This Time Next Year

The narrative turns back to Minnie in the present day, having breakfast with Greg in his flat. Greg blames Leila for their business’s failure and suggests that Minnie needs to see her life emergencies as insignificant compared to climate change. Minnie feels ignored and dismissed.

When Minnie arrives at work, she is surprised to see Leila jubilant, literally jumping around the kitchen. They have received a massive number of orders from corporate clients that will allow them to remain open. Minnie is upset about this deviation from the bakery’s social mission. She assumes that Greg might be responsible since the newspaper he works for is one of the delivery addresses.

Leila and Fleur probe Minnie about Quinn. Minnie denies that she has any feelings for him even as she privately wonders why Quinn responded so casually to her text apologizing for breaking the lamp. After the group consoles Beverly, who is distressed about climate change, Fleur tells Minnie that Minnie and Quinn are not astrologically compatible because they have the same birthday.

A week later, Minnie and Alan are making deliveries to their new corporate clients. As she and Alan set up the pies at Tantive Consulting, a name Minnie recognizes as a Star Wars reference, Minnie realizes she is delivering to Quinn’s company. Minnie does not know how to interpret Quinn’s gesture of purchasing pies; her misgivings deepen when a secretary ushers her into an office because Quinn wants to speak to her.

Minnie tells Quinn that she resents his intervention on her behalf, especially since she was at fault for breaking his mother’s lamp. Quinn vaguely alludes to his mother’s mental health struggles but does not elaborate. Growing angrier, Minnie tells Quinn, “If I’d wanted to cook for entitled men in suits, I’d have stayed in the restaurant business” (124). Quinn tells her not to be childish and to take his advice as an expert businessman. Minnie calls him a “rich kid mummy’s boy” (126), angering Quinn, who tells her to leave.

The narrative turns to Quinn as a young boy, lonely on his birthday. He recalls falling down the stairs while pretending to have a sister, which brought on a mental health crisis for Tara. His parents divorced not long after.

Despite his loneliness, Quinn is hopeful that he will receive a LEGO replica of the Millennium Falcon for his birthday. He suspects that his mother is having another one of her depressive episodes, which have been persistent since her dangerous late-term miscarriage—the reason she reacted so strongly to his pretending to have a sibling. When he sees that his mother cannot get out of bed, Quinn goes to the basement to search for his birthday presents. He is dismayed to learn that his mother has purchased walkie-talkies. Quinn knows something is abnormal about his family situation but stopped talking to the school counselor about his mother’s struggles since she mentioned he should live with his father in New York.

To cheer himself up, Quinn logs into a Star Wars chat as LukeQ to talk to someone who is building his cherished Millennium Falcon LEGO set. He meets a young girl (implied to be Minnie) building a used model without instructions. They chat briefly, and Quinn admires her willingness to attempt the difficult set without a guide.

Minnie and Leila talk about her recent altercation with Quinn. Leila reminds her not to alienate customers or potential love interests. When Leila leaves for a meeting at the bank, Minnie and Ian play a Star Wars video game together.

Ian tells Minnie that he wants to propose to Leila and shows her his grandmother’s ring. He then tells her that the pie business is bad for Leila’s well-being but that Leila is too loyal to Minnie to admit that she wants to leave. Minnie accepts that Ian might be right and is glad Leila has a caring partner. Ian tells her, “I think it’s time for you to play one-player mode” (140).

Minnie goes to Greg’s apartment for comfort, but he is busy complaining about his roommate. He shares some gossip from work: Lucy, Quinn’s girlfriend and Greg’s coworker, described Quinn as an initially promising partner who fails to commit or show emotion.

Minnie tells Greg she needs his help to move back into her parents’ home, but he is reluctant. Thinking of Ian’s video game metaphors, she says, “You’re never going to champion my invincibility mode, are you?” (143). She tries to break up with him, but Greg tells Minnie she should be more realistic since neither of them has better options.

Greg’s roommate, Clive, encourages the couple to part amicably by naming things that drew them together initially. Greg names Minnie’s laugh and their sexual chemistry, while she focuses on his humor. Clive’s strategy works, and the two separate as friends. Minnie feels certain that she deserves a partner more like Ian, who supports her with no ambivalence, but is anxious about the future.

The chapter opens from Quinn’s point of view as he plans to spend the last hours of his 13th year at the local youth club. His mother overprepares for his absence, sending two cell phones with him and calling him a cab in advance. Quinn struggles to manage the pressures of his home life during holiday breaks. His mother is preoccupied with her failed marriage, warning Quinn against love and romance. He privately agrees that love only brings disaster.

