Family Meeting Fallout

Penny and Tate, whose mothers are best friends, are forced to live together when Anna, Tate's mom, needs a liver transplant and Penny's mom, Lottie, is the donor. The girls, who have a history of clashing and unresolved tension, must navigate the upheaval of their lives as their mothers' medical emergencies and financial struggles force their families into a single, chaotic household. The family meeting that kicks off the story is fraught with anxiety, secrets, and the looming specter of loss, setting the stage for the emotional and logistical challenges to come.

River of Grief

Penny is haunted by the death of her father in a rafting accident, a trauma that has left her with physical scars and a fractured relationship with her mother. The River once a place of joy and connection, becomes a symbol of loss and forbidden territory. Lottie's grief manifests in avoidance and denial, while Penny's manifests in anxiety and a desperate need for control. The accident's aftermath ripples through every aspect of their lives, dictating rules, relationships, and the very structure of their blended family.

Unspoken Truces

As Penny and Tate adjust to living together, they create a "Truce Agreement" to avoid conflict and protect their mothers from additional stress. The agreement is both a literal list and a metaphor for the boundaries and compromises they must navigate. Their bickering masks deeper feelings, and the truce becomes a fragile peace that allows them to function as a team, even as old wounds and new secrets threaten to break through.

The Hay Shed Almost

Flashbacks reveal the first time Penny and Tate almost kiss, years earlier in a hay shed after a party. The moment is charged with vulnerability and longing, but is interrupted before it can become something more. This near-miss sets a pattern for their relationship: moments of intimacy and honesty that are always just out of reach, derailed by fear, timing, or circumstance.

The Accident's Aftermath

The narrative delves into the immediate aftermath of Penny's father's death. Penny is physically and emotionally shattered, her mother is absent, and her grandmother becomes her anchor. Tate is the one who finds Penny after the accident, cementing her role as both witness and lifeline. The funeral and its fallout expose the deep fractures in Penny's family and her sense of self-blame and abandonment.

Living Together, Apart

With Anna and Lottie recovering from surgery, Penny and Tate are left to manage the household. Their mothers' friendship is a double-edged sword, providing support but also forcing the girls into close quarters. The house is a patchwork of grief, resentment, and tentative hope. Penny and Tate's dynamic oscillates between cooperation and conflict, with moments of genuine connection undermined by old hurts and new misunderstandings.

Secrets and Survival

Both girls harbor secrets: Penny is secretly kayaking at night, reclaiming a piece of her lost self, while Tate hides the extent of her family's financial struggles. Their coping mechanisms—Penny's bullet journals and color-coded plans, Tate's stoic endurance—are both shields and prisons. The revelation of these secrets to each other becomes a turning point, deepening their bond and forcing them to confront their vulnerabilities.

The Lake at Night

A midnight kayaking trip leads to a near-disaster when Tate, fearing for Penny's safety, jumps into the lake to save her. The incident brings their fears and feelings to the surface, resulting in a raw, emotionally charged confrontation. The lake becomes a crucible for their relationship, exposing the depth of their care for each other and the ways in which they are both haunted by the past.

Fundraiser and Friendship

As the girls organize a fundraiser to help with medical bills, their friends Meghan and Remi step up, revealing the strength of their chosen family. The event is a rare moment of joy and solidarity, but also highlights the ways in which Penny and Tate are still holding back from each other. The fundraiser serves as a backdrop for shifting alliances, new beginnings, and the slow, painful process of healing.

Shattered Glass, Shattered Trust

Penny discovers that her mother has created a series of stained glass pieces depicting the accident, turning her trauma into art without her consent. The discovery leads to a shattering confrontation, forcing both mother and daughter to confront the ways in which they have hurt and failed each other. The destruction of the art becomes a symbolic act of breaking the cycle of avoidance and denial.

