Expiration Dates

In the present, Irina returns from her trip and invites Daphne to stay for dinner after work so that they can discuss Jake. Daphne calls Jake “nice,” adding that “nice is underrated” (121), but Irina jokes that calling someone nice means that they are bad in bed. The conversation shifts to Penelope. Irina laments that she is too old for their tumultuous relationship, though she loves Penelope. While they talk, Jake texts Daphne to ask her out for drinks after she leaves Irina’s house.

Daphne meets Jake for drinks, and they talk about sports. They both played soccer when they were younger, and Jake still plays in an amateur league. He invites Daphne to join him, but she declines, saying that she has neither the time nor the interest in exercise. Jake does not believe her because she is slim and must do something to maintain her physique. Daphne deflects the question.

They then discuss their ambitions. Daphne says that she is not certain if she wants to become a producer. She says that she is a “commitment-phobe,” sparking Jake’s curiosity. Elaborating, Daphne explains that she felt stuck after college, lacking in ambition or direction, and still feels that way sometimes. Daphne realizes that Jake is trying to coax her into confiding in him, and she finds herself both wanting to tell him her secrets and fearing it at the same time. She pictures her secrets “locked in a box under [her] bed” and does not feel ready to share yet (125).

Flashing back to her weekend in Big Sur with Hugo, Daphne wakes up by herself. She realizes that one month is all it took for her to want to keep Hugo. Despite her best efforts, she will not listen to the warning in the note. She “want[s] to be it for him. [She] want[s] so much more than ninety days. [She] want[s] everything” (128). Hugo returns from a morning run carrying coffee. They kiss and fall back into bed together.

In the present, Daphne meets Jake at his apartment, determined to tell him her secret. She opens her mouth but freezes. Jake assures her that she does not need to do anything she is not ready for. Instead, Daphne notices a photo of Jake’s niece on his bedside table. Jake glows with pride and love as he talks about the little girl and asks Daphne if she wants kids. The question gives her pause. She does not want to lie, and she does want to tell the truth. So, she deflects the question. Then, they have sex for the first time. Daphne reflects that sex need not be a sign of the seriousness of a relationship. However, she finds that sex can be a sign of tenderness, not necessarily a measure of a person’s feelings but a “measure of their care” (134).

Daphne and Hugo meet for brunch in West Hollywood, and Hugo can immediately tell that Daphne and Jake slept together. Hugo asks how Daphne feels, and she says that she likes Jake a lot because he is thoughtful, sincere, and admirable. Hugo then asks Daphne if she ever saw Hugo as someone she could stay with—if she ever thought they could last longer than three months.

Daphne feels caught off guard. She reminds him that his note said they would only have three months together, and he responds with bitterness and anger. He still thinks about their relationship, though he knows that they are not supposed to admit such things now that they are friends. Daphne silently admits that she thinks about it as well, but she says that Hugo is only jealous because he wants to be in a serious relationship with someone, not necessarily with her. Hugo neither agrees nor disagrees. However, he points out that Daphne has not yet told Jake her secret, meaning that Hugo is still special in her life in one way at least.

Five months go by as Jake and Daphne’s relationship progresses slowly but steadily. Daphne introduces her dog, Murphy, to Jake’s dog, Saber. She spends more days at Jake’s apartment than at her own place. Finally, Jake asks her to move in with him. Daphne hesitates; she enjoys her time with Jake and likes his apartment, but she also loves her own place filled with all her funky furniture and knick-knacks. Jake does not push but asks her to think about it.

Daphne asks for Kendra’s and Irina’s advice. Kendra urges Daphne to say yes, insisting that Jake is perfect for her. She adds that Daphne should stop “play[ing] cat and mouse with someone like Hugo forever” (143), which makes Daphne sad, reminding her that she has not seen Hugo much since their discussion five months ago. He has been traveling, and Daphne has been spending most of her time with Jake. She also fears that the quiet comfort she feels with Jake means that she is fading, as if “all the bright and brilliant aspects of [herself] are diminishing in this cocoon” of safe intimacy (143).

Irina, meanwhile, seems concerned about the idea of Daphne moving in with Jake and recommends that she be careful. She also reminds Daphne that she is allowed to change her mind later. She can move in and move back out again if she needs to.

In her apartment, Daphne pulls a box out from beneath her bed. The box is filled with every piece of paper she has ever received from the universe, including “postcards and fortunes from inside cookies” (145). Each note marks the measurements of her life in days, weeks, and months. She places the note with Jake’s name, kept in her purse for five months, inside the box.

In a flashback, Daphne recalls meeting Tae in her junior year of college on a class-mandated boating trip for a biology course. Tae is a pre-med student and is serious, brilliant, and “dazzlingly handsome.” After the boating trip, they hang out together, often in the library, and Tae helps her study.

One day while studying, Daphne feels a sudden immense pain and collapses. Tae calls an ambulance. In the hospital, Daphne learns the second secret—the other secret she now keeps hidden in a box under her bed. Not only is there a box filled with mysterious notes from the universe, but there is also a box filled with medical files, prescriptions, and lifestyle recommendations. This box contains Daphne’s truth that she has tried to run from and keep hidden but cannot avoid forever.

The flashback continues. Daphne’s truth is that at 20 years old, she has a sudden cardiac arrest, revealing a genetic defect. The doctors tell her that it is a miracle she survived. They tell her that she is in stage two, in a scenario with four stages. In the fourth stage, patients need a heart transplant, though this does not guarantee survival. Daphne’s parents cry and argue with the doctors, insisting that there must be some mistake.

From the age of 21 to 23, Daphne is in and out of the hospital, being put through a long series of surgeries, procedures, and medications. She needs to change her lifestyle and will likely never be able to be pregnant. She gives up soccer and has a pacemaker implanted. Throughout these two years, Tae stays with Daphne. He keeps her company in the hospital, sleeps in hospital chairs, and helps Daphne’s parents. He supports her unfailingly.

After two years, she is released from the hospital, though she is still reliant on her parents: They bathe and feed her when necessary and take care of her almost like an infant. Eventually, she feels better. The procedures and medication work enough to give her a new sense of normalcy. So much has happened in the last two years that Daphne forgets that her prescribed time with Tae is nearly over. Then, he visits her one day, and they argue. Tae cannot see past her identity as a patient. Now that she is moving past that, he can go no further. Daphne remembers the note and realizes that her time is up. Heartbroken, Daphne tells Tae that she loves him and then lets him go.

Six months later, she receives a new note, which feels like a promise from the universe that she will live for the time allotted. She says, “I have a deal with the universe. I take my time in increments, and I get to stay here. For the time written, I get to keep my heart” (157). With Jake, on the other hand, she feels uncertain and afraid. She wonders if the blank time on the paper means that she gets to stay with Jake forever or if it simply means that her time is no longer promised.