At least according to what Scott said most of the time, he personally loved Hope just as much as Lindsay did. She was a friend who was honorary family. Yada yada yada. But to the extent they ever argued about the state of their relationship, it often included him pressuring Lindsay to make more of a permanent commitment to him, and then somehow the subject always seemed to land eventually on Hope. Last fall, he’d even asked her to go to therapy with him, where he told the counselor that he feared Lindsay would never allow herself to live a complete life until Hope was able to do the same. He thought she felt too guilty about “leaving Hope behind” if—say, for example—Lindsay were to marry and have a child, or “even meet her boyfriend’s daughter,” he added. “I see you guys together, and you have this energy—like two puppies in a playpen, as if you’ve been raised together from birth. But puppies are supposed to grow up . . .”

He dropped the dog analogy the second she started laughing about it, but did not let go of his point. “It’s like the two of you both got frozen in time when you found her in that car.” She told him afterward that she felt bombarded by the session and wouldn’t be attending anymore, but the topic resurfaced again when Hope announced that she wanted to leave Hopewell. Lindsay couldn’t sleep for weeks, worried about how her friend could possibly get by somewhere else, on her own. When Hope insisted on the move, Lindsay even offered to clear her calendar so she could spend the first month in East Hampton with her, just in case. But Scott had taken Hope’s side, saying that he totally “supported” Hope’s decision to try to become “independent.”

Independent. Meaning, without Lindsay. Meaning Lindsay might then feel free to give Scott everything he wanted from their relationship, on his timeline. All the next steps: Meet Nora, shack up, get hitched, have baby. Done.

She’d asked him early on what it was about her that made him strike up that conversation with her at the brewery, or to ask her out the very next day, and then the day after that. She worried at the time she might appear to be fishing for a compliment, but his response had nothing to do with her at all. “I’d been divorced for two years by then, and was ready for a serious relationship. And I’m determined not to mess it up this time.”