This Is Where I Leave You

Judd sits on the roof in the early morning, contemplating how “love in real life [is] messy and corrupt and completely unreliable” (230). He likes Penny, but he still loves Jen. Wendy joins him on the roof and smokes. They watch Linda return to her house. Judd confronts Wendy about sleeping with Horry and she says every once in a while, she gets to visit an alternate universe where “Horry didn’t get his brains bashed in, and he and I are married” (232). Tracy swims laps in the pool.

Boner visits with some of Paul’s jock friends. Judd notices that they don’t talk about Paul’s injury, and he feels pity and tenderness for his brother. A high school friend of Judd’s visits, and Judd finds that his friend, once funny and pleasant, has become repulsive.

Friends of Wendy’s visit, and Judd watches the women judge one another. Peter Applebaum tries to grope Hillary, and Linda shoos him out. Distant relatives arrive, and Judd observes the teenage girls, who “are vacant and beautiful and wield their budding sexuality with a certain lack of control, like a toddler with a power tool” (241). They look at Hillary’s wedding album, and Judd is moved by a picture of his father carrying his mother, both of them laughing. Paul and his friends step outside to play baseball. Paul pitches, though it hurts his shoulder, and a ball smacks Boner in the face. Alice rushes to Paul.

Judd studies the women visitors, judging their physique and their sexual appeal. Two of his former coworkers visit, and the conversation is awkward. Judd is surprised to realize, “They were daily fixtures in my life for the last seven years or so, and now they are gone. Or, more accurately, I am. Just like that. That’s the thing about life; everything feels so permanent, but you can disappear in an instant” (248). Several mothers praise their daughters to him, and Judd is annoyed. His mom remarks that Judd is beginning to vent his anger.

Judd takes his nephews to the local amusement park and invites Penny to join them, although he remarks that “[s]eeing her fills [him] up and breaks [his] heart all at once” (252). Judd spends the money he stole from Wade. A staff person takes a picture of the four of them, and Judd recalls the many pictures of the Foxman family missing their father, as he was taking the picture. Judd won’t claim this snapshot: “A photo of the four of us doesn’t make any sense” (253). Jen calls to say she thinks she’s losing the baby. Penny, who is just learning Jen is pregnant, stays at the park.

Judd returns the boys, and Phillip drives Judd to the hospital in his Porsche. Holding Jen’s hand to console her, Judd thinks of how earlier he was walking through the amusement park with Penny, “holding her hand, kissing the cotton candy off her lips. I’m living in separate universes, and I have no idea where I actually belong” (257). Jen and Judd share a tender moment as they hear the baby’s heartbeat, and then Wade barges in.

The doctor makes the men wait outside the room. Judd shouts and swears at Wade that he’s not a stepfather, he’s not a partner, and he’s not even a decent guy. Wade reminds Judd that Jen approached Wade, not the other way around. Judd tries to hit him, Wade deflects, and Phillip enters and punches Wade. The security guard escorts them outside. Judd wonders why he didn’t visit more often when his father was sick. Phillip helps Judd vandalize Wade’s Maserati.

Hillary and Linda fight, and Linda leaves. Alice is mad at Paul, and Tracy is mad at Phillip. Judd knows he should call Penny to apologize. Paul, Phillip, and Judd cancel shiva for the evening.

The brothers go to a bar, and Judd observes the young women. He thinks, “I would kill to be in love again. I loved being in love” (273). He sees Horry making out with an attractive girl. Paul berates Phillip for his interactions with women, then berates Judd. Judd responds that Paul could have gone to college but chose to stay home and feel sorry for himself. Paul informs Judd that he had eight surgeries in total, and Judd came to see him only twice. Paul says Judd is a “lousy brother,” and Judd wonders if he is right. Paul leaves, Judd and Phillip get drunk, and Phillip disappears with his old girlfriend, Chelsea.

Judd is walking home when Wade drives up, climbs out of the car, and punches Judd. Wade apologizes for everything, then reveals that he broke up with Jen. Judd realizes that Jen is alone. He takes a cab to his parents’ house, and the driver is his high school English teacher, who got in trouble for having sex with a student and whose wife came to school and tried to stab him. In the basement, Judd regards himself in the mirror, then falls asleep.