Summary

pp. 253 – 296. One day, in the midst of trying to resume work on her long-delayed third novel, Regina encounters Brodeur, who tells her that he has read her book and knew she was in New York. Later, when they go to Brodeur’s apartment to talk, Regina is struck by the fact that there are several photographs there – one of Martha, but several of the now-teenaged Joachim (whose name Regina, at first, cannot remember). Looking at the photograph, Regina experiences a momentary sense of loss: “Grief not for [Brodeur], nor for Martha exactly, but for all my lost selves, which I liked to imagine were still somehow there, waiting for my return. But those selves were long gone” (259).

Regina then recounts what happened in Brodeur’s life in the years since Regina’s affair with Martha. There was a divorce with complicated child custody terms...