Oh, Jake. (Rebeca Felix)

            I suppose I’m on the fence about whether or not Jake changes throughout this story. He has obvious feelings for Brett, but from the very beginning of the book he does not throw himself at her feet in any way. Yes, he shows up to every café she tells him to, even though it is likely he will be stood up, but Jake also knows when to let Brett have her way by going off with some man or another and waiting until she comes back for help.

Jake knows Brett is planning on marrying Mike and though many men around them seem to know this, it does not stop them from entertaining the fantasy of being involved with her. As more and more people, including Cohn, become enamored of Brett’s witty, flaky ways, Jake seems to both back off and step closer to Brett. Although he doesn’t pursue her outright, he know that they have the type of relationship where she will ask him for help when she needs it, a fact Jake is both aware of and proud of. When we first meet Brett, she enters a café surrounded by young men, but she gravitates toward Jake and they end up leaving together. Jake is adamant about getting some work done and getting to bed, so he leaves Brett. Jakey boy, playing it cool. Except that Jake openly tells Brett that he loves her. But when Brett brings Mike to spend time with Jake and her friends, Jake does not stop the couple from carrying on.

By the time we get to the bull fight scene, Mike has been giving Cohn crap about hanging out with them all the damn time, because isn’t it clear that Brett doesn’t want him here? Nothing to twist a plot around like tossing in a young bullfighter. Brett leaves with Romero, as they have fallen in love, and Cohn has knocked out both Jake and Mike. Jake forgives Cohn, which is something he would have done at the beginning of the book in my opinion. Later on, Brett contacts Jake for help because, alas! She has left Romero and wants to return to Mike! Jake being Jake, he goes to get her, as it is something of a point of pride for him to be the one to save her all the time. When Brett mentions that they could have had a great time in Spain together, Jake replies, “Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so?”

I think that Jake has remained unreadable in some ways to the reader. He has always had this flirtatious tension between himself and Brett, and he is very good at letting her come to him for help. However, toward the end of the book Jake knows how many people are after Brett and that she has the strings of multiple hearts wrapped around her fingers. At the end, when Brett offers him bait to maybe stay in Spain to have that damned good time she was talking about, Jake coos to her, almost cruelly, “isn’t it pretty to think so?” as if she doesn’t understand what it is she is capable of, but that Jake is choosing not to be involved with. I think that there were points toward the middle of the book where Jake was more desperate for Brett’s attention and yes, he went and helped her in Spain, but Jake shut down the crack in the door Brett left, hoping he would wander in.

[Rebeca Felix]