Mistakes We Never Made

Emma regains consciousness, remembering that they were in a car crash. Finn asks if she’s okay. He tends to the wound on her shoulder where the seatbelt dug into it. Afterward, he goes over to the car, seeing that the right front tire blew, sending them into the grassy ditch alongside the highway. Emma apologizes, but Finn says he might not have done any better. Emma doubts it. The car is okay, but Finn doesn’t have a spare tire.

A tow truck comes, and the driver offers them a lift, but it has to be on the way toward Flagstaff because that’s where the repair shop is. Emma recognizes a town on the map because it’s where her father lives. Emma calls her sister and gets the address.

When they arrive, Emma recognizes the car that her dad drove away in the day he left.

Emma’s father, Mike, opens the door, surprised to see her. Emma spots no trace of her family’s old life in his house, wondering what was so good about this life that he gave up his family. She says she called, but he comments that he doesn’t pick up when he doesn’t know the phone number. She starts to regret coming.

They tell Mike about the car, and he says that Emma should’ve driven it so they wouldn’t have ended up in a crash. Emma is sad to admit that she was driving. Later, she suggests that she and Mike go over to the tow yard to look at the car. Finn lets her get some alone time with her dad. At the tow yard, Mike says that they could fix the car themselves, remembering the car that Emma fixed up to take to college. He saw it when he came to visit. At the time, she wished they’d been able to talk about more than cars. Now, she tells him it would’ve been nice to have him help with both the car and other things. He says her mom was able to do it all, enraging Emma that her mother had to do so much alone.

After they finish taking pictures of Finn’s Porsche, Emma and her dad get back in the car to go to his house, and she asks why he left. He explains that he wanted to get away from the city. When Emma presses him about leaving his kids, he adds that he “knew what was best for everyone” (284). They don’t talk anymore.

When Emma and Mike return, Mike comments that they need more wood for the stove, and Emma volunteers to chop it so she has time to think. As she chops, she remembers the day he left. She ran after his car, only to fall down. She waited for him to come back because he’d bought tickets for a movie with her that night. Furiously cutting logs with an ax, she thinks that he thought he had everything under control, and now he is alone. She drops the tool and falls to the ground, finally accepting that he really never came back.

Finn appears, and they follow the 3-3-3 rule. He wraps her in his arms.

It’s Sybil’s wedding day, and Emma wakes up on the pullout couch. She sees that her clothes are clean and feels grateful to Finn for taking care of her. They talk about her dad’s obsession with the University of Texas, seeing all of the UT paraphernalia and clothing around his home. Emma wonders if college was the best part of her dad’s life. She thinks of the movie ticket he bought the day he left, which she keeps in her wallet. Finn says he knows where they should go.

Mike says he’s off to work and to just drop the keys, and Emma realizes that they’re taking the car he left in. He says to come back anytime and that he’ll make sure Finn’s car gets to its destination safely. Emma replies that he can text her, not wanting to restart their argument from the day before.

Emma reflects that the car seems to be the one thing her father kept. On the road, she confesses to Finn that she yelled at her dad and that she wishes he’d said he was sorry or that he made a mistake. She wants him to say that he was sad without them, as she was sad. Finn replies that Emma can only tell her father what she feels and then it’s his choice what to do next.

Finn takes them to Grand Canyon. Emma feels that it’s the perfect place to get closure with her past. She takes the movie ticket from her wallet, explaining what it is to Finn. She doesn’t want to hold onto it and everything it symbolizes anymore. She can finally accept what happened and stop feeling like she’s running away from the past. She holds out the ticket and lets the wind take it from her fingers. Then, she screams into the canyon. Finn also yells.

Thinking of everything that’s happened that weekend, Emma also sees Finn as someone different from who he used to be. He tells her that when she overheard him leaving a voicemail yesterday, he was talking about something that happened with Sybil when he stood Emma up for prom, but it’s Sybil’s story to share. He adds that sometimes people need all sorts of people at different moments. Emma starts to wonder if he’s actually the person she should trust the most rather than the least.

Then, Finn says that the woman who called yesterday was his real estate agent. She is helping his mother sell Finn their house. Emma asks what persuaded him to buy it, and he replies that Emma “asked him to” by making him promise to ensure it wouldn’t get torn down (299).