Quinn arrives at the club and drinks a vodka-spiked coke offered by a friend. He meets a pretty blonde girl who turns out to be Minnie, though neither of them realizes this until the end of the novel. They joke about the social pressure to kiss at midnight, a trend Minnie refers to as “lemming o’clock,” and Quinn makes her laugh with trivia about the actual animals.

Quinn asks to kiss Minnie as the year changes. After they kiss, Quinn hopes to get to know her better, but he is interrupted by a call from his mother demanding that he come home; Minnie is gone before he can get her phone number.

Minnie wakes, disoriented by the unfamiliar sounds of the clocks in her parents’ home. To avoid giving in to despair, Minnie makes a list of goals, including dissolving the business, getting a new job and new apartment, and reorganizing her current space. She adds helping her former co-workers and apologizing to Quinn.

In tidying her room, Minnie finds her old LEGO Millennium Falcon and the early evidence of her friendship with Leila, including a favorite Edward Hopper art print. Minnie purchases a novelty item for Beverly, a shampoo bottle with cheerful sayings printed on it, and goes for a walk. She finds herself near Quinn’s office and decides to see if he is there so she can make amends.

Quinn buzzes Minnie into his office, and she is surprised by his effusive greeting and relaxed demeanor. She apologizes for her anger and says that she should have taken his advice, as the business is closing after all. He says that he is happy to see her, telling her, “You have a very sexy indignant face” (166). Minnie gradually realizes that he has been drinking.

She asks if he is upset about Lucy, and he tells her that it is better to “be hated for what you are than loved for what you’re not” (168). Minnie discloses her breakup and privately admits to herself that her attraction to Quinn confirms her doubts about her ex-boyfriend. Quinn reluctantly explains that he struggles with emotional intimacy. He insists that Minnie must also be vulnerable before he will say more.

Minnie tells him about her conversation with Ian, but the buzzer soon interrupts them: Quinn had forgotten he has a date with a woman he met on Tinder. Minnie introduces herself as catering staff and watches him meet his date. She learns that Quinn also likes Edward Hopper but leaves to avoid the temptation to eavesdrop further. Later that night, Minnie is tempted to text him to discuss his date and art but reminds herself that she shouldn’t chase unavailable men.

The narrative turns to a teenage Minnie and Leila, who are avoiding Minnie’s New Year’s superstition by staying home and watching romantic comedies. Minnie’s father is optimistic about his new plans to become a property developer. Leila is disconcerted by the clocks everywhere. Minnie feels bad for forcing Leila to stay with her, but Leila assures her that she is more important than any boyfriend.

Minnie’s mother arrives, tired and anxious, as she is planning both Minnie’s birthday and lunch with her son’s new girlfriend. Leila gives Minnie a four-leaf clover necklace as her birthday gift, which Minnie’s mother criticizes, saying, “It’s a nice idea but it might take more than jewelry, Leila” (179). Minnie’s mother disparages the girls for focusing so much on unrealistic romance stories.

While Minnie and Leila are watching movies, Minnie gets a prank call from a popular boy from her math class, who makes a crass joke about how many men can fit in a Mini Cooper. Leila gets texted a picture of her boyfriend kissing someone else. Leila still believes she deserves romance, saying that her future marriage proposal will be just like a Disney movie, complete with singing animals, a knight, and a ballgown. Minnie laughs, caught up in the fantasy.

The chapter opens in the narrative present. Minnie describes her plan to replicate the dream proposal Leila described in 2007, including people in fantastical costumes, a large picnic, and Leila and Ian dressed as a knight and princess. Minnie’s employees are dubious, but Fleur agrees to find friends who have connections in animatronics and theatrical costuming.

Leila arrives, clearly distressed, and asks to see Minnie privately. She explains that the business has officially failed. Minnie remembers Ian’s words and suggests they dissolve the business, angering Leila. Leila says she started the business to help Minnie overcome her poor self-esteem. She tells Minnie, “I thought if you just had someone to believe in you, then you’d come out of your scared little shell and this butterfly would emerge. […] Maybe I was wrong; you’re not scared, there’s just no butterfly in there” (190). Minnie retorts that she never asked for that much help, and Leila angrily storms out.

Minnie sits on her parents’ front steps, reeling from the fight with Leila and smoking a cigarette to alleviate her stress. She rushes to hide the evidence when she hears her mother returning home. When Connie asks why Minnie has not been at Greg’s lately, Minnie explains her breakup and her fight with Leila.

Connie says she no longer believes that life is fair or that kindness is worth it; if she had not helped Tara, their whole family might be wealthier. Connie tells Minnie that the pie company was doomed from the start because of Minnie’s bad luck. She insists that Minnie needs to be more realistic about her destiny and “avoid taking any more big risks for a while” (194). Connie is also concerned that Minnie broke up with Greg because of Quinn, telling her that because of Quinn’s privileged upbringing, he will only disappoint her.