51 pages • 1 hour read
Christina LaurenSomething Wilder
Christina LaurenFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 28-34Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary
Lily and Leo race back to the cabin. They search the surrounding brush and find the correct tree stump. It has another braille message on it that is sending them to a different spot in the canyon. Bradley’s voice behind them interrupts their conversation. Lily and Leo are shocked to see him—Nicole told Lily he left for New York. Studying his friend, Leo tries to understand why Bradley would return to the canyon alone. He confronts Bradley about why he’s there. Bradley admits that he, Terry, Kevin, and Jay were all working together. Bradley knew about Duke and wanted to find the treasure. He couldn’t return to New York knowing Lily and Leo were going to find the money without him. Suddenly Lily and Leo realize that Bradley actually killed Terry. Bradley admits that he pushed Terry but insists he was helping them by eliminating him. Bradley grabs Terry’s gun out of Lily’s waistband, insisting that they take him to the next stop on the hunt. Jay and Kevin appear and the men lead Lily and Leo back onto the trail at gunpoint.
Chapter 29 Summary
Along the way, Lily’s mind races. She wonders if she and Leo can run away but worries about the gun. Finally the group finds the crevasse to which Duke’s puzzle pointed. The men force Leo and Lily inside and the cave opens into a small room. Leo finds a box hidden in the rocks. Inside, there’s only a series of numbers. The men won’t let Lily and Leo leave until Leo solves the code.
They sit in the cave for hours while Leo works out the code in his head. Lily studies Leo, realizing that she trusts and wants to protect him. Finally Leo announces that the code says: “Beat ya here” (317). He explains where the code comes from and how he deciphered it. Furious, Bradley insists they’re going to return to Duke’s cabin and “tear it apart” to find the hidden money (319).
Chapter 30 Summary
The group emerges from the cavern where several figures are approaching them, one of whom is Nicole. The men try drawing their guns, but Nicole is with park rangers who take their weapons. The rangers ask about Bradley, Kevin, and Jay, and Leo says they’re not with him and Lily. An officer apprehends Bradley and reads him his rights. Hysterical, Bradley begs Leo to stand up for him. The rangers leave with the men. Nicole explains she found Lily and Leo by tracking their satellite phone. Lily notices how upset Leo is about Bradley’s betrayal and comforts him. A helicopter flies them out of the canyon. On the way, Leo passes out.
Chapter 31 Summary
Leo is admitted to the hospital. While he’s resting, Nicole, Lily, and Walter give the police statements about what happened with Terry and are cleared. However, Bradley is being charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, violence, and robbery. A few hours later, the friends learn that the rangers found Terry’s body. Lily breaks out in tears at the news. She visits Leo, sitting near his bed and contemplating everything that happened. She loves him but worries they can’t make a life together. Leo wakes up and they start talking about their relationship. Leo insists that Lily deserves to be happy and promises he won’t leave her again. They profess their love for each other and Lily updates Leo on what happened to Bradley. Leo has a revelation and tells Lily to pull a piece of paper out of his pocket. He wrote down the code from the cave. He explains that it’s an old computer code and it’s really telling them to look back at home—in a cabin where Lily has been living, and where Duke once lived with her. He lied to Bradley and his friends about its message. Lily is shocked but thrilled that they might still find the money.
Chapter 32 Summary
Leo explains how he deciphered the code and why he lied to Bradley, Jay, and Kevin. He and Lily decide it’s worth looking at home for the treasure.
After Leo’s hospital release, he and Lily return to the cabin where she’s been living and it’s in disarray. Leo feels sad thinking of her there alone. Because it’s small, they’re unsure where to look for the money. They soon realize that the haphazard nails in the walls are spelling out a message. The message is Lily’s name and directs them to a spot in the wall Lily never noticed before. Inside the wall, they find a gold coin and a message from Duke to Lily.
