Chapter 2 Summary

Quoyle met Petal Bear at a meeting and she came on to him quite quickly. She joked with him about wanting to marry her. He was serious and said that "yes" he wanted to marry her. She asked him to leave with her. That began a heated romance that lasted a month, followed by six years of terminal suffering. Even after they were married, Petal continued her promiscuous ways and marriage was nothing like Quoyle imagined. He had admired Partridge's marriage and thought his would be the same. Quoyle and Petal had two daughters, Bunny and then Sunshine. Petal resented both of them and most of the time, when she showed up at the house, pretended she didn't know who they were.

Quoyle loved his wife and wanted her to stay but she told him to go find another girlfriend. One night she...