Fly Away

Two hours later, Tully is in a half-conscious state, unsure of where she is or what is happening to her. At the same time, Johnny Ryan awakens with a feeling that something is wrong. He receives a phone call notifying him that Tully Hart has been taken to the hospital—she had listed Kate Ryan, Johnny’s deceased wife, as her emergency contact. Johnny plans for his eleven-year-old twin sons to be cared for and drives to the ferry.

While he sits in his car on the ferry ride, Johnny thinks about Tully and Kate’s lifelong friendship. He met Tully through his job in television and Tully later introduced him to Kate. Tully eventually became a famous talk show host, but the friendship between she and Kate suffered a blow just as Kate was undergoing treatment for cancer. Johnny recalls Kate’s death four years prior, remembering the discomfort of the funeral and his inability to connect with his then eight-year-old sons and sixteen-year-old daughter, Marah. Tully remained in the church parking lot during the funeral, insisting attending the service was too difficult. At a reception at Johnny’s home after the funeral, Tully attempts to be the center of attention, drinking shots of liquor. Johnny is unsure how he will be able to care for his children and handle the grief alone.

In 2006, on the morning after Kate’s funeral, Johnny wakes and tries to resume his life as usual. His mother-in-law and father-in-law stop by as he is making coffee, offering to help Johnny where needed. Johnny spontaneously decides he will take the kids on a trip to Hawaii—a place he and Kate loved. He can make all the arrangements immediately and wakes the twins, instructing them to pack for a trip. Marah, however, refuses to go, citing her demanding class schedule and commitment to the varsity soccer team. Johnny calls Tully to inform her they are leaving on a trip.

Soon they are at the airport gate, Marah included. Just as they are about to board, Tully arrives, certain that Johnny’s phone call was an invitation to join them. Marah begs Johnny to let Tully come but he refuses.

On the plane ride and at the rental house, Marah is cold to Johnny. The boys are excited and that night the four have dinner at a bar that Johnny and Kate enjoyed on their previous trip. A woman working there remembers him and Kate; Johnny tells her Kate has died. Marah continues to be angry, insisting to Johnny that it was important to her to be able to maintain her routine at home.

Johnny and the twins settle into a routine during their trip; Johnny drinks coffee outside in the morning, thinking of Kate and the things he wanted to say to her as she was dying but could not. The boys swim and boogie-board. Lucas, one of the twins, speaks freely of Kate. Marah remains distant, sitting on the beach with her cellphone in hand, refusing to speak much at all.

On the final night in Hawaii, Johnny cannot sleep. After visiting the twins’ and Marah’s bedrooms, he discovers Marah is missing. He finds her at a party on the beach with some older kids, drinking and dancing. Johnny drags her back to the house, and Marah slams the door behind her, refusing to talk to him. When it is 7 o’ clock at night California time, Johnny phones a friend, asking if he is “still looking for an executive producer for Good Morning Los Angeles” (48).

The narrative moves forward to 2010: Johnny is at the hospital and learns Tully is stable but in critical condition.

Tully gains a degree of consciousness and becomes aware that she is in a hospital room and is bleeding. She imagines she is back at her home as a child with Kate. She recalls meeting Kate when they were both 14; Tully’s mother was negligent and non-present, so it was Kate in whom Tully confided that she had been raped. Next, Tully sees Kate in her vision. Tully wants to be with Kate in death, but instead she recalls Kate’s funeral.

When she was sick, Kate gave Tully an iPod, instructing her to dance rather than attend the funeral service. Afterward, Tully reluctantly accompanies Kate’s parents to the Ryan home where she helps prepare to host the other mourners. She is overcome with grief but uses the busyness to force herself not to think of Kate. Yet, she cannot avoid thinking about the two-year long fight she had with Kate while Kate was in the middle of chemotherapy. Tully plays music because Kate has instructed her to do so, but the thoughts of Kate the songs bring are overwhelming and soon Tully feels herself being ushered out of the room by Kate’s mother.

Tully recounts the day after the funeral, when she mistakenly believed Johnny was inviting her on the Hawaii trip. After leaving the Seattle airport, Tully returns to her condo. She recalls deciding to become a reporter at a young age as she dresses, noticing that she has gained weight. She walks to the studio of the production company she runs, thinking about the last time she appeared on daytime television, informing her audience that she was taking time off to care for Kate. The studio feels strange to Tully, and she decides she needs some time to figure out who she is going to be without Kate before she can return to work.

Back at the condo, Tully tries to confront a pile of unopened mail but cannot. She spends the next five days sleeping off and on. On the sixth day, she wakes with an idea and drives to the Ryan house.

There, Tully sorts through Kate’s clothes, packing them into boxes, knowing that completing this task will be helpful to Johnny. Each item brings back a memory of Kate; Tully thinks, too, of her promise to Kate to take care of her children in her absence and to lend support to Johnny in his grief. Kate has given Tully a journal that she has written that Tully is to share with Marah. On her second day of cleaning out the closet, Tully is surprised by the Ryans’ return. Johnny is furious at Tully, informing her that he has taken a job in Los Angeles and will be moving. Both Marah and Tully are upset. Marah begs to live with Tully.

Back in 2010, Tully imagines that Kate is beside her, singing, and tries to get her to stop. At the same time, Johnny charges into the room. Doctors push him aside to take Tully to surgery. Johnny waits alone, then is told that she has survived the surgeries, but has been placed in a medical coma because of the brain injuries she sustained from a car accident.

Tully opens her eyes and, outside of her body with Kate, witnesses herself undergoing surgery. She asks Kate to take her somewhere else. Suddenly they are at the University of Washington and Tully watches her and Kate as young students. At the same time, she can hear Johnny and the doctor speaking about her. A detective enters the hospital room and Tully experiences brief flashes of the car accident. She continues her conversation with Kate, telling her how everyone “fell apart” (83) after her death, then explaining Johnny’s move to Los Angeles.

The scene shifts back to November 2006: Tully remains in her home, in bed, for two weeks, calling Marah every night to listen to her complain about her new life. Tully decides she will meet with her agent in Los Angeles to begin work again and plans to visit the Ryans in the process. When she meets with her agent, however, she is shocked to learn that her daytime show has been cancelled. He argues that it will be difficult for Tully to find work again, as numerous members of the industry were angered by the way she walked out on the show when Kate became sick. Tully begs her agent to find her a job, then leaves; instead of visiting the Ryans, however, she flies immediately back to Seattle.

As she arrives at her building, Tully feels a sudden pain and collapses just as she can ask the doorman for help. When she awakens, she is at a hospital and informed that she has had a panic attack. Tully is incredulous. A psychiatrist meets with her briefly; she prescribes Xanax for Tully’s anxiety and Ambien to help her sleep. Tully undergoes an MRI, but thanks to the Ambien, sleeps well for the first night in some time.

After she is released from the hospital, Tully sets about trying to obtain a new job in television. She takes a meeting about a possible news anchor position and spends an entire day telephoning contacts, but nothing comes of any of it. The Xanax, however, keeps Tully calm and she decides to have a drink at a nearby bar.

There, she runs into the doctor who treated her at the hospital. He flirts with her and the two exchange truncated versions of their life stories, but Tully has no interest in being pursued by the doctor.

The plot shifts to 2010 with Johnny still at Tully’s bedside. He calls Kate’s parents to inform them of Tully’s condition, then prepares to call Marah.