Summary

Chapter 27 begins Christmas Eve, the day before Neal proposed to Georgie in 1998. Georgie wakes up, recalling that she had left the landline off the hook. When she calls Neal back, she gets a busy signal. She starts pondering what time Neal might have needed to leave Omaha to make it to California in time.

In her childhood bedroom, she sorts through a box that contains pictures and notes about her marriage. She remembers that she had never seen Neal as happy as he was during their engagement. In one snapshot her mother took of them, with her engagement ring, there is perhaps the only photo ever taken of “Neal grinning” (297). She lays the three photos down on the floor, and because she thinks she has ruined her 1998 relationship with Neal, she “waited for them to go black” (298).

In Chapter 28, Liz barges into Georgie...