48 pages • 1 hour read
Maybe Someday
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Chapters 18-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Warren and Sydney return home from the hospital. Angry, Warren confronts Sydney about her intentions with Ridge. He insults her by implying that she only wants sex, and she punches him. He apologizes and tells Sydney the story of how Ridge and Maggie met when they were teenagers. Warren reveals that he himself dated Maggie first for six weeks, and that he took her virginity with the intention of breaking up with her despite her revealing the truth about her illness. When Ridge found out about Warren’s intentions, he beat him up out of jealousy and disappointment. The two agreed to wait a year before Ridge pursued a relationship with Maggie. Frustrated, Warren unleashes his disapproval about Ridge and Sydney’s relationship and comforts Sydney when she begins to cry.
Ridge waits in Maggie’s hospital room while she sleeps. Sydney and Ridge message and say goodbye to each other. Desperate to see Sydney one last time, Ridge returns to the apartment and knocks on Sydney’s bedroom door.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Sydney and Ridge embrace passionately. After not speaking for 15 minutes, Ridge speaks and tells Sydney that he “will never […] regret you” (294). A text message sent to both of them interrupts their moment. Ridge reads the text first and rushes off suddenly. Sydney reads the message, which is from Maggie, and a copy of a message detailing Ridge and Sydney’s kiss. Shortly after, Maggie arrives at the apartment alone, silently gathers her belongings, and leaves. Ridge arrives at Maggie’s hospital room and finds it empty.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Bridgette and Warren return to the apartment and discover Sydney crying. Ridge enters, furious, and angrily asks Sydney why she let Maggie leave. Unable to communicate with Ridge in his anger, Warren asks Sydney about what happened. Sydney explains and defends Ridge to Warren. After Warren leaves, she receives a text message from Ridge asking her to move out immediately.
Ridge prepares to leave for San Antonio and chase Maggie. Before he leaves, he discovers a note from Maggie on his laptop asking him to give her a few days by herself. In his anger, he destroys the laptop with a hammer. When Warren attempts to comfort him, Ridge asks him to use his credit card to pay for Sydney’s hotel room. Warren’s disapproval surprises him. He thanks Warren for helping Sydney and cries after sending Maggie an apology.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Warren helps Sydney move out and convinces her to accept Ridge’s offer to pay for her hotel room. Three days later, Sydney moves into her new apartment. Ridge reaches out to Maggie over text message and leaves for San Antonio. Maggie greets Ridge and begins to cry when he embraces her. She asks Ridge if he is in love with Sydney. He does not answer and attempts to explain himself, but she stops him. Much to Ridge’s surprise, Maggie expresses no animosity toward Ridge and Sydney. She recalls the first time she met Ridge and how Brennan informed her of Ridge’s plan to wait a year before asking her out. As she talks, Maggie confronts Ridge on his need to be a hero; she accuses him of loving her for her illness and “suffocating” her. Desperate to live freely, Maggie breaks up with Ridge.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Sydney adapts to living alone. Warren arrives at her apartment and asks her to hang out. When she asks him about Ridge, he informs her that Maggie forgave him but that they broke up. Warren comforts Sydney.
Three weeks after his break-up with Maggie, Ridge demands Warren tell him where Sydney lives. He asks Warren if Sydney is aware of the break-up. After Warren finally shares Sydney’s address, Ridge rushes off to see her.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Sydney receives a text from Ridge, who begs Sydney to open her front door. After hesitating, Sydney lets Ridge inside and asks him why he has come to her apartment. They feel awkward around each other and uncharacteristically struggle to express their feelings. The tension breaks when Ridge begins drawing and writing on Sydney’s body. They touch each other intimately. Ridge tells Sydney that it is her choice whether they will kiss. Sydney struggles with her desire to kiss Ridge and her desire to make a logical decision. They begin to kiss passionately. Although she longs for Ridge, her doubt over Ridge’s intentions and her belief that they need time to heal from their relationships lead Sydney to pull away and begin washing away the pen marks on her skin. Ridge helps her remove the marks.
Unable to resist her need for closure, Sydney asks Ridge if he would leave her for Maggie if Maggie was willing to take him back. Sydney demands Ridge leave her apartment and stop contacting her. Ridge resists and forces Sydney to listen to his heartbeat. While Sydney lies on Ridge’s chest, he reflects on his acceptance of his and Maggie’s break-up. He no longer believes that he and Maggie are destined to be together and realizes that Maggie does not need him to protect her. He begins to write his feelings on paper.
Sydney reads Ridge’s words. He details how he began to fall in love with Sydney organically and how he longs for Sydney more than Maggie. They fall asleep. The next morning, Sydney wakes to find Ridge leaving her bedroom and placing a letter next to her. In the letter, Ridge tells Sydney that he understands her need to be on her own and that he will be waiting for her. He also leaves behind a rough cut of a new song he wrote overnight.
Sydney texts Warren and asks him to come over after work to help her with something. She listens to Ridge’s new song titled “It’s You.”
