The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: Part 4, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

New York City. September 5, 2013. Henry returns to his apartment after drinking with Bea and Robbie. He takes a beer from the fridge and starts to box up Tabitha’s belongings. He finishes the first beer and starts a second. Then he heads to the Merchant, which is busy as usual. Mark, a man in his 50s, is tending bar. Normally, it takes forever for Mark to get to Henry, but tonight, Mark walks right over. Then he pours Henry a shot of tequila on the house. Henry initially assumes that Mark has noticed how awful Henry looks and is pitying him, but Mark’s eyes have a “strange and subtle light” to them. Henry is totally confused. He remembers how Vanessa acted that morning at the coffee shop. Then he looks down at the watch on his wrist. He realizes then that the watch—and the deal he made—are real.

A man interrupts Henry’s musings to offer Henry a white powder. Henry was 12 the first time he got high on marijuana, and in the years since, he’s tried various pills—anything to dull the pain of existing. Henry used to want to be happy, but with Tabitha gone now, all he wants is to feel good. So, Henry accepts the man’s white powder. The man calls Henry “perfect,” and then Henry feels dizzy and runs to sit against a wall to steady himself.

A girl named Lucia and a boy named Benji approach Henry. Henry notices that both have an intense longing in their eyes. Nobody has looked at Henry this way before—not on a first date, and not even during sex. Lucia and Benji laugh, and Henry realizes they are trying to ask him to participate in a threesome. He goes home with them.