Therapy and Truth

With Tate's support, Penny returns to therapy, beginning the hard work of healing and reclaiming her agency. The process is messy and nonlinear, but marks a crucial step in breaking free from the patterns of silence and self-sacrifice that have defined her relationship with her mother. Therapy becomes a space for truth-telling, boundary-setting, and the possibility of a different future.

The Diner Parking Lot

A confrontation in the diner parking lot brings simmering tensions to a head. Laurel, Penny's ex, reveals that the mothers believe Penny and Tate are dating, a misunderstanding that forces the girls to confront the reality of their feelings. The fallout is painful and messy, but also clears the way for honesty and, eventually, reconciliation.

The Yreka Incident

Flashbacks to a pivotal night in Yreka reveal the depth of Penny and Tate's connection—and their mutual fear of it. In a motel room, they come achingly close to confessing their feelings, but are held back by heartbreak, timing, and self-doubt. The incident becomes a touchstone for everything that follows: the longing, the missed opportunities, and the hope for something more.

Breaking the Cycle

As the summer draws to a close, both girls are forced to confront the cycles of trauma, avoidance, and self-denial that have shaped their lives. With the support of their friends and each other, they begin to imagine a future that is not defined by loss or fear. The process is ongoing, but the decision to break the cycle is a victory in itself.

The Bear in the Road

On a mission to deliver a giant bear statue won at the fundraiser, Penny and Tate's truck breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Stranded together, they are forced to confront their feelings and the reality of their relationship. The absurdity of the situation—culminating in the bear statue crashing down the hill—provides both comic relief and a moment of clarity.

Finally, the Kiss

In the aftermath of the bear debacle, Penny and Tate finally confess their feelings and share the kiss that has been years in the making. The moment is both a culmination and a beginning, marking the end of their pattern of almosts and the start of something real. Their love is messy, hard-won, and deeply rooted in shared pain and resilience.

New Beginnings, New Rules

With their mothers recovering, the household stabilizing, and their own relationship finally out in the open, Penny and Tate begin to build a new life together. They amend their Truce Agreement to reflect their new reality: mutual support, honesty, and love. The story ends not with a tidy resolution, but with the promise of continued growth, healing, and the hard, beautiful work of loving and being loved.

Characters

Penny Conner

Penny is defined by the trauma of her father's death and her mother's subsequent emotional withdrawal. She is anxious, hyper-organized, and fiercely independent, using bullet journals and color-coded plans to impose order on a chaotic world. Her relationship with her mother is fraught with resentment and longing, while her connection to Tate is a source of both comfort and pain. Penny's journey is one of reclaiming agency, seeking help, and learning to trust both herself and others with her vulnerability.

Gillian "Tate" Tate

Tate is the rock of her family, bearing the weight of her mother's chronic illness and financial instability with quiet determination. She is athletic, reserved, and deeply loyal, often putting others' needs before her own. Her feelings for Penny are longstanding and complicated, marked by a pattern of almosts and missed opportunities. Tate's development centers on learning to express her needs, set boundaries, and allow herself to hope for more than mere survival.

Lottie Conner

Lottie is Penny's mother and Anna's best friend. Her grief over her husband's death manifests in avoidance, denial, and a tendency to make unilateral decisions that hurt those around her. She is creative and impulsive, using art as both a coping mechanism and a means of avoidance. Lottie's relationship with Penny is strained, marked by mutual hurt and a desperate need for reconciliation that neither knows how to achieve.

Anna Tate

Anna is Tate's mother and Lottie's ride-or-die best friend. Despite her own health struggles, she is a source of warmth, humor, and practical support for both families. Anna's relationship with Tate is close and nurturing, providing a stark contrast to Penny's experience with Lottie. Her willingness to accept help and her openness to change serve as a model for the other characters.

Marion "Gran" Conner

Gran is Penny's grandmother and the emotional backbone of the family. She is pragmatic, resourceful, and unafraid to call out bullshit. Gran steps in when Lottie falters, providing Penny with the stability and care she desperately needs. Her presence is a reminder of the importance of chosen family and the power of unconditional support.