Chapter 24 Summary: “Ridge”
Ridge texts Brennan and Warren about a show he is planning for three months in the future, and that he wants Sydney to attend. He no longer has writer’s block and returns to his balcony to write a new song about Sydney.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Sydney/Ridge”
Three months in the future, Warren attempts to convince Sydney to attend a show without telling her that it is Ridge’s concert. He points out how miserable Sydney and Ridge are without each other. Afraid of ruining their relationship, Sydney hesitates to contact Ridge. Warren successfully convinces Sydney to go to the show with him.
At the club, Bridgette joins Warren and Sydney. Warren appears on the small stage and announces Ridge and Brennan. Ridge waves to Sydney from the stage and tells her that they will be playing songs he wrote for her. They begin to play as Warren signs the lyrics of the song.
The song ends. Ridge sees Sydney crying in the audience and begins playing a new song for her. The song is named “Hold on To You.” Ridge avoids looking at Sydney. As he begins to play, he locks eyes with her. This last song, “Let It Begin,” asks Sydney to make the final decision for them to be together. When the song ends, Sydney signs the symbol for when. Ridge rushes off the stage to embrace Sydney, and Sydney reveals that Warren has been teaching her how to sign. They kiss.
Ridge and Sydney go to her apartment. They travel to her bedroom and begin to disrobe. She tells Ridge that she loves him through sign language. They have sex. Ridge confesses his love for Sydney and begins to listen to her heartbeat. To help Sydney hear his heartbeat, he asks her to put earplugs in. He begins to thrust inside Sydney to the beat of their hearts.
Chapters 18-25 Analysis
Hoover continues to explore the nuances of infidelity through her depiction of Ridge and Sydney’s relationship. The novel suggests that there is not always a binary or clear-cut distinction between right and wrong, and that issues like infidelity are often more complex. After Maggie’s hospitalization, Ridge questions his choice to continue his relationship with Maggie despite his undeniable feelings for Sydney. He asks himself: “Is life really that black-and-white, though? Can a simple right or wrong define my situation?” (291).
These rhetorical questions echo the novel’s own questions. Hoover asks readers to question their beliefs about infidelity and the morality surrounding it. Sydney also contemplates these questions of morality, concluding that “the only thing Ridge had done wrong is fail to delete his messages, because by doing so, he failed to protect Maggie” (305). Sydney does not condemn Ridge for infidelity as she condemned Hunter; instead, she comments on Ridge’s failure to protect Maggie “from the harsh truth that people don’t get to choose who they fall in love with” (305). Through their relationship, Ridge and Sydney undergo a transformation that leads them to question the morality of infidelity and the power of true human connection.
Hoover differentiates Ridge and Sydney’s relationship from Ridge’s relationship with Maggie; unlike with Maggie, Ridge is deeply vulnerable with Sydney. Previously ashamed of his speaking voice, Ridge speaks aloud to Sydney for the first time in their final goodbye. Unlike with Maggie, Ridge is able to escape from his self-imposed role as protector and rely on Sydney for emotional support. He chooses “to speak for the first time in fifteen years” to Sydney rather than Maggie (294). This is a testament to Sydney’s impact on Ridge.
Despite this emotional connection, Ridge continues to choose Maggie and his identity as her protector. Maggie, not he, is the one who ends their relationship out of a dedication to her own personal journey. Maggie confronts Ridge about his protective nature: “I’m not saying you don’t love me for me, because I know you do. I just think you love me the wrong way” (324). Maggie’s independence frees not only herself from Ridge’s smothering, but Ridge from his own loyalty. Ridge finally begins to realize the errors in his ways and admits that “Maggie was right. I’ve done nothing for the past five years but try to be the hero who protects her. Heroines don’t need protecting” (362).
As Maggie’s foil, Sydney continues her journey of independence when she decides not to pursue a relationship with Ridge immediately following his break-up with Maggie. She pursues unfettered time for herself, which also provides time for Ridge to realize that “I don’t want Sydney ever to feel like my second choice, when I know in my heart that she’s the right choice. The only choice” (363). He allows Sydney the freedom of time and space to focus on herself and empowers her to connect with him when she is ready. In the meantime, he begins to write songs again on his own and finds freedom from the writer’s block that plagued him early in the novel. Inspired by his feelings for Sydney and the vulnerability she draws out of him, Ridge is able to access his emotions again and write freely. He uses his songs to connect with Sydney at the novel’s conclusion.
Ridge’s lyrics communicate his intentions and feelings to Sydney. Ridge’s song “Let It Begin” is a way to ask Sydney whether she is ready to pursue a relationship with him. Ridge ultimately gives Sydney the power to decide the future of their relationship. She agrees through sign language, a testament to her dedication to Ridge and their communication and connection.
Sydney comments on how her relationship with Ridge does not restrict her like her relationship with Hunter: “I don’t know how being consumed by him could lend clarity to my purpose in life, but it absolutely feels that way” (396). Instead of limiting her, their relationship enriches her. No longer torn between her independence and love for Ridge, Sydney finds peace and contentment. As they have sex, Sydney wears earplugs and experiences Ridge’s heartbeat as he experiences hers. She feels a sense of connection between them that makes it “impossible to tell us apart” (404). Finally, by the novel’s end, Hoover solidifies their connection physically and emotionally.
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By Colleen Hoover
