Ugly Love (Hoover)/Chapter 19

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🤐

Colleen Hoover

Ugly Love. Chapter 19

A secret reunion ends in painful withdrawal

2014

Summary of a Chapter
from the Collection “Ugly Love”

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Chapter Summary

Tate returned home on Thursday, hoping to see Miles during her brother Corbin’s game night. They had not spoken during his absence, and she recognized that her feelings were already stronger than their casual arrangement allowed.

She initially found only Corbin, Ian, and Dillon. In the kitchen, Dillon touched her back, and she smiled before realizing he was not Miles. She pushed his hand away, but Miles arrived and saw the contact.

Miles challenged Dillon’s flirting and pointedly mentioned his wife. When Dillon persisted, Miles accused him of disrespecting Corbin’s instructions to leave Tate alone. Corbin intervened and ordered Dillon to go home.

Before leaving, Dillon whispered his apartment number to Tate and invited her over while his wife worked. Miles restrained Corbin from following him. Tate assured her brother that she had standards and would not pursue Dillon.

Once Corbin left the kitchen, Miles quietly suggested that Tate ask to study at his apartment. She staged a complaint about the television noise, prompting Corbin himself to suggest she go next door. Miles accompanied her there.

Miles kissed Tate before returning to the game, then brought her pizza and checked that she had everything she needed. They exchanged playful messages while she studied. He thought Ian suspected their relationship but said he did not mind Ian knowing.

After the game, Miles returned and stopped Tate from leaving. He acknowledged her demanding schedule of classes and weekend work, saying she needed rest and should not feel obliged to be intimate simply because they were both home.

Their affectionate encounter became sexual, with Miles focusing on Tate’s pleasure and declining reciprocation. He then insisted she return home, admitting that jealousy had motivated his confrontation with Dillon. He feared betraying Corbin’s trust.

Following an unusually desperate goodbye kiss, Tate returned to Corbin’s apartment. Hearing her brother showering, she immediately went back to Miles. They had another sexual encounter; Miles initially wanted a condom, but proceeded without one after Tate said she took birth-control pills.

Afterward, Miles became silent, separated himself from Tate, and walked away without explanation. His bedroom door slammed shut. Left crying and humiliated, Tate feared their relationship had ended and regretted how deeply attached she had become. She dressed and left.

Characters

📚

Tate — narrator, young adult woman, student who also works weekends, Corbin’s sister and Miles’s secret intimate partner, increasingly emotionally invested despite their casual arrangement, candid about her desire and deeply hurt by his unexplained withdrawal.

🔒

Miles — young adult man, Corbin’s friend and neighbor and Tate’s secret intimate partner, jealous of Dillon and attentive to Tate’s needs, concerned about his friendship with Corbin, abruptly silent and withdrawn after sex for reasons not disclosed here.

🛡️

Corbin — young adult man, Tate’s intensely protective brother and Miles’s friend, hosts the televised game gathering, expels Dillon for pursuing his sister, unaware of her relationship with Miles.

🍺

Dillon — adult married man and game-night guest, touches and persistently propositions Tate despite her rejection, openly offers to meet while his wife is working, confrontational toward Miles and Corbin.

👀

Ian — adult man, Miles’s close friend and a guest at game night, greets Tate and appears suspicious of the excuse used to send her to Miles’s apartment.

Quotes

I know that with as much as I’m thinking about him, I shouldn’t be doing this. For something that’s supposed to be a casual thing, it’s felt anything but casual.

He thanked me for protecting you from Dillon earlier. How do you think he’d feel if he knew I only did that because I was being selfish and wanted you all to myself?

This felt like an end. I’m not sure I was ready for this to be the end. I’m not sure I was ready for there *ever* to be an end, and I hate myself for allowing my feelings to get to that point.

This summary is based on the UK edition of the novel (London: Simon & Schuster UK, 2014).