“Thank you very, very much for forgiving me, but I don't forgive you.”
Why it's great
She borrows the polite thank-you form and turns it into a refusal.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
Thank you for covering for me, but I don't forgive the lie.
00:00 / 03:45
00:00 / 03:45
CC and Hillary Make Up, Explained
Beaches · 1988
Chapter 19 of 30 · 3'45"
Hillary tracks CC down to apologize for returning her letters, but CC refuses to accept it: "Thank you very, very much for forgiving me, but I don't forgive you." Only when Hillary admits she was jealous — "I couldn't see straight" — do the two finally reach each other.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:02–1:25
❝ Monologue · 7 lines CC Won't Forgive Hillary
83s - 1:30–2:27
❝ Monologue · 5 lines Hillary Confesses Her Jealousy
57s
CC and Hillary Make Up, explained
What happens
After years of silence, Hillary finds CC at a bar and apologizes for sending her letters back. CC is cold — 'Go home,' she says — and lists her own wounds: a career 'in the toilet' and unanswered letters. The standoff breaks when Hillary confesses she was jealous of CC's talent and success, and CC admits the fault was hers too.
What's really going on
The reunion is really two apologies that can't meet in the middle. Hillary opens by owning her mistake — she feels 'awful for sending your letters back' — and even offers blanket forgiveness, but CC hears it as one more thing taken for granted, and answers, 'Thank you very, very much for forgiving me, but I don't forgive you.' What finally cracks the standoff is not an apology but an admission of envy: 'I was so jealous of you I couldn't see straight!' Hillary's confession flips the power in the room, because it tells CC the letters mattered and that she was, in fact, seen. Once that is said, CC can answer, 'It was all my fault,' and the fight becomes the friendship again. The closing joke about Arthur, revealed to be a dog, keeps the scene from turning saccharine.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Thank you very, very much for forgiving me, but I don't forgive you.”
- CC throws Hillary's easy forgiveness back at her: being pardoned for something she never explained is no pardon at all.
- “I was so jealous of you I couldn't see straight!”
- Hillary's confession that envy, not indifference, caused the silence between them.
- “No, but I always thought I hated him, when really I loved him.”
- CC on her dog Arthur: she mistook love for irritation and never said the affectionate thing in time.
- “Did you know my career was in the toilet?”
- CC's proof of how little Hillary knew: she was failing while the letters went unanswered.
Theme
- Friendship — A wounded friendship is repaired only when jealousy is named out loud, not when apologies are offered.
- Trust — CC felt a friendship was withdrawn without discussion, and trust has to be rebuilt from admission.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level1/6
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“I was so jealous of you I couldn't see straight!”
Why it's great
Couldn't see straight turns envy into something physical and out of control.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
I was so tired I couldn't see straight by Friday.
“No, but I always thought I hated him, when really I loved him.”
Why it's great
The when really twist turns years of mistaken hate into late affection.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
I thought I hated that town, when really I missed it.
“Did you know my career was in the toilet?”
Why it's great
A blunt bathroom metaphor for career collapse says it harder than any polite word could.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
You had no idea my career was in the toilet last year.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ CC's list of grievances
I don't know how to fight back. I'm not strong like you. You took away your friendship without discussing it with me. That friendship was more important to me than anything. I trusted it. I believed in it. But you didn't. And now it's gone. Thank you very, very much for forgiving me, but I don't forgive you.
It climbs from weakness to accusation and ends by handing the forgiveness back.
❝ Hillary's confession
I was jealous. I was so jealous of you I couldn't see straight! You did everything you said you were going to do! Everything! And your talent! This incredible talent! I can't even yodel!
The confession is painfully honest, and the yodel line breaks the tension.
Up next · 20get this straightThe scene: Hillary Tells CC She's PregnantTakeaways
What you walk away with- In the toilet means sunk to a low
- The thank-you is irony, not politeness
- Drive me nuts means make me crazy
- Got to do with it asks what it matters
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy did CC refuse Hillary's forgiveness?
Hillary apologizes for returning the letters and says she forgives CC for whatever was said. CC rejects it, because Hillary never let her explain and treated the friendship as something she could withdraw.
Why did Hillary stop writing?
Not out of indifference but envy. She admits she was 'so jealous' of CC's talent and success that she couldn't see straight, which is why she returned the letters.
What does 'in the toilet' mean?
It means something is at rock bottom or in terrible shape. CC asks whether Hillary knew her career 'was in the toilet,' meaning she was failing at the time.
Who is Arthur?
Arthur turns out to be CC's Great Dane, not a person. He was hit by a laundry truck, and CC grieves that she always thought she hated him when she really loved him.
How do CC and Hillary reconcile?
Once Hillary admits her jealousy, the standoff breaks. CC says the fault was hers too and acknowledges that John was clearly in love with Hillary, which Hillary had never seen.