“‘I lied. I never got over it.’ Kit lets out a long breath. He turns off the water. And then he says the most incredible thing he could possibly say. He says, ‘Neither did I.’”

The novel’s main characters are lifelong best friends who have loved each other since they were teenagers. The first chapter ends with Theo and Kit voicing their feelings for the first time when they are 22 years old. An air of suspense and dramatic irony hangs over this romantic scene because the reader knows that Theo and Kit will break up based on the novel’s premise. This brief glimpse of their relationship before the disastrous breakup develops the theme of Second Chances in Love by helping the reader understand why neither of them moves on.

“I check the time: thirty-five minutes since Kit walked away. I’m too angry to cry, but I have about half an hour until I come completely, spectacularly unglued. I’ll email the tour company later to explain why we never made it, see if I can get a refund. Right now, I just want to go home.”

In the second chapter, the novel suddenly jumps ahead by four years, and the resulting sense of disorientation helps to convey the narrator’s shock. McQuiston increases the story’s suspense by waiting to reveal the details of the fight that led Kit to walk away from Theo. This passage sets the stage for the remainder of the novel because the main characters later go on the culinary tour they abandoned before it started and give their love another chance in the process.