Hook, Line, and Sinker

Hannah, a production assistant for a studio named Storm Born, is watching auditions for a movie, Glory Daze. Though she could have relied on the influence of her famous stepfather, Hannah chose to begin with an entry-level job so she can learn how movies are made. She has a crush on Storm Born’s director, Sergei, and is flustered when he pays attention to her. Hannah doesn’t feel like the leading lady in her own life; she thinks that she’s “been playing second fiddle so long, she was getting arthritis in her fingers” (18). She recalls her summer in Westport, when she went to help her sister Piper renovate a bar in the town their parents lived before their father died. She thinks about the afternoon she spent in Seattle at a record expo with Fox. When Sergei announces that he wants a location different from Los Angeles for his movie, Hannah successfully suggests Westport.

Hannah calls Piper, who says that her fiancé Brendan’s parents are staying with them and that she can’t offer Hannah the guest room. Piper mentions that Fox has an extra bedroom, but that it would be a bad idea for Hannah to stay with him. Hannah doesn’t mention she and Fox have been texting one another every day for six months. She tells herself Fox is bad boyfriend material, but it will be possible for them to remain just friends.

In Westport, sitting in his apartment, Fox tells his friend Brendan that he isn’t interested in Brendan’s offer to make Fox captain of his fishing boat, the Della Ray, when Brendan’s new boat is ready. Fox and Brendan have stared death in the eye together more than once in their dangerous occupation as king crab fisherman, and Fox has acted as relief skipper, but he doesn’t want the responsibility of being in charge of a crew. More than that, he doesn’t believe the crew would take him seriously enough to obey his orders.

Fox is taken off guard when Brendan says Hannah is coming to town. Fox is trying to sort out his feelings for Hannah. As someone who has brief hookups, not relationships, he’s not accustomed to interacting with women outside of sex, and he’s certainly not friends with women. Still, she’s gotten under his skin. Fox listens to Brendan’s warning not to mess around with Hannah, especially since she’s interested in Sergei. When Brendan leaves, Fox opens his record cabinet and listens to music on the record player he’s recently bought.

The cast and crew of the movie are on the bus to Westport. Hannah works up the courage to ask Sergei if she might observe the music process and learn from the movie’s music coordinator, Brinley. Just as she is about to make her request, the bus stops, and Hannah falls in the aisle and bumps her head. Sergei expresses concern and helps her off the bus. Fox approaches, drawing female attention, and demands to know how she got hurt.

When he offers to get her bag and take her home, Sergei also offers to get her bag, which confuses Hannah, as Sergei has never shown her attention. She feels a strong attraction to Fox but also realizes “that went for every other woman he came into contact with, too. And she had no interest in being one of thousands” (46). She plans for them to stay just friends. Fox says he will give her ice cream and a cookie if she lets him look at her bump, and she leaves with him.

As he takes her to his apartment, Fox thinks of him and Hannah as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. He’s worried about how people will perceive her being with him. He is also jealous of Sergei. In his apartment, Fox sets Hannah on the counter and applies antiseptic and a Band-aid to the bump on her head. They converse like friends and have nicknames for one another; he calls her Freckles and she calls him Peacock. Hannah admits to Fox that she doesn’t feel like a leading lady, but he believes she is. Fox feels attracted to Hannah and realizes that he wants to earn her trust. He hasn’t slept with a woman since meeting her, but doesn’t tell her that. Instead, he warns her that people will assume she’s sleeping with him and that he’s “not in the relationship race” (58). While she eats ice cream, he gives her advice on how to attract Sergei, and Hannah teases him about his empty apartment.

Hannah visits her grandmother Opal, Henry’s mother, and finds Piper there. They catch up, but Hannah feels distant when Piper and Opal talk about Henry. Hannah was only two when he died and doesn’t remember him. She confesses that she has not made progress on her dream of making movie soundtracks and hasn’t even told Sergei how she feels about him. Piper promises to dress Hannah up for an evening out that night. Opal gives Hannah a folder full of song lyrics for sea shanties that Henry wrote. She suggests Hannah might have gotten her love of music from Henry. Hannah decides she will start acting like a leading lady.