The next day, as Allie and Noah enjoy their separate mornings, they find themselves lost in thoughts of each other. Allie accepts his invitation and returns to the inn, unaware that Lon has been trying to call her room all night long. As Noah walks her to her car, he invites her back the following day. After dinner, as Noah reads Allie poetry on the porch, Allie feels a sensual stirring inside of her and thinks that she doesn’t feel this kind of passion for Lon. Over dinner, Allie realizes that she and Lon never talk as freely as she’s conversing with Noah. Noah takes Allie to the living room and shows her that he has hung a painting she gave him long ago over the fireplace-he assures her that she is a true artist and should give painting another shot. Noah then asks Allie about Lon and about her passion for painting, Allie admits that she gave art up despite going to college for it. Noah asks Allie if she thinks they’d still be together if she had gotten the letters, and she admits that she thinks they would be. Soon, Allie realizes that her mother, Anne, who disapproved of Noah for being of a lower social class, must have confiscated the letters. When Noah asks Allie why she never answered his letters, she becomes confused-she says she never got any letters. Allie and Noah continue reminiscing about their summer together as they prepare dinner and tour the house. Noah invites Allie to stay for dinner, and she accepts. As Allie tells Noah about Lon, he senses hesitation in her voice. Allie tells Noah about her engagement, and the two of them take a walk down to the river. She apologizes for showing up out of the blue, but Noah assures her that he’s excited to see her. Allie tells Noah about having found the article and compliments him on his beautiful handiwork. He is surprised when he spots a car coming down the drive-and he is even more shocked when Allie steps out of it.Īfter standing and staring at each other, Allie and Noah embrace excitedly. Lost in thought, Noah finishes his daily tasks, showers, and sits out on the porch. Noah bought the plantation house and the surrounding land with the funds, and in the 11 months since, he’s dedicated himself day and night to fixing up the property. When Noah returned from fighting in World War II, he found that Morris had left him a significant portion of the company. After heading up north in search of work at the height of the Great Depression, Noah found a job at a scrap yard owned by the kindly Morris Goldman, a man who took a shine to Noah. As Allie bathes, dresses, and gathers her courage to head out to visit Noah, the narrative switches back to Noah’s point of view as he reflects on the years since Allie’s departure from New Bern. Allie has come to New Bern under the guise of going antiquing. Allie has recently read a newspaper article about Noah’s renovated house and, in the weeks since, has been unable to think of anything else-even though her wedding to Lon is just weeks away. The following morning, Allie arrives in New Bern from Raleigh to visit Noah-and to tell him about her engagement to the wealthy lawyer Lon Hammond, Jr. Though Noah wrote Allie many letters, she never answered them, and he has not heard from her or seen her since. At the end of the summer, after losing their virginities to each other, Noah and Allie parted ways. But all the while, Noah pines for a lost love: in 1932, he shared an intense, romantic summer with a young woman named Allie Nelson whose family came to visit New Bern for several months. Noah is a simple man who spends his days kayaking, reading poetry, and playing guitar with his neighbor Gus. Noah is proud of the work he’s done on the old plantation house-a few weeks ago, a reporter even came to interview him about it and take pictures. As dusk falls, Noah sits on the porch of his sprawling home in New Bern, North Carolina. The story flashes back to October of 1946. Noah is hopeful that today will be the day a miracle happens. Noah wanders down the cold halls of the nursing home to visit the room of another patient-a woman-who barely acknowledges him as he sits down beside her, opens up a small notebook, and begins to read to her. Noah knows that he has lived an ordinary life by most people’s standards, but he insists that having known “perfect love” has been enough for him. Eighty-year-old Noah Calhoun, who lives in a nursing home in North Carolina, describes the lonely and sometimes painful nature of his final days.
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