Key West is the destination tied to a closing separation between Duan Jeffries and Kimani Cannon: although Kimani Cannon has returned to the Florida Keys, Duan Jeffries decides not to travel there for Sherri Griffin Jeffries’s birthday party because he is not ready to see Kimani Cannon again. The place thus marks both her return to work and his continued withdrawal from a relationship he still wants.

Kimani Cannon’s Return

Kimani Cannon has returned to the Florida Keys and is back at work in the E.R. Her return is conveyed through information Duan Jeffries has obtained from Terrence Jeffries, who tells him where she is and what she is doing. Key West enters Duan Jeffries’s thoughts as the destination of a trip he is considering for the following weekend, making the place a point of possible reunion rather than a location described in detail.

The Birthday Party and Duan Jeffries’s Absence

Terrence Jeffries is organizing a large birthday celebration for Sherri Griffin Jeffries at Club Hurricane and has asked Kimani Cannon to handle the decorations. As the party approaches, Duan Jeffries decides he will not make the trip to Key West. His reason is personal: he does not feel ready to face Kimani Cannon while concealing that he still wants and loves her. He plans to call Terrence Jeffries and explain his decision. The contrast between Kimani Cannon’s practical involvement in the celebration and Duan Jeffries’s deliberate absence gives Key West its immediate narrative significance: it is where their paths might cross, and where he chooses, for now, not to go.