When they go back to the car, Emma buys a postcard, thinking she might send it to her dad when she gets home. She can’t make his decisions for him, but she can make her own. She’s curious to find out if he’s changed. She is grateful he let them stay there.

Emma’s phone rings, and it’s Sybil.

Though the call comes from Sybil’s phone, a man is on the line when Emma answers. Frantically, she asks where Sybil is. He explains that he’s a Lyft driver and found the phone in the back of his car after picking her up from the airport in Las Vegas and dropping her off at Caesar’s Palace. He then headed toward Albuquerque to check on his mother’s cats. Emma realizes that the phone that they’ve been tracking hasn’t been with Sybil; they’ve been following the Lyft. The driver agrees to meet them near Flagstaff.

They meet him at Emma’s dad’s house, and then Emma gets a text from Nikki saying that Sybil is on her way to Los Angeles. Emma asks the Lyft driver to take them to the airport, and he agrees. On the way to the airport, she calls Nikki, who explains that she doesn’t know if the wedding is still on but that Sybil told her parents she was coming.

They fly back, and Emma meets Willow to get ready. She apologizes for always nagging her, and Willow comments that something must’ve happened with Finn that weekend. Emma realizes that she needs to talk to him about her feelings. Emma also looks inside the closet and finds that Sybil’s wedding dress is gone.

They go toward Nikki’s cabin, and, on the way, Emma spots Finn. He wants to talk to her, but she stops him, realizing that she doesn’t regret anything that’s happened between them, because they were each working through their own scars. They didn’t fully trust themselves. She loves him. She suggests that he should be in a relationship with her, and Finn, smiling, asks for support for her argument. She lists several reasons and then tells him she loves him. He pauses, saying that he’s scared, but then he kisses her. He admits that he’s been in love with her for years and that Sybil knew. He self-sabotaged, and she realizes that she doesn’t blame him. She was also insecure. She knows know that he’s a good man. Now, even though he’s scared, he wants to show her that he’s worthy of her. He says he loves her. They decide to figure out where they’ll live and kiss again.

Emma isn’t sure that Sybil will be there, but when she arrives at Nikki’s, Sybil is standing there. Emma hugs her, and Sybil reassures her that she’s not leaving again. Emma thinks that she was so concerned with finding Sybil because she felt like that was the next step on Sybil’s life path. She’s so grateful for Sybil in her life and knows what she’ll say in her maid-of-honor speech.

Sybil apologizes for scaring them, adding that she needed some time alone. Emma makes a toast, telling her that she loves Sybil unconditionally, even if she doesn’t want to marry Jamie, because Sybil is brave. They raise their glasses to her.

Sybil asks about Emma and Finn and apologizes specifically to Emma for bailing. Emma wants to ask her what she did and where she went but she decides she needs to let Sybil tell her story on her own. However, Sybil knows her well, saying that she’s sure Emma wants to interrogate her. She says she’s not ready, but she does want to tell Emma about what happened the day of prom. She had a medical emergency, and Finn was there like a big brother. He knew she didn’t have a ride home, so he lent her his car.

Emma can tell Sybil still isn’t ready to give specific details, but she asks why she couldn’t tell her. Sybil replies that Emma would’ve rushed to save the day, and sometimes she needs to learn how to take care of herself. Emma agrees that she’s right and trusts that their friendship can evolve. She then tells Sybil that she’s now in a relationship with Finn but knows that her friend needs to go talk to Jamie.

Sybil leaves, and Emma isn’t sure what’s going to happen. She thinks that that’s alright and that everything will work out, even if mistakes are made along the way. So much of her life is new and uncertain, with Finn, her dad, and work, but she knows that she’s ready for a change.

Emma recounts how she resigned from her job when she got back to New York. She moved back to Dallas and lived with her mom. Finn took her on a date. Then, he let her redesign his house. She also set up her own design firm and moved in with Finn a few months later. Sybil was shocked when Emma told her, and Emma remembers how Sybil’s wedding weekend ended in an unexpected way, though she does not reveal what happened.

Now, Emma is in the living room. Finn gets down on one knee and proposes. Emma accepts, telling Finn that he is perfect.