Laura Dave's sequel to 'The Last Thing He Told Me' reveals all

Those who read “The Last Thing He Told Me” and wondered what happens next for the characters will get their wish.

Writer Laura Dave has penned its sequel called “The First Time I Saw Him,” out now. A second season of the TV adaptation starring Jennifer Garner and Angourie Rice debuts on Apple TV next month.

“After the book came out, I started getting so many questions, people saying, ‘Well, what happens next?’ I had really imagined it as a standalone book, but I was surprised that I had an answer to what happened.”

“The Last Thing He Told Me” follows Hannah Hall, who has recently married Owen, a widowed man with a teen daughter named Bailey who is less than thrilled by this addition to her family. One day Owen disappears and leaves a note instructing Hannah to protect Bailey. The two are left to figure out what happened.

The book spent 65 weeks as a New York Times Best Seller. It was chosen by Reese Witherspoon for her Reese's Book Club. Dave co-created the TV series with her husband, Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer. She wasn't a writer of Season 2 because she was busy writing the novel.

“The First Time I Saw Him” picks up after the events of “The Last Thing He Told Me” but also fleshes out details from the past.

“If the first (book) is asking the question, what are we willing to do for the people we love? I think the second book is asking, what are we willing to do to be forgiven? And what are willing to for a second chance? And so, to me, that was the journey back to Hannah and Owen's love story.”

In an interview with the AP, Dave talks about her writing, being married to a fellow writer and how “The Last Thing He Told Me” helped to name a baby boy. Responses have been shortened for clarity and brevity.

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DAVE: It really wasn't. As much as these last couple books have been suspense books, there’s been a huge love story at the center of both of them. My editor describes them as suspense novels rooted in hope which is sort of the opposite of what a suspense novel normally is. Normally, you find out that the person sleeping next to you is not who you thought they were. It’s sort of rooted in revenge or vengeance or retaliation. I’m really interested in finding the good even underneath very dangerous behavior.

DAVE: I was on a plane when we were shooting the first season of the show. We all had “The Last Thing He Told Me” crew hats. I was walking down the aisle on the plane, and there was this young mom holding a beautiful baby boy, and she stopped me and said, “Is this like the book ‘The Last Thing He Told Me?’ And I said yes. I didn’t say I was the author. She said, “Oh, this is Owen. I named him after Owen. I love the name Owen that I saw in the book, do you remember Owen?” I broke down.

DAVE: My husband and I are writing the screenplay for “The Night We Lost Him” for Netflix. I know what my next two books will be. One, I've already started.

DAVE: We’re so different in our process. He’ll show me things immediately while he’s writing them. He will show me new scenes because especially with screenwriting, and certainly with TV writing, there’s so much collaboration. So, you do it that way. I’m more like, I have to sort of be in my hole and get to the end and then get feedback. He’s my best reader and my first reader. I love talking about story with him and character. I’m a really big fan of his writing. I don’t know that I could be married to a writer if I didn’t feel like they’re the best writer around, and that’s how I feel about him.

Author Laura Dave poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Author Laura Dave poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Author Laura Dave poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Author Laura Dave poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Author Laura Dave poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)