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Spoilers Beyond This Point

Characters:

• Ellie Greco: was a costume designer, now runs her family’s deli
• Bella: Ellie’s cousin
• Ma: Ellie’s mom
• Mimi: Ellie’s grandmother
• Theo Taylor: part of the Taylor property management company
• Sam: Theo’s ex, works at the Taylor property management company
• Ted Taylor: Theo’s dad, CEO of the company
• Chase: Theo’s younger brother
• Marta: Ted’s current wife

Summary (with Spoilers)

Ellie’s family has been running Greco’s Deli for decades. When Ellie’s dad died 5 years earlier, she moved back to Milborough, Massachusetts, to take over. She left behind unfilled dreams of being a costume designer, and throws herself into keeping the deli, and her family, afloat.

One day, her grandma Mimi comes home from a community meeting, furious. It’s been announced that the main property management group in town, Taylor Property Management, is looking to rent commercial space to a gourmet food department store, Mangia. This move would definitely impact Greco’s Deli, and could even force them to close.

Determined to save the deli, Ellie sets up a meeting with Theo Taylor, part of Taylor Property Management. They meet at the building that’s available for rent and currently being renovated. Through a series of unfortunate events, Theo is knocked unconscious in the middle of their meeting.

“’This is why we have protocols. You can’t just ignore them, Jaime. You can’t just act like—’ And then a large metal cage fell out of the ceiling and hit Theo, thunk, on the back of the head. He crumpled to the ground, limp.”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Ellie immediately panics, and the construction crew helps her call the ambulance and get Theo out of the building. When the ambulance arrives, Ellie wants to go with Theo to make sure she can apologize the moment he wakes up. Unfortunately, the ambulance driver will only allow family members.

“‘But I am family,’ I said, getting desperate. I could just catch Jaime’s confused stare in my peripheral vision. ‘Or . . . almost family. I’m his . . . fiancée?’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Ellie really commits, and spends hours at the hospital, waiting for Theo to wake up. And when he does, he doesn’t remember anything from the last 6 years. Before Ellie can explain what happened, the nurse swoops in and tells Theo they’re engaged. Not sure what to do, Ellie goes along with it, despite Theo’s many questions. Ellie is worried that lying to him will mess up his memory recovery, but decides to double-down.

Another woman shows up and introduces herself as Sam. She was Theo’s emergency contact, but makes it clear she’s his ex-girlfriend and knows that Theo just never changed his emergency contact information. Sam is suspicious of the engagement announcement, but seems to let it drop. 

Finally, Ellie leaves the hospital for the night. The next morning, Theo calls and says he’s ready to be discharged, but needs to be picked up from the hospital. And what are fiancées for if not that exact circumstance? So Ellie begrudgingly heads to the hospital to pick him up. After getting discharge instructions from the nurse, they head out to the car.

Ellie starts to suspect that most of Theo’s memories have returned, but she isn’t 100% confident. She still hasn’t decided how she’s going to end the engagement nonsense, so she waits to see what Theo does. But when he made her coffee the way she’d asked for it the day before, she knows he’s got his memory back. And that pisses Ellie off enough to start pushing the line.

“Theo knew. And he was keeping up the act. For fuck’s sake, why? ‘We live together, Theo. Obviously.’ I shook my head slowly, swiping beneath my eyes for effect. ‘But I know it’s not your fault. It’s just . . . hard to see the person you love look at you like you’re a total stranger.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Ellie confronts Theo, and he confesses to gaining his full memory back. But he proposes that they keep the fake engagement. He argues that they both want to keep Mangia out of town, and the only way to do that is to convince Theo’s dad, Ted. And Ted’s only weaknesses are short-term profits and his appearance in town. Theo and Ellie don’t have a plan that will make Ted millions, but if they’re engaged, Ted can’t make a business deal that would put his in-laws out of a job.

Ellie is hesitant, but agrees that she can’t think of a different solution. Theo’s head injury will help cover up any mistakes they make, and they create a story based around a short 4-month relationship and an engagement that happened the week before. Theo even gives Ellie’s his mother’s ring for show. 

The first big test is dinner at Ted’s house. Theo warns Ellie that Ted will most likely pitch a fit and be rude and insulting. The first few minutes are fine, and then everything goes downhill. First, Ted had Sam (ex-girlfriend of Theo’s turned Taylor Property Management employee) at the house when they arrived. As Sam leaves, she pulls Ellie aside and tells her she knows the engagement is fake. Ellie determinedly lies for a few minutes, but Sam telsl her she’ll keep the secret. Second, despite Marta and Theo’s efforts, he immediately starts talking down to Ellie. By the time the main course is served, Ellie is on her feet, screaming at Ted. 

She’s terrified Theo will be furious, but he’s ecstatic. He’s glad she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself, and insists that she didn’t go too far. The night did bring up one topic that Theo hasn’t been open with Ellie about: the death of his younger brother, Chase.

“‘How did he die?’ ‘On one of our building sites. He was there after hours, and . . . I don’t want to go into it.’ His hand went clawlike on his glass. ‘How long ago was it?’ ‘It’ll be six years this summer.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

The notable things about Chase’s death are that they happened in the building Mangia’s is trying to rent, and it happened 6 years ago. When Theo lost his memory, it went back all the way to that moment. Theo admits that Chase’s death was the catalyst for his career path and his break-up with Sam. Now Ellie has a much better understanding of Theo, and how similar they are. They’ve both lost a family member, committed to the family business in the wake of the death, and are now trying to save the one building that still holds their memory.