Chapter 33 Summary
Lily and Leo drive to Elk Ridge Bank in Telluride, Colorado, the next day per Duke’s note. Lily is nervous about meeting with the bank manager, but Leo reassures her. Inside, the manager Ed Tottenham welcomes Lily, glad she finally showed up.
Chapter 34 Summary
The narrative jumps ahead two months ahead. Lily and Leo are living back on Wilder Ranch in Laramie, Wyoming. They bought it back using Duke’s money, which amounted to $15 million. They gave some to the national parks and some to Nicole to buy the property next door to Wilder Ranch.
Lily, Leo, Nicole, and Walter drink champagne to celebrate Nicole’s new property. The friends beg Lily to show them the note Duke left her with the money at the bank. In the note, Duke explains why he designed the treasure hunt. Because he didn’t know he was going to die, he assumed they’d be solving it together. He encourages Lily to use the money to live her life however she wants and tells her to go and see the world before settling down. Lily and Leo have decided to take regular trips together to honor Duke’s wishes.
The friends spend the rest of the night talking, reminiscing, and celebrating. Finally Lily and Leo go to bed. They talk about their farm chores and then kiss and have sex.
Chapters 28-34 Analysis
The final sequences of Lily and Leo’s treasure hunt help them to reconcile with their pasts, forgive one another, reclaim their independence, and restart their relationship. Indeed, their protracted adventure through Canyonlands National Park is an extended metaphor for The Journey Toward Self-Discovery. The adventure also symbolizes Lily and Leo’s ongoing work to reconcile with their disappointments and heartbreaks and to rediscover themselves on their own terms. Each of the codes, puzzles, and riddles they must solve represents one of life’s challenges. Indeed, Lily and Leo must work together to work out these ciphers and thus find solidarity over their common goal. Once they emerge safely from the Canyonlands, they successfully heal from their traumatic experiences and find the money that ushers them into their new future together.
Completing their mission and locating the treasure also helps Lily to make amends with her family legacy and to forgive her father. Throughout the novel, much of Lily’s internal unrest has been inspired by her fraught relationship with Duke. Although she loved Duke, she often blames him for her predicaments in the narrative present. Indeed, if Duke hadn’t sold the ranch or had simply given her the treasure, Lily feels that her troubles would be solved and that she wouldn’t have to worry about where she should be and how to exact her dreams. In solving Duke’s treasure hunt and finding the money, Lily realizes that her father has always loved her and that his meticulously designed adventure was in fact for her.
The novel uses Duke’s note as a narrative device that helps Lily to reconcile with her past and to make peace with her dad. Indeed, the note grants Lily access to her late father’s interiority for the first time and thus clarifies many of her questions about who Duke was and how he felt about her. In the letter, Duke writes:
I hope all of this makes you understand why I sold the ranch. That place never made me feel anything but trapped. I know you love it there, but I don’t want to feel tied to that land anymore, and I don’t want you to simply fall into your fate. That’s my decision and I stand by it. I want to tell you something important, and maybe if we’ve made it through this crazy hunt together and you’re still reading, there’s a chance you’ll hear it. You’re barely an adult. Don’t tie yourself down to a place or a person yet. Don’t let your world be small until you’ve seen more of it (356).
Duke uses an open, honest, and direct tone in his note. He is directly addressing Lily which also grants the note an intimate, vulnerable quality. Duke is at once opening himself to Lily and offering her advice. The note thus reveals the paternal figure that Lily has longed for throughout her childhood and adulthood. Therefore, finding the note helps her to make peace with the past and to embrace the future with a new outlook. In turn, Lily feels free to reclaim her autonomy and to pursue her dreams with a clear conscience. In this, the novel suggests that once the individual confronts her former experiences she is better able to move beyond them. The novel’s final chapter—which acts as an epilogue to the narrative—shows Lily and Leo settled down together and realizing their dreams as individuals and a couple. Their new circumstances capture Lily and Leo’s personal and relational growth and afford them a happy ending.
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