. Ken chimes in to say that it makes him so happy to see his son in love.

“It is wonderful, as his father, to see my only son in love. I had always worried he wouldn’t be capable… he was an… angry child,” Ken mutters and looks at me. 

1- Um, wow Ken. This is presumptuous. It’s the first time Tessa is even there so dropping the l-word is a little heavy, don’t you think?

2- HIS FATHER THOUGHT HE WOULDN’T BE CAPABLE OF LOVE. That is… worrying. Astounding, really. This is Todd doing some heavy work towards the “he wasn’t lovable or capable of loving BUT I CHANGED HIM” trope, but I think she’s taking it well into murderer or sociopath territory. Like, wtf.

3- I thought we were supposed to believe that Hardin was recently angry because he had to move here and his dad has a new lady. He was born angry? Well. I mean, I believe it, but it doesn’t really jive with what Todd’s been saying previously.

4- These parents are giving me Bella/Edward vibes in that Bella/Edward always seem scared for their lives when Renesmee arrives. There is a controlled panic air that Meyer inadvertently built into her story and the same is true here. The way they grab hands for dear life and whisper furtively about how happy they are their angry, angry child is less angry now. This doesn’t seem normal.

Samantha: Hahahha…..Todd is just so bad at this. Horror novels masquerading as romance is just a straight up genre at this point. Hormance. Rorror.

Mari: Anyway, Tessa gets super uncomfortable, which Ken notices and apologizes for. He just wanted to convey how much he loves to see Hardin happy. Tessa chokes on her own gasp (it was bound to happen) because shock! surprise! amazement! Hardin is… happy??? with her????

Of all the painful things we have to experience in this book, I think Tessa’s constant, “he was nice to me, but he couldn’t like me COULD HE??” is the most painful. I totally understand that he sends her the most confusing signals but Tessa doesn’t react this way because of Hardin’s behavior, per se. It’s never like “I know he’s happy with me now, but he’s so changeful!” It’s straight up disbelief because Hardin is the broody hot guy and she’s the shy not-even-that-beautiful girl. Todd hasn’t written “he could never be happy;” she’s written “I know he could never be happy with me.” It’s gross, repetitive, and I wish it were over.

Hardin gets back and saves Tessa from choking on her breath. Hardin says he has to drive Tessa back to the dorms. Karen says that they shouldn’t be driving in all this rain and Tessa can spend the night. Tessa happily accepts the offer, but wants a room separate from Hardin. This earns her a glare from Hardin and she’s all, “so he wanted me in his room with him?” SEE? She’s just being obtuse. They’ve spent the night before and he’s even been all, “I sleep so much better with you” and blah blah MAYBE THE REPETITION IS WHAT WILL KILL ME.

Samantha: Repetition or, as a side effect, alcohol poisioning.

Mari: Same, same.

Karen takes Tessa straight up to bed. If they just had dinner and dessert, like what time is it? 8:00pm? Tessa wonders why she’s being shown straight to bed, but doesn’t ask. That’s some creepy shit. 

Samantha: Alternate Title: The Son of Satan and His Weirdo Family: A Hormance for October.

Mari: V spooky.

The guest bedroom is across from Hardin’s room. Since Tessa has nothing to do, she just stands by a window and looks out at the rain and the backyard. She considers this the happiest time she’s had with Hardin, despite his multiple outbursts. I feel like she’s said that about every time she’s had with Hardin, no matter what his outburst consists of. But this time, he even… held her hand. And yet, she muses for another god forsaken paragraph, she doesn’t even know what their relationship is.

A knock on the door breaks her out of her reverie. It’s Landon. They have a chat about how Landon isn’t mad at her or disappointed– just surprised. He admits that he saw all the signs (most of which amount to Hardin being angry and Tessa being… around), but he still expected to go out to the deck and see them fighting not kissing. I gave Landon shit for his reaction my last recap, but this is fair. I also always expect them to be fighting and not kissing, and yet here we are.

Tessa apologizes for being a jerk to Landon, and he’s understanding. She admits she doesn’t know what to do about Noah, but she just needs time to figure it out. They hug each other, and it’s kind of sweet. Sorry, it’s hard for me to say anything even remotely positive about this books. Landon is definitely the Kate of this series, in that he has bright moments that stand out exponentially against a bleak, bleak sea of shitty narrative.

Samantha: I’m sorta curious about his girlfriend. Remember how Kate and her SO were painted?

Mari: Yeah, like sluts. I guess we have to wait and see.

Hardin of course walks in during their hug and asks if he’s interrupting something. Tessa is good-natured about it, and even invites Hardin to join them, but he’s a dick and say no. Tessa and Landon have a good laugh about how moody!!! Hardin is. lol, so funny.

Samantha:

Mari: Tessa and Landon chat a bit, and it all reminds Tessa that next weekend is the bonfire and Noah is supposed to be coming to town for it. She wonders if she should maybe tell him not to come, but since Noah is nothing but a fail-safe for Hardin, she can’t bring herself to commit to that because what if Hardin changes his mind about her again? Then she’ll have… NO BOY! WHAT. IMPOSSIBLE.

She talks to Landon for an hour and then he heads off to bed.

 

Next time on After: I’m pretty sure Samantha gets stuck with sexy-times again in Chapter 50.