Russell Miller Character Analysis

A twenty-eight-year-old Marine whom Aubrey and Nadia meet on the beach several days before Aubrey and Luke’s wedding. Aubrey and Russell make a quick connection. At the end of the night, she tells him she’s not “afraid” of him and pulls him into a kiss. They then go into the beach’s public restroom, where Aubrey straddles Russell on the dirty floor. When Russell tells her he doesn’t have a condom, though, she quickly stands up and leaves. Later, she corresponds with him over email, since Nadia slipped Aubrey’s address to him before they parted ways. While Russell is stationed in Iraq, he emails Aubrey about his life and asks her about important things that Luke never wants to talk about, like her disappointment regarding the fact that she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet. Shortly thereafter, Russell appears at Upper Room and asks Aubrey to go to lunch with him. Aubrey hesitantly accepts, and while they’re at lunch she finds herself articulating for the first time that Luke and Nadia are having an affair. In this way, Russell helps Aubrey clarify her emotions and suspicions. Although their relationship never becomes fully physical, their deep emotional connection allows Bennett to explore the different forms of infidelity. While Luke and Nadia sleep together, Aubrey and Russell share a nonphysical intimacy that Bennett intimates is perhaps not as innocent as it seems.