Still processing everything she’s learned about Theo, Ellie is thrown into her own engagement party at the country club, surrounded by Ted’s acquaintances. Trying to escape for a moment, she finds Sam also hidden away. They strike up a conversation, and Sam asks if Ellie would be willing to play matchmaker with Sam and Theo, after the engagement ends.

“‘What would you say to helping me fix things with Theo? He . . . well, he’s always been the one that got away . . . Also, I know the engagement isn’t real, but if there’s something between you and Theo that I just totally blew by, please pretend I never said anything. I had my chance and I screwed it up, that’s not something you should pay for. There wouldn’t be any hard feelings.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Ellie’s a little shocked, but immediately says yes. Sam continues to say MULTIPLE times that if there are any feelings between Ellie and Theo, she will graciously back away. And Ellie just keeps saying there’s no feelings, even though there very clearly are. Then Ted makes an announcement, bringing Theo and Ellie into the spotlight. He announces the engagement, and then immediately announces that Sam is the new CFO of Taylor Property Management.

Theo is happy, telling Ellie that Ted clearly accepts the engagement as real if he was willing to gloss over it at the party. If he’d been even the smallest bit suspicious, they would’ve been front and center the whole night. Then Ellie asks Theo about his relationship with Sam and why it ended. He tells her that they were actually engaged, but Chase’s death was just too much for him. Sam did her best, but at a certain point, she had to leave. He said there’s no ill will, but he knows now they had grown apart

“’Lately I’ve realized that maybe I’ve never given the right thing a real shot. Or the right person.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Then they have sex. It’s natural, seems to be great for both parties, no complaints. But Ellie instantly starts telling herself it didn’t mean anything, and doubles down on getting Sam and Theo back together. She plans a whole double date with Sam and one of Theo’s friends, playing doubles tennis. Sam is extremely competitive, while Ellie hasn’t played tennis in years. Instead of Theo being attracted to Sam’s talents, he’s just irritated that she isn’t going easy on Ellie. The next day, Sam and Ellie regroup to make a new plan. Sam AGAIN asks if there are feelings between Theo and Ellie and offers to bow out, but Ellie INSISTS on plowing forward. 

The next big couple event is a board meeting for Taylor Property Management. Ellie gets introduced to Ted’s brother Paul and sister Cheryl, then gets to sit quietly while Ted, Theo, Sam, Paul, and Cheryl discuss business for hours. At the end of the night, escaping with only a few barbs from Ted, Theo gets up to take Ellie home. Except that they only make it to his car before having sex again. 

Theo is thrilled, Ellie is thrilled. Then Ellie is not thrilled and starts screaming at Theo that the sex doesn’t mean anything (it does) and that this is all fake (it isn’t). Theo justifiably is confused and starts trying to figure out what’s going on. Ellie’s sabotage streak continues to spiral and she pulls them into a huge fight where they both say terrible, but valid, things. Theo says that Ellie blames her family for making her move home, but it’s clear that she was scared in NYC and didn’t think she had the talent to make it there. Then Ellie says that she knows Chase must be disappointed in how Theo has thrown away his life to spend it up his own father’s ass. 

The fight sends Ellie into a depressive episode, and she wallows for days. When she finally talks it through with her cousin Bella, Bella is unimpressed. But then Ellie has her big “aha” moment.

“’Not about Theo—about the deli. I don’t need to save it for Ma or Mimi, I need to save it for me. I think . . . maybe I care more about this than I ever did about costuming.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

That’s right, it took her 5 years to REALIZE that she genuinely enjoys running the deli. That designing and creating clothes is actually a perfect hobby because then there’s no need for other people to like it. That inheriting a family business makes sense because you’ve been around it YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. (Did I mention that Ellie’s indecisiveness and overall shallowness annoy me?!)

Suddenly, Ellie’s depression is cured. She makes her grandma make a lasagna, and she takes it to Theo’s apartment to apologize. When she gets there, Sam is also at the apartment . . . with her shoes off. Ellie quickly gives Theo the lasagna and runs away. She’s convinced that because Sam was at Theo’s apartment at 6pm on a weekday, they’re back together. As a reminder, these are two people who broke up for very specific reasons, still work together, and are currently working against a huge project their boss is trying to force through. 

A few days later, Ellie’s grandma drags her to a community meeting about the building and Mangia. It’s announced that a private buyer bought the building and it’s going to be converted into small work areas for craftsmen and vendor booths, with residential areas above. And SHOCKER, Theo was the private buyer.

“’When I called her that night to tell her I was considering making an offer, she worked overtime to help me pull together all the information I’d need to get it past Aunt Cheryl. [Sam’s] . . . a really good friend.’”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

Ellie is shocked (something that happens a lot), and starts to yell at Theo again. He explains that this has been part of his plan the whole time. He literally bought the whole building so he could live in it, and is converting the bottom to help even more small businesses. Then he clarifies that he and Sam are not together (duh), and then apologizes for HIS actions?!

“‘We’ve already established the meet-cute, Theo. Get ready to lose at pool.”

Love You, Mean It, Jilly Gagnon

And they lived happily ever after. Except maybe they’re going to break up in 3 months. Overall, Theo was the definition of Logan Huntzberger from Gilmore Girls. Mad about his family’s business and his expected involvement, ready to use his generational wealth for himself. His charisma is off the charts, and his personality is what saved this book. And Ellie is close enough to a quirky, independent spitfire of a main character to make it work overall. Justice for Sam, who actually seemed well-developed, and Bella, who had a great head on her shoulders and was fully ignored in this book.