Calendar Girl (June) Chapter 9:
New York City was everything I’d ever dreamed of and more. The city was teeming with people, lights, towering buildings, and the best part… diversity.
Great, because people of “every nationality, color, creed, ethnicity” have definitely been treated with respect and dignity throughout this series thus far!
In the same breath, Mia tells us they’re staying at one of the fanciest hotels New York has to offer and that she loves the city. Hm. I wonder if these two things are connected. She talks about how “blessed” she is to be given this opportunity, until abruptly, Mia starts to feel sorry for herself…when she sees a piano in the lobby?
It made me wish I had a musical bone. I didn’t. Technically, I could carry a tune. Most actors could, and I was no exception, but it wasn’t as though I had a gift or anything. That pretty much summed me up in a nutshell. Jill of all trades, mediocre at best, gifted at nothing.
Well, that came out of left-field. I know small things can sometimes trigger feelings of inadequacy, especially recurring ones, but I don’t remember this being a previous concern of Mia’s. It’s totally possible this has come up before and I just don’t remember, but for me it felt like, “La la la life is so fancy and amazing!!! Oh, look, a piano! I have nothing I excel at in life.”
Similarly, when Mia heads into her swanky room, she goes through this thought process: “What a great room! This bathtub is big enough to have sex in! I don’t have anyone to have sex with in this tub right now. I’m growing tired of this hard life as a high-end escort who makes friends wherever I go but am totally alone and my life is not my own!” Wait wait wait. Every five minutes Mia tells us she can’t commit to Wes because she has to go on her journey and live this year to the fullest and enjoy herself. If for one second she linked her sudden woes to what had happened with Aaron, I’d get it…but she doesn’t!
We skip ahead to the charity event that they’re attending:
If a terrorist group wanted to destroy the United States economy, all they had to do was take out Bryant Park that evening. Every major charity, not just one, was in attendance.
Is…is Mia planning a terrorist attack, you guys? This is a really strange and suspicious way to describe the magnitude of an event.
Also, I don’t have a great grasp on economics, but would a terrorist attack targeting these major charities completely destroy the economy?
There were men from every major corporation you could think of. I was pretty sure I spotted Trump and Gates roaming around, along with celebrities and a horde of governmental officials.
Yes! That was a sighting of the future president! What a star-studded event indeed. Oh man, you know what other big celeb is here? Famous baseball player Mason whatever-the-fuck-his-last-name-was! Yep, that’s right, not only are Donald Trump and Bill Gates lurking around this event, but Mason and Rachel are here too.
Mason asks Mia if everything is okay since she seems off:
I huffed, blowing out a breath. Leave it to a man I’d spent a month with, one who became one of my best friends in the world, to notice when no one else had.
…No one noticed for the five minutes when Mia was alone that she was sad? I don’t understand what’s happening in this chapter.
Mia chats with her friends for a couple minutes, but excuses herself to network more with Matthew’s favorite character Christine. Rachel and Mason tell Mia they love her like family, and Mia suddenly remembers that in every single book she’s met new BFFs.
…that beyond anything solved the weariness and the concern I had over making this year-long journey. The part that was meant to be was the people I was taking into my heart, into my soul. The men and women who would stay with me… who would add to what was now my family.
The weariness and concern that was sparked when Mia realized she had no one to fuck in her luxurious bathtub.
Before, it had been me, Pops, Maddy, and Ginelle. Aunt Millie, of course, was there somewhat. But these people, they were the ones I now checked in with.
Since when doesn’t Mia check in with Maddy and Ginelle anymore? She was just on the phone with Gin two chapters ago.
With this “renewed sense of peace”, Mia goes to talk to Christine:
Excitedly, her words came fast. “I know! Isn’t it amazing! It just popped out a couple days ago, and all of a sudden you could see the proof of Franny’s and my love. We find out what we’re having in a week!”
It’s certainly proof that you had intercourse. Do you know anyone that’s talked about their unborn child this way? I don’t, and if I did I’d be weirded out.
Christine’s husband shows up, and tells Mia that everything is in place on their end for Warren’s charity. I don’t remember or care about the specifics. He also tells her Warren’s looking for her, but before Mia can find him, she runs into Aaron.
“Pretty, pretty, Mia. Looks as though your date has chosen another to fill his dance card.”
Aaron’s descent into a moustache villain is complete. He even has a backstory to explain why he’s gone full-evil!
“Come now, Mia. I just received the news that my father has been fucking my nanny for as long as my mother’s been dead. Hell, possibly before. I’m in no mood for your antics.”
Oh he has…sexual anger about his father sleeping with his nanny after his mother died…so he’s acting like a psycho…of course.
Aaron steers Mia to a secluded area. On the way, Rachel catches her eye and it’s implied she can tell something is wrong. I’m trying really hard not to criticise this scene too much because of the subject matter, but I still don’t fully buy why Mia lets him steer her away from the party. She says it’s because she’s been drinking and because she doesn’t want to cause a scene…but I don’t feel super convinced?
Regardless, it doesn’t excuse what happens next, which I’m sure you all can guess: Aaron attempts to rape Mia.
“I know that you work for an escort service and get paid by the month. Time to get Daddy’s money’s worth,” he said dementedly.
I’m trying so hard to take this seriously.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard, take you like the whore you are. Fucking white trash,” he roared, spittle flinging against my face.
He was not the man I’d originally met when I arrived.
No. That man was wearing sunglasses indoors and was seemingly a wonderful person.
Anyway, it’s legitimately terrifying when he slams her head against the wall to get her to stop screaming, and the chapter ends with Mia hoping she blacks out so she doesn’t have to be awake for what happens, which is horrible. Do I think most of this scene is poorly written? This is Calendar Girl so yes. Am I going to let this distract from how shitty this situation is regardless of said writing? No. Stay tuned as Matthew also tries to strike this balance tomorrow as the book finishes in an expectedly ridiculous way.