In the chap­ter of “The Last One at the Wed­ding,” the nar­ra­tor wakes up in a hos­pi­tal after a car acci­dent, grap­pling with injuries includ­ing a bro­ken arm and ribs. He’s relieved that no one else was harmed, but his long-stand­ing record of acci­dent-free dri­ving was shat­tered. He faces uncer­tain­ty about his job as a UPS dri­ver; while a union rep­re­sen­ta­tive reas­sures him, a cor­po­rate rep­re­sen­ta­tive hints that the inves­ti­ga­tion into the acci­dent is ongo­ing and his future remains unclear. A reporter vis­its, sug­gest­ing management’s neg­li­gence con­tributed to his acci­dent due to poor work­ing con­di­tions, but he takes own­er­ship of his mis­take, insist­ing on his train­ing and respon­si­bil­i­ty.

After three nights in the hos­pi­tal, he returns home to a life dras­ti­cal­ly altered. Left with noth­ing to do, he becomes frus­trat­ed with day­time tele­vi­sion and spi­rals into neg­a­tiv­i­ty, iso­lat­ing him­self. The acci­dent weighs heav­i­ly on his mind, espe­cial­ly the mys­te­ri­ous encounter with a stranger who resem­bled his daugh­ter Mag­gie’s friend Aidan, leav­ing him with guilt for not seek­ing clar­i­ty.

When his sis­ter Tam­my calls, ask­ing him to watch Abi­gail, his niece, he ini­tial­ly declines, feel­ing unfit due to his injury. How­ev­er, he wakes to find Abi­gail there and reluc­tant­ly agrees to take care of her. They spend their time togeth­er watch­ing doc­u­men­taries, with Abi­gail increas­ing­ly assert­ing her pres­ence in his home. He notices changes in her since they last met, high­light­ing her growth and her resilience.

They rem­i­nisce about fam­i­ly mem­o­ries as Abi­gail begins explor­ing Mag­gie’s old belong­ings, par­tic­u­lar­ly stuffed ani­mals. The nar­ra­tor unex­pect­ed­ly sug­gests that Abi­gail take what­ev­er she wants, rec­og­niz­ing the void left by Mag­gie’s absence. Despite a sense of despon­den­cy, an urge to escape his dark thoughts prompts him to take Abi­gail out for an adven­ture. They jour­ney through famil­iar places, includ­ing the site of his acci­dent and per­son­al land­marks from his past, seek­ing to cre­ate new mem­o­ries.

Their explo­rations lead to a bond­ing expe­ri­ence as they indulge in var­i­ous activ­i­ties cul­mi­nat­ing in a mem­o­rable trip to a canoe­ing site on the Delaware Riv­er. There, they nav­i­gate the gen­tle waters togeth­er, fos­ter­ing a con­nec­tion that momen­tar­i­ly alle­vi­ates the nar­ra­tor’s anx­i­ety about the acci­dent and its ram­i­fi­ca­tions. As sum­mer nears its end, he wish­es for more time to spend with Abi­gail, real­iz­ing the impor­tance of cher­ish­ing these moments.