When they go to the airport, she alienates Alex when she admits that the magazine did not pay for the trip and gives him the impression that she reconnected with him to cure her boredom. However, during the wedding, Poppy has a conversation with David and realizes that she has stood between Alex and his college crush and on-and-off girlfriend, Sarah. They attend David’s wedding holding hands. Their vacation improves as they are able to move into a hotel with the rebate the apartment’s owner gives them. Poppy and Alex profess their love for each other. However, after it rains, the heat in Palm Springs literally breaks. At first, he tells her that this cannot be because they have changed. The circumstances become too much for Poppy, and she tells Alex that she wants things to be the way they used to be between them. There are also problems with the excursions Poppy plans. The air conditioning is broken in the apartment she rented. The car that Poppy rented from an individual is old and ends up having to be towed away. The Palm Springs trip does not begin well. She is thinking that it will be like the past when they did inexpensive things, but they still enjoyed themselves. Poppy declines the assignment and says she needs a real vacation.

However, her boss chooses another location. She tries to convince her boss that she should cover Palm Springs for the magazine’s summer destination issue.

Poppy now works for a travel magazine in New York City. He agrees and suggests that they combine the vacation with his brother’s wedding in Palm Springs. She contacts Alex and suggests that they go on a vacation together. She realizes that she does not feel fulfilled in life. Poppy revives it during the current summer. After that, their contact with each other ended. It turns out that the two friends had sex with each other during a summer vacation two years before the present date. However, on the last evening Alex takes a picture to remember their time together.įrom this point on, the narrative weaves the present and past summer vacations together to explain the current relationship between Alex and Poppy. The Sanibel Island vacation is not perfect. She was bullied in high school, and her parents tend to make people feel uncomfortable. Poppy has worked hard to escape the town. Alex is now a high-school literary teacher who still lives in his and Poppy’s home town, Linfield. In spite of having opposite personality traits, they became friends after carpooling home during their first college summer vacation. Poppy Wright, a travel blogger, is on vacation on Sanibel Island with her best friend, Alex Nilsen. The narrative opens five summers before the present day. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Henry, Emily.

People meet on vacation