HAPPY ENDING

A friendship that began with a lie about being ex-lovers is put to the test during a vacation.

Two years ago and newly divorced from their spouses, Thea Meyer and Alex Bruscato told a lie that would change the course of their lives. When they bumped into each other on the stoop of Thea’s former home and discovered their exes were dating, they quickly concocted a story that they’d been first-loves who were serendipitously reunited. Thea and Alex assumed their white lie would be short-lived; their exes’ fling might only last a week. But it’s been two years and the foursome are still very much intertwined. Alex co-parents his 6-year-old daughter, Mia, with ex-wife Jen, who’s still dating Thea’s ex-husband, Ethan. Meanwhile, Ethan and Thea do their best to share custody of their dog, Argos. Since that fateful morning, Alex and Thea have become best friends, playing off their fake romantic history only when around their former spouses. When the two of them are invited on a two-week vacation with Jen and Ethan, with Mia and Argos in tow, they agree to tag along, but relaxing on the beach becomes the perfect catalyst as Thea and Alex realize their yearslong friendship has blurred into something more. The narrative jumps back and forth between the early days of their friendship and the countdown to their vacation: and two years is a long time to maintain a lie. Present-day Thea and Alex make a much more compelling duo, with plenty of banter and yearning as they begin to realize and confront their feelings; jumping back to their past selves is always a disappointment. Ethan and Jen are an unlikable supporting cast whose poor first impressions are never fully salvaged. Expect some soreness from all the aggravated jaw-clenching any time they’re on the page.

A rare miss from Liese.