The Last Love Note: A Novel

The plane lands in the town of Ballina due to a storm that has grounded planes all along the East Coast. Hugh, as usual, is capable, making all the decisions, and Kate is grateful to have someone “to step into my life and take the reins, for even a second” (164). Their cab driver asks if she is in town for the writer’s festival, but Kate isn’t ready to identify herself as a writer. Hugh tells Kate she is fragile and should take this as a break; Hugh has been present for other breakdowns and has asked Kate before if she has thought of hurting herself. Kate thinks of her future in terms of surviving, trying to raise Charlie, “then seeing out the course of my natural life, minus Cam” (169).

Kate’s mother and Grace look after Charlie and arrange a cottage where Hugh and Kate can stay for the weekend. As they travel to their cottage, Kate regards Mount Warning—now referred to by its Indigenous name, Wollumbin—and thinks she would like to explode like the volcano. Kate delights in their cottage and feels an unexpected lightness at being away from Charlie, her duties, and her grief for a short time. Even Hugh seems more relaxed. Kate thinks about going to the writer’s festival and admits she hates how grief has reduced her. Hugh doesn’t think she’s reduced.

Kate feels more human as she stands by the ocean. She thinks about how her grief is so much bigger than she is, just as she is soaked by an enormous wave. She feels, as a mother, she shouldn’t have thoughts about dying. She feels Cam’s presence, protecting her, looking after her. Hugh brings her a towel, and Kate feels taken care of. Inside, Hugh runs a shower. Kate steps into it, still fully clothed, and begins sobbing. She feels she has come over the peak of a roller coaster and, for the first time, she has space to grieve without worrying how it will affect Charlie. Hugh enters the shower, also fully clothed, and sits beside her as she cries.

Kate calls Grace and apologizes for trying to set her up with Hugh; Grace tells Kate to stop blaming herself that there wasn’t chemistry between them. When Hugh was supposedly dating Grace, Kate saw him meeting frequently with a younger woman whose name was Ruby. Kate wants to tell Grace about her epiphanies, including the feeling that Cam’s notes, once scaffolding, are now a cage holding her back. Kate mentions Justin’s interest in her and senses that Grace becomes guarded. Kate thinks about what she can do to help Grace on her quest for children.

Kate is in the dressing room of a shop when she takes a call from Justin. He reveals that he spoke with Kate’s mother, who shared her own grief at what Kate is going through. Kate is stunned as she never considered what her mother might be feeling. Kate tells him how she and Cam adopted their dog, Knightley, and reflects how difficult it was when Knightley became sick and she had to put him down. As he passed, Kate asked Knightley to tell Cam she loves him. Kate meant to tell Justin she’s not interested but has confided in him instead.

Kate considers herself in the mirror and reminds herself she is grateful for her body, especially since it nourished Charlie. The saleswoman recognizes Kate’s grief and shares that she, too, lost her husband. She says that if Kate’s husband wanted her to be happy when he was alive, then she shouldn’t take that away from him in death. Kate reflects on how Cam’s spirit, when she felt him at the beach, stepped aside for Hugh.

The novel flashes back to a scene a few months prior. Kate is dressing for a fundraising gala for her job, and Grace brings her a beautiful vintage dress in emerald green, with jewelry to match. Kate is invested in the project, which will fund researching into genetic markers for early-onset Alzheimer’s. As she looks at her transformed self in the mirror, Kate wonders if her spark will ever return.

Hugh meets her at the gala, looking smart in his dinner suit. When Kate’s necklace sets off the security alarm, he unclasps it for her, then reattaches it when they are through. Hugh is impressed by how easily Kate greets and converses with donors. She watches him work the room and thinks they are a good team. She dances and begins to feel a bit more like herself. When a conversation with a researcher becomes awkward after Kate confesses that she is widowed, Hugh rescues her and takes her away for a drink. Hugh tells her she doesn’t look like “Grief Kate” tonight. As they have a drink together, Kate wants Hugh to know that she isn’t the type to have flings. Hugh reminds her that there are no rules for falling in love again, but he assures her that when the time comes, she will be ready to take the risk.