Previously, Taylor admitted he doesn’t want to just be friends with Falyn anymore and they have their first kiss on an airplane. Don’t worry, they’re still will-we-won’t-we-ing in this chapter anyway. That’d have made too much sense otherwise.
Beautiful Sacrifice: Chapter 14
GUYS. WE’RE IN EAKINS, ILLINOIS. WE’RE FINALLY FUCKING HERE.
Taylor pulled the rental we’d obtained at the airport into his father’s drive. He’d talked most of the way—about his job, the places he’d traveled, his brothers, his cousin, and what he knew of Travis’s new wife.
Of course he fucking did.
They arrive at the Maddox family home, and we finally get the cameo we’ve been waiting all book for:
a young couple stepped out from behind Taylor’s father. The woman was holding a small black dog
THAT’S RIGHT! IT’S PLOT PUPPY, BITCHES!
Oh, and I guess Travis and Abby are there too.
Travis was smiling, happy simply to meet me, but Abby closely watched me, taking in every detail, likely wondering what was special about me that had led Taylor to bring me home.
I love how every time Abby cameos in one of these books, she’s the smartest person in the room, sniffing out everyone’s ulterior motives for the good of the Maddox clan. Whereas in her own book, her character was more so just rolling her eyes at Travis a lot. And I think she wore a cardigan once? Twice if you count the excerpt on the back of the book that really read into the other time she wore a cardigan?
Falyn steps inside the home and describes the mythical Maddox homestead like your Intro to Creative Writing grade school textbook.
the furniture was so old that each piece had its own story to tell.
Falyn asks Taylor where his mom is, and he finally awkwardly tells her that she passed away when he was a kid. Falyn is (understandably) confused and hurt that he hasn’t confided this to her yet, especially since she totally could have said something super uncomfortable in front of everyone without knowing.
“I don’t like to talk about it. It’s kind of like the twin thing. People see me differently when they know.”
Yes, the dead mom thing is basically exactly like having a twin.
Taylor makes a good point.
“You should have told me.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re friends.”
He stared at me, hurt. “Really? We’re going to hinge our friendship on sharing? Because I only have a vague idea of why you’re here.”
Taylor’s just on a secret-revealing roll now.
“My dad doesn’t know what I do. He made us promise a long time ago that we wouldn’t go into a line of work that could put us into danger. He was in law enforcement, and Mom asked him to give it up before she passed. It’s kind of a pact we made with each other. [Our dad thinks] Tyler and I sell insurance.”
You get the irony, right?
“You all have a pact to be safe, but your baby brother fought in an underground fight, and you and your twin fight wildfires. What is Thomas? A spy?”
“No, he’s an ad exec in California.”
YOU GET THE IRONY, RIGHT?
Falyn makes a comment about going back downstairs so the others don’t get “the wrong idea”, prompting Taylor to remind her about what she said when she drunk dialed him. They have a terse, inconclusive argument about it before going downstairs, where Falyn works really hard to get some last-minute foreshadowing into the story.
Abby hadn’t set out spoons, but I didn’t imagine a soup course would be served. Any home where I felt I belonged wouldn’t have courses—or maids or life-changing selfish agendas.
The life-changing selfish agenda course is definitely the most uncomfortable part of any fancy meal. I’m totally with Falyn for this one.
At dinner, Falyn quickly dispels the notion that the others are supposed to think Falyn and Taylor are a couple, and also dispels the notion that we’re supposed to think that this Abby is a person we’ve ever met before.
“Do you cook?” Abby asked.
Her gray eyes pierced straight through mine into the deepest parts of me. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to protect her family from anyone unworthy.
Where the fuck is this Regina George shit coming from? She asked her if she cooked.
Falyn jokes that she only knows how to cook breakfast food, Travis jokes that he didn’t know Taylor got up early enough for breakfast, Falyn asserts that they’re just friends. Weirdly the most contrived part of this exchange is the notion that breakfast food can’t be eaten fucking whenever. What kind of millennials even are these people? Travis’s A-MADDOX-LOVES-FOREVER senses start tingling.
“We were friends once,” Travis said, unaffected.
Abby pressed her lips together, trying not to smile. “Not that I didn’t fight it.”
Travis shook his head while he chewed. “Christ, did she ever.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you enjoyed the chase,” I said.
The room filled with laughter, deep tones from the Maddox boys and Abby’s lighter cackles. It made me feel more at ease—the conversation, the laughter, the inflection of the back-and-forth.
Glad she clarified, because I can’t imagine the topic of this conversation is even remotely setting her at ease.
“So, you can relate?” [Abby] asked.
I stopped chewing, mid-bite.
Taylor looked at me, hope in his eyes.
Travis also makes it really weird.
“Thank fuck that’s over. Being with her and then without her felt a lot like dying slowly—with a little bit of crazy thrown in for good measure. You’ll see.”
I know it’s their family and all, but Abby and Travis seem almost intrusively invested in- Oh. My. Fuck. You guys. The Maddoxes are now The Students Without Netflix.
Somehow, you haven’t even seen any of the crazy shit yet.
Another Maddox brother appeared, holding a brown sack. Below him stood a tiny girl […] Her platinum hair cascaded in soft waves […]
“Olive!” Jim said. “How was Chicken Joe’s?”
