Lincoln’s drunken visit on Kelly’s birthday turns a day Ava Spirini had hoped to endure quietly into a confrontation over grief, boundaries, and the past. Lincoln arrives while Ava is with Gideon, having gone weeks without speaking to her, and treats the visit as an occasion to restore their closeness. Ava refuses. Her anger is complicated by recognition that she and Lincoln are grieving the same person, and the encounter leaves her more conscious of how happiness with Gideon can coexist with the pain of missing Kelly Waititi.

Context and Circumstances

The scene begins with Ava spending time with Gideon rather than facing Kelly’s birthday alone. She had initially planned to sleep through the day and wait for it to pass, but decided that if she was going to feel bad, she would rather be with Gideon. Their ordinary, lighthearted afternoon matters: they are laughing at a film when Lincoln appears, and Gideon had prepared snacks and movies that avoided subjects likely to lead back to death, suicide, or best friends. The visit therefore interrupts a deliberately gentle refuge, not a gathering intended to include Lincoln.

Lincoln arrives before midday with a can of rum and Coke. He is unsteady and holds onto the doorframe. Ava has not spoken to him for weeks, and she understands the silence as following an earlier incident between them, though the scene does not spell out that incident. His sudden appearance, combined with his intoxication, makes his expectation of an easy reunion feel especially disconnected from the strain between them. He says he wants to see Ava; she asks why, and he assumes she knows. His answer does not address the weeks of silence or what has changed between them.

The Visit and Confrontation

Lincoln says he thought they could spend time together, then steps past Ava into the house. She tells him to go home and tries to close the door, but he pushes it back open. The exchange turns on this refusal to accept her first answer: Lincoln acts as though being physically present is enough to restore their former familiarity, while Ava insists that he cannot simply return and expect everything to be normal.

When Ava reminds him that it is Kelly’s birthday, Lincoln presents his visit as a way to celebrate. He takes Ava’s face in his hands and kisses her; she pushes him away and repeats that she does not want to celebrate the birthday with him. The scene establishes her boundary through action as well as words. Lincoln leaves the porch, throws his can onto the road, and shouts at her before she shuts the door. The attempted intimacy has not repaired their relationship; it has made the distance between them impossible to ignore.

Grief, Anger, and Attachment

After Lincoln leaves, Ava tells Gideon that she is angry because Lincoln has not spoken to her in weeks since the earlier incident, yet seems to expect that she will let him in and resume their physical closeness as if nothing happened. She describes him as someone who gets drunk and behaves badly, but then immediately complicates that judgment: he is not simply a jerk, she says; they feel the same way. Her response refuses an easy division between blame and sympathy. She objects to his conduct while recognizing their shared bereavement.

That recognition reaches beyond the immediate dispute. Ava tells Gideon that she wishes he could have known Kelly properly and known Ava as she was before Kelly died. She feels that some part of herself died too, and her grief becomes difficult to keep separate from the anger that brought it to the surface. Gideon does not try to solve the conflict or correct her account. He holds her while she cries and lets her speak without turning her grief into an argument about what she should feel.

Consequences and Significance

The visit also exposes the contrast between Ava’s two attachments. Earlier, being with Lincoln could make the rest of her life feel less painful, even though she understood that their closeness would not have unfolded in the same way if Kelly were alive. On this birthday, that comfort cannot erase the unresolved history between them. Lincoln’s assumption that they can return to intimacy meets Ava’s clear refusal; their shared grief does not make his approach welcome or undo the weeks of silence.

At the same time, the afternoon with Gideon shows that a moment of happiness does not mean Ava has left Kelly behind. After Lincoln departs, Ava thinks of the stories and ordinary details she would have wanted to tell Kelly, imagining how eagerly her friend would have listened. The thought makes her pull away from Gideon and feel afraid, even while his presence has helped her through the day. The event’s emotional turn is therefore not from grief to comfort, but from an interrupted refuge to a more explicit recognition that anger, love, longing, and new happiness can occupy the same moment. Lincoln’s visit leaves the relationship unresolved; Ava’s rejection sets a boundary, while her admission of their shared pain preserves the complicated bond between them.