Summary

Part II, “Parties”, begins in Providence in 1998 and is told from the perspective of Raquel. Raquel met with her thesis advisor John Temple, who gave her some rare materials related to Jack Martin to help her with her thesis. He revealed that he was getting divorced and asked Raquel if she wanted to get a coffee. Raquel declined and told him she was meeting Nick ahead of the Campus Dance that night. Nick bought Raquel a new dress to wear for Campus Dance and included a pair of control top pantyhose in the bag. Nick introduced Raquel to his parents ahead of the dance.

The next chapter takes place in New York in 1985 and is told from the perspective of Jack. Jack dreamt that he was at an opening of one of his own exhibitions, where everything was...