Bile rose in my throat, and my hands began to tremble. A thin sheen of sweat immediately formed on my skin. I felt like laughing and crying and cheering and collapsing all at once.
This might sound extreme but this is more or less also my reaction to seeing this character re-introduced to the story:
“Twent was ’posed to wash the dishes before we weft, but he fowgot. Cami will be mad, mad, mad.”
(long sigh) Hello, Olive.
So, uh, what are your thoughts on Olive of “I’m so bwessed” and “Don’t patwonize me” fame, Falyn?
She was so articulate
Ok, that’s a reaction.
Taylor notices that Falyn looks traumatized and whispers to ask her if she’s okay. The Maddox clan keeps talking with Olive about her Chicken Joe’s adventure. Eventually Falyn excuses herself and goes back to the bedroom, reeling and landing on the bed in the fetal position. Taylor immediately shows up to check on her.
“Christ, you’re white as a sheet.” He sat next to me, taking my water and brushing my bangs from my face. “No wonder your parents didn’t want you coming here. Whatever you’re trying to do, you’re not ready for it.”
I shook my head.
Falyn reflects on how valuable Taylor is to her.
“I need you, too,” I whispered.
“I know,” he said, looking down.
“No. I don’t mean, I need your help. I mean, you.”
Ugh, feelings? Yawnapalooza, amiright? More importantly, what’s Falyn’s secret backstory? Because, my friends, it is fucking plot twist-o’-clock.
“Why was Olive with Trent?” I asked.
Taylor shrugged. “He watches her sometimes for Shane and Liza.”
“Your twenty-something brother, covered in tattoos, watches Olive? How did that come about?” […]
“I’m… not really sure. Trenton’s a good guy. Shane and Trent get along. Since Olive’s brother died…” […]
“They couldn’t find a nice high school girl to watch her?” I asked, my voice growing shrill with each question. […]
“Olive is his best friend.”
Um.
“A little girl is your brother’s best friend? You don’t find that odd?”
Same.
“No, because I know my brother, and I know their story.”
Yeah, I literally read the book on their story, and I think I still have the same question.
Taylor finally asks the question we’ve been wondering ever since Falyn first said literally anything not-terribly naturally about drinking and/or texting while driving.
Taylor was quiet for a while, and then he sighed. “You can tell me. My feelings won’t change. Was it you?”
“Was it me what?”
“I don’t know much about it. I mean… I only know the little bit Dad and Trent told me. I know it was an accident. I know no one was arrested. I can see you wanting their forgiveness, but, Falyn… they might not be ready to give it to you.”
I didn’t have a response.
“Are you the one who… you know… the one who hit Austin? Were you driving?”
My eyes filled with tears […]
“It’s okay. It was an accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident,” I said, wiping my eyes. […]
He hesitated. “What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t take their son, Taylor. I gave them my daughter.”
UH OK. 1) Nevermind the story about the kid who got hit by a car and died, I guess. 2) Tune in next week to see how this makes sense?
Oh my god, That Mitchell and Webb Look! Made my day.
Isn’t Olive like ten? And Falyn is like 22-24? Jesus, this backstory is gonna be fucking dark because I cannot see how a 14 year old getting pregnant is gonna be good. It’s going to be so offensive, isn’t it?
Huum, I was guessing that it would be a secret daughter, but why all the references to the car accident? And yes, I agree that it will be very offensive regardless.
With this plot twist, I somehow know exactly as much as I did before, but now I’m even more confused.
Aren’t most agendas selfish or life-changing?
Uh oh. Don’t tell me Olive is Falyn’s daughter!
W
What
Also, as someone from a region where no one calls a paper bag a “sack”, Trenton’s entrance seemed incredibly ominous for a minute there.
“Not that I didn’t fight it.”
Travis shook his head while he chewed. “Christ, did she ever.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you enjoyed the chase,” I said.
The room filled with laughter, deep tones from the Maddox boys and Abby’s lighter cackles.
What the absolute hell is happening here? No household talks like this. We don’t need fan service for the couple that started this series. If anyone (besides this blog) is still reading these books then they’re on board with the program, stop reintroducing the Blonde Genius and Walking Anger Issues.
Also Olive is the big bad of this series pass it on.
Spoiler: Olive is Benny’s boss. “We’w gonna mewke him an owwer he can’w wefwuse.”
Man… I’m a speech-language pathologist, and the way Olive’s dialogue is written makes my eyes bleed. First of all, McGuire is obviously trying to express that Olive doesn’t say her r’s and her l’s (a very common speech error pattern), but she doesn’t get it right. The “r” in “before” isn’t changed in the sentence. It is very rare for a kid who can’t say their r’s to be able to say it in the ending of the word, but not at the beginning. To make it even more ridiculous, she changes “forgot” to “fowgot”. So Olive can pronounce the “for” in “before”, but not in “forgot”? And this is a major inconsistency in just one sentence! In addition to that whole mess, if Olive is 8 or older, this speech pattern is not developmentally appropriate, and so McGuire is effectively trying to depict a speech sound disorder, which is a disability. Ugh… and let’s just say that she doesn’t handle that very well.