Tessa–Richard relationship

Tessa’s relationship with Richard is marked by the lasting effects of his drinking and drug use, but it is not reduced to either his addiction or her wish to rescue him. She cares what happens to him and wants a say in his treatment, even when his condition is painful to acknowledge. The central tension is whether others can act in Richard’s interests without taking decisions away from Tessa—or concealing consequential facts from her.

Identity and Background

Richard is Tessa’s father. His account of his drinking connects it to a period when his relationship with Tessa’s mother was troubled. He describes leaving one night, becoming so drunk that he could not walk home, and discovering that alcohol numbed the pain he was feeling. What began as an escape became a habit; he spent more time at the bar across the street than with Tessa and her mother, until he could not function without alcohol, though he was hardly functioning with it. He eventually woke up sober, but Tessa says she cannot remember a time before he became a drunk. His explanation supplies a history for the distance she grew up with, without undoing its consequences.

Addiction and Tessa’s Concern

Richard’s later drug use deepens that history. When Hardin asks how long he has been using, Richard first denies it. Pressed to answer, he says it has been about a year and that he has tried to stop since he ran into Tessa. He claims he will get better for her. His admission makes their reunion part of his account of trying to change, but it also places an emotional burden on Tessa: Hardin warns Richard that she will be heartbroken if she learns what is happening.

The effects of withdrawal make the problem immediate rather than abstract. Richard spends the day vomiting, shaking, sweating, and whining; at one point he is bent over the toilet, pale and clammy. Hardin considers leaving him, then brings him water and crackers. This scene shows the physical cost of Richard’s attempt to detox and the improvised care surrounding it. It does not establish that the attempt succeeds, or that Richard has entered formal treatment.

Treatment and the Intervention

When the possibility of rehab arises, Tessa resists the plan for reasons that are both practical and personal. She points out that she and Hardin would be away for three days and asks what Richard would do in their absence. She is also uncomfortable with Hardin’s father paying for treatment, arguing that it is not his responsibility and that they do not know for certain that Richard is an addict. Hardin rejects that uncertainty and insists that Richard is a drug addict who needs help.

Hardin has already arranged an intervention through Landon, hoping that Landon’s involvement will prevent the meeting from turning violent. His plan gives Richard a stark choice: enter rehab at Hardin’s father’s expense or lose contact with Tessa. Hardin says he cannot allow Richard’s addiction to become another burden on her, and admits that he feels guilty because Tessa was not included in the plan. The arrangement may offer Richard access to treatment, but it also makes Tessa’s relationship with her father the leverage used to compel him. The evidence leaves the outcome unresolved: Hardin is waiting to hear how the intervention went, and Tessa says she needs time to think.

Agency, Secrecy, and the Relationship’s Tension

Tessa’s objection is not simply that Hardin has acted. She tells him she cannot stand being kept in the dark, especially when the information concerns her, Landon, or her father. She insists that she is not a child and can handle what happens to her. Her response makes clear that concern for her does not cancel her right to participate in decisions that affect her family.

Hardin initially describes withholding information as an attempt to filter out trouble for her. Tessa acknowledges the impulse but asks him to stop keeping things from her; she points out that she tends to find out eventually, so secrecy only prolongs the conflict. He agrees not to keep things from her from that point forward, while privately qualifying the promise: he does not count what he has concealed in the past. The exchange therefore ends with an agreement, but not a fully shared understanding of what honesty requires.

That dispute belongs to a wider struggle over Tessa’s independence. When discussing her ability to make decisions, she says she needs to act without thinking about Hardin’s permission or anticipated reaction, and describes the relationship she wants as a partnership between equals, with neither person holding more power. Her insistence on a voice in Richard’s treatment is consistent with that principle. The relationship with her father involves care and fear of further loss, but Tessa refuses to let either Hardin’s protective intentions or Richard’s addiction make her a bystander to decisions about him.