Tender is the Night Book One, Chapter Sixteen Summary

  • When Rosemary wakes up, she’s no longer excited, but embarrassed. She goes shopping with Nicole. She feels better when Nicole talks about a salesgirl’s nervousness – that most people think other people feel more strongly about them than the people really do.
  • She finds Nicole more beautiful than ever, and experiences jealousy for the first time.
  • Rosemary points out a place she lived in Paris, and Nicole says she lived there too, one winter with her sister Baby, and her mom, when she was twelve. Nicole’s mother was born in Germany but grew up in Chicago.
  • They meet Dick and the others for lunch and Rosemary can see from Dick’s face that he’s falling for her.
  • After lunch they meet up with Collis Clay, an old friend of Rosemary (who she didn’t want to see, but called anyway) for a screening of Daddy’s Girl.
  • Dick tells her, and means it, that he thinks she’s an awesome actress.
  • After the screening, Rosemary says she has it set up for Dick (and only Dick) to have a screen test.
  • She sees from his face that she made a false move, but can’t pinpoint it. Mary and Nicole (feeling left out) tease Dick that he should go for it.
  • Collis, Dick, and Rosemary catch a cab; the rest of the gang taking care of last minute business for Abe’s trip.
  • Rosemary explains that she wanted Dick to do a screen test so that maybe he could go to California with her and be her leading man. He likes that, but says he’d rather see her in movies than be with her in them.
  • They drop Collis off and then the cab takes them to a place where Dick has to buy art from someone. He says Rosemary won’t like the people there.