Toby After Bailey

The Sky Is Everywhere

This flow traces Toby’s mourning, his boundary-crossing relationship with Lennie, and their return to a caring but non-romantic bond.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Absent Boyfriend The Absent Boyfriend from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Absent Boyfriend Retreat from the family Toby avoids the Walker home after Bailey’s death, despite Gram’s invitations.

The Absent Boyfriend from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Absent Boyfriend Retreat from the family Toby avoids the Walker home after Bailey’s death, despite Gram’s invitations.

The Absent Boyfriend Retreat from the family Toby avoids the Walker home after Bailey’s death, despite Gram’s invitations. His absence reflects a grief he cannot yet share with Lennie or her family. A first opening When Lennie encounters him in the garden, neither needs to explain the pain. Their quiet recognition begins a connection that had not existed between them before.

The Engagement Revealed The Engagement Revealed from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Engagement Revealed A secret shared Toby tells Lennie that Bailey accepted his proposal and that they planned to tell the family.

The Engagement Revealed from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Engagement Revealed A secret shared Toby tells Lennie that Bailey accepted his proposal and that they planned to tell the family.

The Engagement Revealed A secret shared Toby tells Lennie that Bailey accepted his proposal and that they planned to tell the family. He is grieving a future he had expected to enter. A new intimacy Lennie feels excluded from Bailey’s secret but also drawn closer to Toby. Their shared mourning becomes the setting for a first kiss.

A Dangerous Comfort A Dangerous Comfort from "The Sky Is Everywhere". A Dangerous Comfort Repeated meetings Toby and Lennie continue to seek each other out, finding relief in their shared memories of Bailey.

A Dangerous Comfort from "The Sky Is Everywhere". A Dangerous Comfort Repeated meetings Toby and Lennie continue to seek each other out, finding relief in their shared memories of Bailey.

A Dangerous Comfort Repeated meetings Toby and Lennie continue to seek each other out, finding relief in their shared memories of Bailey. The meetings become physically charged and increasingly hard to stop. Care blurred with desire Neither fully separates comfort from attraction. Their closeness risks turning Bailey’s memory into a reason to ignore the harm they may cause.

The Confession of Pregnancy The Confession of Pregnancy from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Confession of Pregnancy A new dimension of grief Toby tells Lennie that Bailey was pregnant.

The Confession of Pregnancy from "The Sky Is Everywhere". The Confession of Pregnancy A new dimension of grief Toby tells Lennie that Bailey was pregnant.

The Confession of Pregnancy A new dimension of grief Toby tells Lennie that Bailey was pregnant. He had kept the fact private, believing that telling her would make the loss harder. A boundary crossed again Lennie comforts Toby and kisses him, overwhelmed by the imagined child and their shared future with Bailey. Joe witnesses the kiss and the relationship collapses into consequences.

A Sisterly Bond A Sisterly Bond from "The Sky Is Everywhere". A Sisterly Bond Naming the confusion Toby tells Lennie that he felt too close to her while grieving Bailey.

A Sisterly Bond from "The Sky Is Everywhere". A Sisterly Bond Naming the confusion Toby tells Lennie that he felt too close to her while grieving Bailey.

A Sisterly Bond Naming the confusion Toby tells Lennie that he felt too close to her while grieving Bailey. He acknowledges that their intimacy became mixed up with his wish to belong to her family. A safer future Lennie visits Bailey’s grave with Toby, and they agree to relate as siblings. Their love for Bailey remains shared, but no longer needs to be acted out as romance.

The first weeks after Bailey’s funeral

During Toby’s late-night visit

The middle weeks of summer

After Lennie questions Toby about Bailey’s notebook

Near the end of the summer