In Chapters 48-53, Martin focuses on his growing romance with Joanna, as their relationship progresses and their love accelerates. Martin tells Joanna that he is in love with her in Chapter 48, for instance, as he becomes increasingly convinced that he will someday marry her. As he writes, “over the years, I’d often heard people say that you know when you meet the right person, and now I understand what they meant. The feeling is unlike anything I’ve ever known” (204). In the next chapters, “Sugar and Salt” and “Falling,” Martin details the intricacies of their love, recognizing that their relationship will also invite its own set of adversity. The more serious their relationship became, the more Martin had the feeling that “some suspect our feelings are a fiction we are writing together without the inconvenience of mundane reality to ruin our plot” (206). Joanna’s friends’ reaction to their relationship doesn’t meet Joanna’s expectations, which is hurtful and frustrating to her. At this point, however, Martin and Joanna have still not met in person, which only makes their desire for each other grow stronger.

In Chapter 51, “Climbing,” Martin recounts an anecdote about a family holiday to Namibia, where Martin and his brother David climb together to the top of a sand dune, an accomplishment that is now so much sweeter to Martin because he has someone to tell the experience to later.