An author’s wife is crying in the bathroom. Earlier, the author was telling her about how a reporter was going to expose his various inappropriate actions with women via a newspaper article—however, there are many things which have still gone unsaid. The author has expected such a confrontation to happen, as the newspaper article is imminent, and his publisher and editor have already severed ties with him. He can call a publicist with specialty in crisis management, but he decides not to, partly out of insecurity, partly out of hubris. The author simply goes to his fifteen-year-old daughter’s bedroom door. All her life, he has raised her to be proud of herself and to protect those who are vulnerable. Now he feels that he has to share his side of the story with her before she hears about it from the news.

The author thinks about his side of the story, which, to him, is complicated. Complicated also are his novels, which give every character a fair listen and have been described as “secretly conservative,” a critique which the author takes in complimentary fashion. While the author is proud of his masculinity, he has also tried to raise his daughter toward women authors and role models as well. Now, in the eleventh hour, he is unsure of what to tell his daughter, about how he has historically treated possibly hundreds of women throughout his career. Specifically, he thinks about the Incident, which happened during his book tour last year. At a book reading, the author approaches a young woman whom he reached before to provide MFA advice. He now asks her to get a drink with him, and she obliges, following him to a bar where she gets incredibly drunk. He takes her to his hotel room.

After thinking about the Incident, the author opens the door of his daughter’s room. He remembers an argument they had in the past about how he wouldn’t pay for her to get acne treatment. He tells her to put away her phone so that they can talk, and she does. When the author tells her that something serious will happen, he deflects at the very last moment and tells her about his book and movie instead. He then leaves his daughter’s bedroom, and before long, the newspaper article about the author goes live.