Meghan

Meghan is Penny's best friend and confidante. She is supportive, creative, and unafraid to push Penny toward honesty and self-acceptance. Meghan's role in the story is to provide both practical help (organizing fundraisers, covering for Penny's secrets) and emotional grounding. Her relationship with Remi hints at the possibility of new beginnings and the importance of community.

Remi

Remi is Tate's best friend and a grounding presence in both girls' lives. He is reliable, perceptive, and often serves as a sounding board for Tate's worries. Remi's developing relationship with Meghan mirrors the central romance, offering a quieter, but no less meaningful, example of connection and support.

Laurel

Laurel is Penny's ex and a source of both pain and clarity. Her betrayal and subsequent confrontations force Penny to confront the reality of her feelings for Tate and the ways in which she has been running from herself. Laurel's presence in the story is a reminder of the dangers of avoidance and the necessity of honesty.

George Conner (deceased)

Though dead before the story begins, George's presence looms large. He represents safety, adventure, and unconditional love for Penny, and his absence is the wound around which much of the narrative revolves. The memory of George is both a source of comfort and a barrier to healing, as Penny and Lottie struggle to move forward without him.

The River

The river is both setting and symbol, representing the site of trauma, the possibility of healing, and the uncontrollable currents of life. It is a character in its own right, shaping the destinies of everyone in its orbit.

Plot Devices

Nonlinear Narrative and Flashbacks

The story unfolds through a mix of present-day events and flashbacks, gradually revealing the history between Penny and Tate. This structure allows the reader to understand the depth of their connection, the roots of their trauma, and the significance of their "almosts." The nonlinear approach mirrors the characters' own process of piecing together their pasts in order to move forward.

The "Almost Kiss" Motif

The titular "six times we almost kissed" serves as both a structural and emotional device, marking key moments of vulnerability, desire, and fear. Each almost-kiss is a microcosm of the larger story: the push and pull of intimacy, the barriers erected by trauma, and the hope for something more. The eventual "one time we did" is both a payoff and a new beginning.

The Truce Agreement

The girls' written truce is a recurring device, evolving from a list of rules for cohabitation to a declaration of love and mutual support. Its amendments track the progression of their relationship, serving as both a source of humor and a record of hard-won trust.

Symbolic Objects and Settings

The river, the hay shed, the lake, the bear statue, and the stained glass pieces all serve as externalizations of the characters' emotional journeys. The destruction of the stained glass, the delivery of the bear, and the final kiss in the woods are all moments where the physical and emotional intersect, providing catharsis and clarity.

Community as Counterpoint

The roles of Meghan, Remi, and the broader community—especially during the fundraiser—underscore the importance of chosen family, mutual aid, and the ways in which healing is both an individual and collective process.

Analysis

Tess Sharpe's 6 Times We Almost Kissed (and One Time We Did) is a masterful exploration of trauma, healing, and queer love set against the backdrop of rural hardship and family crisis. At its core, the novel is about the ways in which grief, loss, and unspoken pain can shape—and misshape—our relationships with ourselves and others. Through the intertwined journeys of Penny and Tate, Sharpe examines the necessity of vulnerability, the courage required to break cycles of avoidance, and the messy, nonlinear nature of healing. The book's structure—built around near-misses, flashbacks, and evolving truces—mirrors the characters' own halting progress toward honesty and connection. Sharpe's portrayal of queer love is refreshingly complex: it is not a simple escape from pain, but a hard-won, deeply rooted bond forged in the crucible of shared suffering and mutual care. The novel's ultimate message is one of hope—not the facile hope of happy endings, but the hard, daily work of choosing each other, of building new rules, and of loving bravely in the face of uncertainty. In a world where so many young people are navigating trauma, loss, and the search for belonging, Sharpe's story offers both solace and a roadmap for survival.

Last updated: April 30, 2025