England, Hardin's return destination

England, Hardin's return destination, is more than a point of departure or a place on a map: it becomes the setting for Hardin’s retreat after his separation from Tessa, a refuge within his family history, and later the destination he asks her to consider with him. Across these different uses, England marks a shifting idea of home. At first it offers distance from Washington and from a relationship Hardin cannot face directly; later, its connection to his mother and to a possible future makes it part of his appeal to Tessa.

England as Home and Family Setting

Hardin’s connection to England is established through his mother, Trish Daniels. Before his departure, Trish had expected him to bring Tessa to England, and she had been excited about the prospect, at least by her own understanding of Hardin’s usual reserve. That expectation makes England a place Hardin had imagined sharing with Tessa, not simply a destination he reached after their relationship broke down. When Tessa later returns to his life, the earlier plan remains part of the history she must understand: Hardin had anticipated taking her there, then told his mother she would be away.

England is also where Trish’s life is changing independently of Hardin. During his visit, Hardin finds that she is moving her belongings into Mike’s house and intends to sell her own. The move confirms that his mother has begun a life with Mike, while Hardin’s view of the house she is leaving is dominated by its association with painful family memories. He regards it as a place filled with memories of his father’s drinking. England therefore contains both a present-day family transition and the residue of the earlier household that shaped Hardin’s feelings about home.

The family history attached to that household has been made explicit elsewhere through arguments between Hardin, his father Ken, and Trish. Hardin recalls his father leaving the family and disputes Ken’s account of having sent money; Ken describes himself as an alcoholic who believed his family deserved better than what he could provide. These conflicts give Hardin’s return to England a history beyond the immediate breakup. His mother’s home is connected to the family he left behind, but it is not presented as uncomplicated comfort: it is also associated with the past he resents and the relationships he has struggled to face.

A Retreat After the Separation

Hardin goes to England after nine days without speaking to Tessa. In the aftermath of her departure from their apartment, he waits for her to return, then interprets her continued absence as a reason to leave Washington. He finishes the beer in his refrigerator, smashes the bottle, packs his belongings the next morning, and flies out. His departure follows a choice to wait rather than reach out: he tells himself that Tessa has had the chance to come back and that he will not make the first move.

The journey is presented through Hardin’s own account, which reveals how strongly self-justification shapes his understanding of the separation. He minimizes his lie to Tessa and treats her response as excessive, even while conceding privately that he may be responsible. He also resents that she brought Zed to the apartment and that Landon confronted him. In this state, England functions as an escape from the immediate consequences of his actions, but not as a clean break from Tessa. Hardin still conditions his decision on whether she will call before the flight, imagining that he would turn back if she did.

His arrival brings him back to Trish, who is surprised and happy to see him. He spends time at her home while she prepares to move in with Mike. Hardin regards the change with detachment and says, in effect, that the house itself holds no value for him beyond the memories associated with his father. He also recognizes that being away from Tessa makes it easier to behave rudely toward his mother and her boyfriend without feeling restrained by Tessa’s influence. The separation therefore changes not only his location but the social frame through which he judges his conduct: distance lets him maintain habits and attitudes that proximity to Tessa had made harder to ignore.

Encounter, Explanation, and Regret

England is also the setting for Hardin’s unexpected encounter with Natalie. While out to buy bread, jam, coffee beans, and fruit for his mother, he is thinking about Tessa; the snow and the ordinary errand do not keep his attention from returning to her. Natalie calls to him across the street, and he recognizes her as she approaches carrying shopping bags. The meeting brings a person from his past into the period he had intended to use to get away from his relationship.

When Hardin later explains his absence to Tessa, he says that he went to England to clear his head. He admits that he ignored her calls and explains that he broke his phone after drinking. These details clarify why the distance between them continued: his silence was not simply a failure of communication but a decision he could not bring himself to reverse, followed by the loss of the phone he might have used to contact her. He tells Tessa that he wanted her to be happy and believed that staying out of her life would allow her to move on.

That explanation is tied to Natalie’s life. Hardin points to Natalie’s fiancé, Elijah, as evidence that she has found someone to love and marry, and uses that example to imagine Tessa finding happiness without him. England is consequently the place from which he develops a mistaken account of what Tessa needs: he treats withdrawal as something done for her, even though she later makes clear that his conduct has left her feeling disregarded and excluded from decisions about their future. The distance has not resolved the relationship’s problems; it has postponed the conversation in which Tessa names them.

A Possible Shared Future

Hardin’s later references to England reverse its earlier function. After returning to Tessa’s side, he tells her about a nightmare he had while staying at his mother’s home. The recurrence of the nightmares matters because his time away has not simply brought relief: England is associated with renewed distress as well as family contact. Tessa already knows that the nightmares have returned, and hearing that this one occurred at his mother’s house confirms that the period apart has not freed him from the fears that trouble him.

At another point, Hardin asks Tessa, while she is asleep beside him, to come to England with him, saying that he cannot be without her. The request comes alongside his continuing resistance to marriage. Reading a passage in Tessa’s copy of Pride and Prejudice, he reflects that even the deepest love would not change his view of marriage. His appeal is therefore not a straightforward promise of conventional commitment: he expresses a powerful desire to keep Tessa close while continuing to question marriage as an institution. England becomes the setting of that tension, a proposed destination for togetherness rather than proof that their disagreements have been settled.

A practical obstacle gives the destination a more immediate significance. When Tessa worries about what will happen if Hardin can no longer attend WCU, he says that he wants to go back home and explains that he cannot afford university if Ken is no longer chancellor. Tessa offers to find another way, but Hardin insists that the problem is not hers. England thus represents both a personal attachment and a possible response to changed circumstances at school. Across his departure, his return to his mother, and his later wish to go home with Tessa, the place accumulates incompatible meanings: retreat, family inheritance, emotional difficulty, and the possibility—still unsettled—of sharing a future.