How It All Goes Down
Amy Elliott Dunne—July 5, 2010
- We're back at Amy's diary, and this time, she's legitimately upset. It's her and Nick's third anniversary, and Nick is spending it getting drunk. Sixteen of his co-workers at the magazine were laid off and he felt obligated to take them out on the town—he thinks he's doing a good deed, but Amy's just plain mad.
- Amy is also mad at herself for "being a girl." After swearing that she'd never resent Nick for going out with the guys or make him do a "dancing monkey" act, she's crying over her scavenger hunt clues that will remain undiscovered and the two live lobsters she bought to cook for dinner. To make things worse, her dad calls to wish her happy anniversary and she starts crying over the phone and the whole situation with Nick spills out. She feels terrible because she knows her dad will have some sarcastic comment about it the next time he sees Nick.
- Nick finally comes home around five in the morning and they have a fight about how Amy, who's grown up as the trust-fund child star of young adult books, can't possibly understand what's happened at the magazine because she's never had to worry about money in her life. As a low blow, Nick brings up the prenup that (Amy says) they had to get as a formality for her parents' lawyers.
- Nick finally goes to bed in a rage. In an attempt to put together a picture of what his anniversary night looked like, Amy goes through the receipts from the places he's been to, including two bars and two strip clubs. She also finds the name and phone number for a girl named Hannah, and begins crying at the evidence that Nick may be cheating. As an act of revenge, she considers checking into a hotel and letting him worry about where she is, but instead she goes to bed and apologizes.