The Most Fun We Ever Had

Wendy finds an apartment and moves out of her parents’ house. Marilyn has, over the years, given up on the idea of finishing her education, even though she holds some bitterness over that decision. She realizes that Grace is getting older, and when she sees that Mallory’s Hardware Store is for sale, she decides to buy it. Meanwhile Wendy enrolls in a continuing education class, and meets Miles, her teacher. Wendy pursues Miles and drops his class in order to do so ethically. She is impressed that he teaches at a community college when he doesn’t need the money.

Ben and Grace have been hanging out together. He drops by on Christmas and they go out for drinks. Grace thinks about how she has always assumed she was the ugly sister and how a friend from school once confirmed that. She still hopes this is not the case. She also thinks that she is the most uninteresting of the sisters. When Grace realizes that Ben is flirting with her, she becomes uncomfortable because, while she is interested in him, she doesn’t feel worthy of him. He is upset that she is putting herself down because he likes her a lot. He leaves, and the bartender asks Grace if she is okay.

Wendy and Liza chat with Marilyn. Wendy tells Marilyn that she has never met a couple as in love as Marilyn and David and that their love has stunted her and her sisters because they know that their parents love each other more than they love their children. Marilyn says she loves David in a different way than she loves them, but she does not love him more. Liza tells Marilyn that they all want her life.

Marilyn is talking and joking around with her three eldest daughters one night when Grace comes into the room. When Marilyn tells Grace that they are having girl time, Grace gets upset, pointing out that she is a girl too.

One day Liza decides to get a tattoo near her spinal cord. It becomes infected, and her father finds out. He takes care of her, and he tells her that she can tell her mother about her tattoo if she wants to, but he will not tell her.

Wendy and Miles marry, which makes Wendy feel like she is no longer on the outside of society. Violet calls her, upset.

Violet talks to her mother, who tells her that Jonah did not mean to do any harm during his Christmas dinner with Wyatt. Violet, angry, accuses her mother of being okay with constant chaos, to which her mother responds that her ability to handle chaos is why Jonah is not in foster care. Violet falls asleep.

Jonah shows up at Star of the Week, but Violet is not there, causing Wyatt to panic. Jonah tells the administrators that he is Wyatt’s brother. Wyatt is happy to see him and he convinces Jonah to sing with him because he is too scared to go on stage alone. Later, Jonah tells the people at the school that he is not really Wyatt’s brother, that he just hit it off with the family when they were visiting his shelter one day. Matt is furious with Violet when he realizes she forgot Star of the Week, and he explains that he did not make it there in time, but Jonah did.

The Sorensons’ ginkgo tree is dead, but professionals cannot come and remove it immediately. Jonah tells David how he will be in a regional Krav Maga tournament, and David wants to come watch. David is up in the tree, trying to remove some dead branches so the tree can maintain its dignity, when he has a heart attack. The dog comes around, scaring Jonah, and David tries to tell Jonah that there is nothing he can do but he has trouble speaking. He tells Jonah to tell Marilyn that “she’s the most fun I’ve ever had” (434). He falls from the ladder.

Violet is pregnant, and she believes she needs to have an abortion, but Wendy tells her that she doesn’t need to always do what is expected of her. The two decide to tell their parents that Violet is away in Paris while she is really living with Wendy and Miles. At times, Violet considers telling her parents about the pregnancy, but she went to Wendy because Wendy knows her best. Violet’s water breaks.

Marilyn remembers being terrified when she was a child and again when she found out she was pregnant with Wendy. Now she is terrified of losing David. Jonah feels like he failed David and his new family. He called who he needed to call to alert them of David’s situation and get David help, and now he is heading west in David’s car. At this point, Marilyn is unable to comfort her children. She struggles because it is normally David who handles medical communications. She thinks back on moments of their life together.

Wendy is there during Violet’s labor. When Jonah is born, Violet will not look at him, but Wendy holds him.

The family realizes that Jonah is missing, and Wendy criticizes Violet’s parenting. Violet tells them that Jonah is a nice kid, and Wendy replies that they all knew that, only Violet didn’t. Liza holds out hope that her dad will be okay because he has to meet her baby. Wendy goes outside and runs into Aaron Bhargava, whom she dated when she was younger. Aaron is with his wife and daughter, and Wendy tells them that she is just at the hospital because her husband has a wrist injury. Jonah texted Wendy before he left town saying he will return the car. Grace is stuck out west because nobody has offered to buy her a plane ticket home. She feels bad for not going home for Christmas. Jonah shows up at her door.

When Violet meets Matt, he seems totally normal, something she has always tried to appear to be. One day she tells Matt about Jonah, and he expresses regret at not being able to be there for her during that rough time. He assures her that the information does not change his feelings for her.

Jonah and Grace get drinks. He explains what happened during her father’s heart attack. She tells him that she recently had a fight with Ben. He asks her about the Irish bartender, Luke. Grace assures Jonah that there was nothing he could have done to protect David during his heart attack. He asks her about his own father, but she only remembers fragments of Violet’s one-time boyfriend, who she considered to be a bit of a douche. This disappoints Jonah. She confesses to him that she is not in law school. Jonah tells Grace that Luke, the bartender, likes her, and he goes back to her place without her.

Jonah answers Grace’s door, and it is Ben. Jonah tells him that Grace likely will not be home that night, and Jonah worries he messed something else up. It is his 16th birthday. He opens an envelope he took from David and Marilyn’s house before he left, and there is a $100 bill and a “happy birthday” note to him. Jonah is upset that Violet will never accept him the way he wants her to. Grace has sex with Luke, her first time having sex. Grace calls Wendy and tells her that Jonah was there but is now gone. She also tells her that she had sex for the first time. She decides to tell Wendy the truth about everything.

Wendy becomes pregnant, but at 30 weeks, she wakes up and realizes that she has not felt the fetus move. She goes to the doctor and learns that the fetus has died. She instructs Miles not to tell her parents yet, but to ask Violet to come to the hospital. When Violet doesn’t show up, Wendy becomes upset. She refuses painkillers because she wants to fully experience what is happening. She and Miles hold their daughter for a while, and Violet comes in after the baby has already been taken away. Wendy is upset, and then she notices the engagement ring on Violet’s finger. Miles tells Marilyn and David what happened and they rush to the hospital. While David goes to talk to the doctor, Marilyn sits with Wendy, and Wendy accepts her mother’s assurances.