Guillermo

Guillermo is a chef in New York City who dates Poppy Wright after meeting her through Rachel Krohn. Their relationship begins with an Instagram message and an easy, practical courtship, then becomes exclusive and domestic. Although Guillermo is generous with his travel recommendations and Poppy enjoys being with him, the relationship ends after she moves into his apartment. The breakup leaves her scrambling for housing and exposes a mismatch that neither chemistry nor shared routines could resolve.

Identity and Introduction

Poppy meets Guillermo a couple of months after moving to New York City. Rachel Krohn has been invited to eat for free at Guillermo’s new restaurant in exchange for posting pictures on social media, and she brings Poppy along. Poppy and Rachel sometimes take part in these promotional outings together: Rachel’s posts featuring Poppy can increase Poppy’s subscriber count by hundreds, even though Poppy’s own following had stalled at about thirty-six thousand for six months. Through this arrangement, their social-media work becomes the route by which Poppy encounters Guillermo.

After the meal, Guillermo comes out to speak with them. Poppy finds him gorgeous and sweet, with soft brown eyes, dark hair swept back from his forehead, and a quiet, unassuming laugh. That evening, before Poppy has posted her own pictures from the restaurant, he messages her on Instagram. He has found her through Rachel, and Poppy appreciates that he says so directly rather than concealing how the connection began.

Courtship and Relationship

Because Guillermo works most nights, their first date is breakfast. He kisses Poppy when he picks her up, rather than waiting until the end of the date to do so. At first, both continue seeing other people; several weeks later, they decide they no longer want to date anyone else. Guillermo laughs as he tells her, and Poppy laughs too, partly out of a habit she has developed of responding encouragingly to him.

The relationship feels different from Poppy’s earlier involvement with Julian: it is not all-consuming or unpredictable. She and Guillermo see each other two or three times a week, and she likes that their time together leaves room for the rest of her life. She continues taking spin classes and long walks with Rachel Krohn, visiting gallery openings, and going to special movie nights at neighborhood bars. The ease of this arrangement matters to Poppy, but it also distinguishes comfortable companionship from the intensity she has known before.

Travel and Shared Plans

Guillermo becomes a practical presence in Poppy and Alex Nilsen’s travel plans. When Poppy tells him where she and Alex are going, Guillermo writes down everything he remembers from his last trip, including prices and suggestions about what to order. He marks the places he considers must-eats, though Poppy knows the pair will not have time to visit them all. Several stops on the trip come from his recommendations, including a small po’boy shop that Poppy especially enjoys. His work as a chef gives these suggestions a particular usefulness, and Poppy regards his help as one of the perks of dating him.

The relationship also advances into shared housing. Six weeks after Poppy takes the plunge and moves into Guillermo’s apartment, he ends things with her. The speed of that turn—from establishing a home together to having to leave it—makes the breakup consequential beyond the loss of the relationship itself.

Breakup and Aftermath

One revealing social encounter comes a few weeks before the breakup, at a dinner party in a brownstone hosted by a friend Guillermo has known since boarding school. The host has a trust fund and a Damien Hirst painting above the dining-room table. When someone mentions the artist’s name, Poppy asks who he is; the guests laugh because they genuinely think she is joking. Poppy remembers the moment and later wonders, with some irony, whether not knowing the artist had anything to do with Guillermo ending their relationship. The narrative does not establish that it did.

Four days after the dinner party, Guillermo tells Poppy, “We’re just too different,” and explains that they had been swept up in their chemistry but wanted different things in the long term. Later, Poppy describes him as having left her for a new hostess at his restaurant, a blue-eyed young woman from Nebraska. The account establishes the new relationship as part of the breakup’s circumstances, without resolving how it relates to Guillermo’s stated explanation.

After moving out, Poppy has to find another apartment at the high end of her price range and pay for a U-Haul for the second time in two months. She also takes one of Guillermo’s expensive cooking knives. These details give the separation a material aftermath: the end of the romance means another move, another housing cost, and a small object carried away from the home they briefly shared.

Narrative Role

Guillermo represents a relationship that is pleasant, attentive, and compatible with Poppy’s independent routines, but not a lasting answer to what she wants. His first approach is candid, his courtship is straightforward, and his travel notes are a concrete act of consideration; none of these facts prevents the eventual rupture. Through him, the novel distinguishes having a companion and an appealing life in New York from feeling genuinely connected. His relationship with Poppy ends, but the contrast it supplies helps clarify what she has been seeking—and what comfort alone cannot provide.