That Girl cap­tures the humor­ous and tumul­tuous ear­ly days of a young couple’s mar­riage, blend­ing romance, chal­lenges, and growth in a way that is both heart­warm­ing and relat­able. The chap­ter opens with the cou­ple’s excite­ment for their hon­ey­moon in the Bahamas, antic­i­pat­ing a per­fect get­away. How­ev­er, their plans are quick­ly thrown into dis­ar­ray when their lug­gage gets lost upon arrival in Nas­sau. Left with only win­ter clothes and the trop­i­cal heat, Jef­frey, the groom, urgent­ly approach­es the air­port man­ag­er to retrieve their bags for the short stay. The man­ag­er, swayed by Jeffrey’s charm and des­per­ate plea, offers him $300 to pur­chase essen­tial items for the time being. This ges­ture of good­will sets the tone for the couple’s abil­i­ty to adapt to the unex­pect­ed, while Jeffrey’s quick think­ing helps mit­i­gate the sit­u­a­tion.

At the hotel, the cou­ple, with their new-found cash, cel­e­brates by toss­ing the mon­ey into the air with child­like joy, only to lat­er be told that their lug­gage has final­ly arrived. Seiz­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty, Jef­frey buys his bride a pink cash­mere sweater set and pearl ear­rings, ful­fill­ing a long-held dream of hers that had seemed out of reach. The couple’s hon­ey­moon may not have been per­fect, but these small moments of joy dur­ing their time togeth­er were mean­ing­ful. As their time in the Bahamas ends, they head back to real life, with Jef­frey resum­ing his mil­i­tary train­ing and the nar­ra­tor return­ing to Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty, ready to con­tin­ue her edu­ca­tion.

The nar­ra­tive takes a comedic turn as the nar­ra­tor, strug­gling to man­age unfore­seen expens­es, faces the real­i­ty of being new­ly mar­ried and in school. Among the unex­pect­ed finan­cial bur­dens is a fur blan­ket she had ordered months pri­or. With finals approach­ing and no imme­di­ate funds to pay for the blan­ket, the nar­ra­tor devis­es a plan to make extra mon­ey by sell­ing donuts door-to-door in her dorm. This resource­ful move, born out of neces­si­ty, reflects her bur­geon­ing entre­pre­neur­ial spir­it and fore­shad­ows her future ven­tures into the food busi­ness. It also illus­trates her deter­mi­na­tion to bal­ance the pres­sures of school with the finan­cial demands of mar­ried life.

As the cou­ple set­tles into Fayet­teville, North Car­oli­na, they face the real­i­ties of start­ing their mar­ried life in a new city. Their first hous­ing arrange­ment falls short of expec­ta­tions, lead­ing the nar­ra­tor to take quick action in secur­ing a more suit­able place to live. This chap­ter serves as a piv­otal moment in their jour­ney, as they nav­i­gate through the ups and downs of start­ing over in a new envi­ron­ment, one that will be far more con­ducive to their needs and desires. It also marks the couple’s abil­i­ty to adapt to unex­pect­ed chal­lenges, learn­ing from each expe­ri­ence, and evolv­ing as a unit.

Through­out this chap­ter, the themes of inde­pen­dence and per­son­al growth are explored as the nar­ra­tor grap­ples with the expec­ta­tions of her new life as a wife and stu­dent. Jef­frey encour­ages her to pur­sue her goals beyond domes­tic life and urges her to fol­low her pas­sions, giv­ing her the con­fi­dence to push her­self toward new oppor­tu­ni­ties. The sup­port she receives from her hus­band reflects the healthy bal­ance they are devel­op­ing, one where both part­ners respect each oth­er’s indi­vid­ual aspi­ra­tions while work­ing toward shared goals. The narrator’s reflec­tions on her past ambi­tions reveal her desire to strike a bal­ance between per­son­al ful­fill­ment and her rela­tion­ship, some­thing she has yet to ful­ly embrace.

This chap­ter ulti­mate­ly por­trays the couple’s jour­ney through the ear­ly stages of their mar­riage, marked by unex­pect­ed finan­cial chal­lenges, per­son­al growth, and the dynam­ic shift in roles. The narrator’s abil­i­ty to nav­i­gate these obstacles—both in her mar­riage and in her aca­d­e­m­ic and pro­fes­sion­al pursuits—emerges as a pow­er­ful tes­ta­ment to resilience and adapt­abil­i­ty. The chap­ter reflects the evolv­ing nature of their rela­tion­ship, where love, humor, and sup­port allow them to weath­er the ear­ly stages of mar­ried life and build a stronger foun­da­tion for their future togeth­er. Through all the uncer­tain­ties, they man­age to find joy in the sim­plest of moments, learn­ing valu­able lessons along the way that will shape their future.