Hardin Begins Trying to Change

Hardin’s attempt to change begins not with a grand apology but with a choice about what to do with his anger. He takes a gym voucher from a dresser in the apartment he once shared with Tessa and goes to work out rather than remain among the drawers he has pulled out in a rage. Landon later describes the effort as a beginning, not a transformation: the test is whether Hardin can keep following through after Tessa has forgiven him, instead of reverting to his old behavior. Across the scenes that follow, restraint becomes a series of small decisions, made under the pressure of loneliness and the temptation to return to familiar habits.

Anger Redirected

The gym visit starts in an unsettled domestic scene. Hardin explains that he was enraged and felt close to breaking everything in the apartment. While pulling all the drawers from a dresser, he noticed the gym voucher, put on his shoes, and left. The voucher offers an immediate alternative to destruction: his anger has not vanished, but he redirects his body and attention away from the apartment.

Landon notices the disorder Hardin has left behind and warns that Tessa would be furious if she saw the drawers pulled out. Hardin answers that she will not see them because the apartment is no longer hers. His remark makes the separation concrete even as his choice to use a pass Tessa bought for him keeps her present in the scene. The gym is therefore more than an exercise destination: it is an action prompted by rage, but also one connected to a relationship whose absence Hardin is still struggling to accept.

Landon’s Measure of Progress

When Landon asks what comes next in Hardin’s self-improvement effort, his initial teasing gives way to a serious assessment. He is proud that Hardin is trying, and he distinguishes sustained change from the pattern he has seen before: Hardin would make an effort briefly, receive Tessa’s forgiveness, and then return to his previous behavior. Landon’s praise is cautious because it concerns follow-through, not a completed reform.

Hardin resists being praised. He points out that only a day has passed and says he has not yet done anything substantial. The smallness of that interval matters: the effort is new enough that he experiences the day as lonely and miserable, not as an easy victory. Landon nevertheless names specific choices that count. Hardin has not turned to alcohol, started a fight, or been arrested, and he has gone to speak with his father. When Hardin suspects his father told Landon about the visit, Landon clarifies that he saw Hardin’s car at the house. He adds that speaking with his father would matter to Tessa, linking a difficult family conversation to the person whose faith Hardin hopes to regain.

The exchange also exposes an obstacle to change. Hardin hears Landon’s concern as a lecture and pushes back, objecting to being treated like a damaged animal. Landon says he is trying to act as a friend, not as someone superior to Hardin. He reminds Hardin that he has said he has no one, and that Tessa has moved to Seattle; he also admits that Hardin resents him over the problems with his father. Landon’s insistence that he cares about both Hardin and Tessa meets Hardin’s reflex to reject support. The conversation makes accepting help part of the work Hardin is avoiding.

Refusing the Old Barroom Role

At a later gathering, Nate offers Hardin a shot. Hardin declines and gestures instead to the soda on the table. The refusal is meaningful because Hardin recognizes the gathering as an old pattern: drinking until people become sick or black out, among companions who know him chiefly as the drunk, rowdy man who pursues random women. He believes they have not seen the parts of his life that now press on him, including his wish to become better for Tessa.

Hardin’s dissatisfaction with the group is not simply a complaint about other people’s drinking. He understands that he has helped create the version of himself they recognize, and that their company has depended on that version. He thinks they do not know him or care enough to know him, and notes that they do not even know his father is the chancellor of their college. Rather than take the shot or stay to perform the familiar role, he announces that he is leaving. No one notices as he gets up and goes. The unnoticed departure underlines how little connection he feels to the group, while his decision marks a break with the social setting that reinforced his old behavior.

A Fragile Routine

Hardin’s effort remains vulnerable to the distance between what he does and what he tells Tessa. During a call, she says she has been exploring Seattle and tried to reach him earlier, but her call went to voicemail. The sound of her voice soothes his temper, and he tells her he has gone back to the gym. The narration identifies that claim as a lie. At this point, the report of change is not yet the same as the change itself; his desire to reassure Tessa outruns his honesty.

Later, however, the gym becomes a genuine routine. When Tessa asks where he is, Hardin says he has just left the gym and is home. She remarks that he has been going consistently, every day that week. The progression from a voucher seized in a burst of anger, through an untruthful report, to repeated visits gives the effort a measurable shape. It does not establish that Hardin has overcome his anger or loneliness, and Landon’s warning about relapse remains relevant. It does show that change is no longer confined to a promise or a single day: Hardin is beginning to repeat the less destructive choice, even while learning that sustaining it requires honesty and the willingness to accept other people’s care.