The Rachel Incident

Rachel and Carey fall into an intense affair. While the relationship is passionate, they tend to bring out some negative tendencies in one another. Rachel reflects, “The thing about me and Carey is that we were both dirty. By which I mean: we were both perverted, and we were both unclean” (84). They tend to fall into bed with one another for days, neglecting to eat real meals, change the sheets, or find clean clothes. Carey lives with two roommates, who occasionally walk in on Rachel and Carey having sex in the living areas of their apartment. While adult Rachel would be embarrassed by this, at the time she did not care.

Despite their physical attraction, Rachel and Carey begin to experience relationship problems. Carey gives Rachel his full attention when they are together but tends to disappear when she leaves. He does not answer texts or show up when he promises to, and Rachel is deeply hurt by this. James is experiencing similar communication issues with Byrne, and they wonder if their partners are being unfaithful to them. By now it is April, and Rachel is worrying about graduation and her career prospects. She struggles to focus on school because she is distracted by Carey. She and James have dinner with her parents, who seem skeptical about her vague ideas of working in publishing and suggest that she get a job at a local call center like many of their friends’ children.

Rachel and James throw a huge party in their apartment for her 21st birthday. Carey is invited but does not show up and does not answer any of Rachel’s texts or voicemails. Rachel, heartbroken, spends the weekend getting drunk. On Monday morning, she receives several stern emails from her professors informing her that her final papers are late and that she will be docked a grade percentage until the papers are in. One of the emails is from Dr. Byrne. Furious, Rachel storms home from the school library and interrupts Byrne and James at Shandon Street. She tells Byrne that it is unfair that he treats her coldly in class now that he is sleeping with James, and that he cannot just send her emails like this while having an affair with her best friend. She bursts into tears.

James and Byrne comfort her, and James explains the breakup with Carey. Byrne emails the other faculty, crafting a story that Rachel is grieving the loss of someone, and asking that she be given an extension until the end of May since she has always been such a good student. Rachel boldly asks Byrne for help getting an internship with Deenie, since she wants to work in books. Byrne is flustered, but Rachel insists that Deenie is the only connection she has to the industry. She does not think of this conversation as blackmail, but as an adult reflecting on it, she understands how awkward it was. Byrne agrees to speak to his wife about it.

Rachel finishes her exams and she and James spend the next few weeks smoking cheap synthetic weed. The bookstore is falling on hard times and has cut both of their hours, so money is increasingly tight. Byrne stops by more often, treating Rachel as a younger sister and sometimes joining them for meals or a smoke. He tells Rachel he has secured an internship with Deenie beginning in June. James decides that he and Rachel will write and sell a TV show script loosely based on their friendship. It is called Michael & Alice and is about two young people working in a video store.

Rachel goes to buy a new outfit for the internship, nervous now that she realizes she will be meeting Deenie at her home four days a week and working in close quarters with her. On the way home, she cuts through a market and runs into Carey, who is working at a bread stall. She is angry with him and tries to avoid him, but he chases her down and apologizes. He says that he still has an hour of work but gives her money to buy them both a coffee. He tells her she can sit at the bread stall and have the coffee and a pain au chocalat, and if she tires of him at any point, she can leave.

When the shop closes, he tells her that he left because he liked her so much. He is 27 and was determined that he would have a fresh start in Cork and become a real adult. However, as soon as he met Rachel he fell back into his old ways and lived the student lifestyle with her. Rachel disbelieves him at first but soon realizes how much he does like her. They agree to be “grown-ups” together, and he declines to have sex with her in the bread shop.

Rachel and Carey resume dating and attempt to turn over a new leaf. They wake up early every morning and eat bagels together. Carey spends his days off work at the library applying for better jobs. Rachel alternates between working at the bookstore and working with Deenie. To her surprise, she loves working with Deenie, who is friendly and kind. She inquires about Rachel’s romantic life and tells her the ins and outs of publishing. Rachel is thrilled to be involved in an industry so close to the books and authors she has always loved.

James feels jealous that Rachel likes Deenie and complains to Rachel that she should love him best. She reassures him that she does and that her friendship with Deenie is separate. Byrne is busy touring summer literary festivals and is often gone. James is alone and occasionally works on the TV script, which Rachel has abandoned.

One night, Carey is staying over, and they hear what seems to be an intruder in the yard. It turns out to be Rachel’s younger brother, Chris, who is in high school. He is high and has cut his leg and does not want to go home to his parents. Carey cleans him up and, in the morning, when he is sober, Chris confides in Rachel that things are not good at home. Their father is very depressed. Rachel tells him he is welcome here but does not visit her parents more often. She is trying to separate herself from her old life.

By July, things at the bookstore have worsened and the owner, Ben, cuts everyone’s hours and pay. Their friends and coworkers start emigrating or taking jobs at the call center. James decides to focus on the TV show, now called Discs, and spends his spare time reading up on the ins and outs of screenwriting. He suggests that he and Rachel emigrate to London and bring Carey with them. Outwardly, Rachel agrees, but she panics at the idea of telling Carey to move with her, worrying that he might not be that serious about the relationship.

Content Warning: This section briefly refers to child sexual abuse.

James and Rachel decide that they need to save £4,000 to emigrate. They begin staying home and trying to earn as much money as possible. James continues to send his script out and is encouraged by the cordial rejections he receives, taking them as signs that he might make it somewhere. Rachel puts off telling Carey, worrying that the conversation will inevitably lead to them breaking up. She also worries that Carey hates England since he is Northern Irish.

James takes Rachel home with him so that he can come out to Nicola, his mother. His mother is a kindly woman who breeds Burmese cats and is now happily married to a farmer. When James tells her he is gay, she hugs him and begins to cry. Rachel leaves the room to give them privacy. They eventually emerge and Nicolas invites Rachel to stay for lunch. Once James and Rachel return to Shandon Street, the two of them curl up in bed together. James confesses that he was molested as a child by a friend of his sister’s and that his mother worried that the abuse was somehow her fault. He reassured her that she did her best to protect him and that his sexual orientation had nothing to do with the trauma. Rachel comforts him and they fall asleep. In the night they wake up, and James softly kisses her on the mouth. They fall back asleep holding each other and never speak of the kiss again.