Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island is the setting of Denny and Eve’s wedding, a small ceremony in a beach cottage that brings their closest friends and Eve’s immediate family together. The location also frames a contrast between the easy informality of a beach setting and the careful restrictions imposed inside the house.

The Wedding Setting

Soon after Eve moved into Denny’s apartment, the couple married in a charming little beach cottage on Whidbey Island. The ceremony was small, attended by the narrator, a group of the couple’s closest friends, and Eve’s immediate family. Denny had no brothers or sisters to invite; he explained that his parents were absent by saying they did not travel well.

Eve’s parents clarified that the cottage belonged to close friends of theirs, who were not present at the wedding. The house’s ownership and its absent owners are part of the scene’s precise social setting: the celebration took place in a borrowed home rather than a family-owned property.

Rules of the House

Enzo was allowed to attend, but only under strict conditions. He was not to roam freely on the beach or swim in the bay, because he might track sand onto the cottage’s expensive mahogany floors. He was also directed to relieve himself in a specific spot next to the recycling containers.

These rules make the cottage’s polished interior a tangible limit on the beachside freedom its location might suggest. For Enzo, attendance meant being included in the wedding while remaining closely managed within the borrowed house.