The following version of this story was used to create this guide: Hadley, Tessa. "The Other One." The New Yorker Online. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/the-other-one.

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the page number from which the quotation is taken.

"The Other One" is a short story that follows Heloise, now a woman in her mid-forties, as she navigates a handful of close relationships. When Heloise was twelve, her father, Clifford, died in a car accident in France. However, he was never supposed to be in France, and he was accompanied by his lover and her friend. His lover also died in the crash, but her friend survived. As a child, Heloise convinced herself that she had gone with her mother to France and seen her father's body in the hospital before he died, even though she stayed at home in Bristol.

Much of the information that Heloise has about the accident comes from her mother, Angie, now seventy-two years old. Angie is eccentric and alluring, but she and Heloise have a difficult relationship, as Heloise takes after her father. Angie refers to the friend who survived the crash as "the other one" when she and Heloise talk about it. Angie seems nonchalant about the revelation that her husband was having an affair; she even laughs and jokes about it.

At a dinner party hosted by her friend Antony one evening, Heloise meets Delia, Antony's son's violin teacher. Heloise admires Delia, who is older, confident, and beautiful. At the end of the dinner party, Delia reveals that she can no longer play violin the way she used to because she was involved in a car accident in France many years ago. Heloise is convinced that Delia is the friend of her father's lover who survived the crash, but she does not say anything in the moment.

Heloise has dinner with her mother and brother, Toby, one night. She notes how close her brother and mother appear, and understands the similarities they share. At the end of the dinner, Heloise asks if her mother has any copies of her dad's book that he wrote. She finds one and reads it, but eventually finds it too dense to get through. She gives it to Antony, whom she respects and has recently felt herself attracted to in a way she never has before.

One afternoon, Heloise stops by Antony's unannounced with her children. Delia answers the door, and Heloise realizes that Delia and Antony have begun a relationship. Delia entreats Heloise to come inside, where Heloise sees her father's book on the counter. Delia tells her that it was indeed her who was in the crash with Clifford, but that she was Clifford's lover rather than the lover's friend. Her friend, Barbie, was the one who died in the crash, and Delia remembers fondly the morning they spent together before leaving for France.