Miller finds Isaiah sulking in the dugout over Kennedy’s connection to Dean, and she comforts him. When Miller asks about Kai’s childcare plans after she leaves, Isaiah explains the staff will help for the remaining month of the season. He admits he’ll miss her, and Miller reveals she has 16 consulting jobs scheduled over four years, a schedule that now sounds unbearable and lonely. Isaiah grows serious, tells Miller that Kai sacrificed his youth for him and deserves the world and that Kai considers her his entire world. Miller assures Isaiah she’ll never forget Kai or Max, privately hoping Kai has maintained their agreement to remain emotionally detached, as she has failed by falling in love.

Brian Gould, Monty’s former Atlanta teammate, approaches and criticizes Monty for retiring mid-season to adopt Miller, which he claims cost them a World Series ring. He tells Miller it’s fortunate she has an impressive career after Monty abandoned his for her. Isaiah moves to defend her, but Miller stops him and says Brian is correct. She views the exchange as a necessary reminder to leave the next day.

Kai drives Miller and Max home from Family Day. At home, he surprises Miller with the birthday cake he made and gives her a framed photograph of the three of them and a birthday card with Max’s scribbles, signed with love from Max. Miller cries, overwhelmed by the gesture. They put Max to bed together, which they seldom do. Miller rocks Max while visibly agonized, knowing this is her final night with the toddler, and whispers that she loves him. Max lifts his head, looks directly at her, and clearly calls her mama for the first time. She realizes he’s been trying to say this for weeks, not her name. He repeats it proudly while settling back against her chest, and Miller begins sobbing.

After placing Max in his crib, Miller rushes from the room, devastated. She sobs that she hasn’t earned the title of mother. Kai counters that she has earned it through consistent love and care, not by achieving a goal. Her attention shifts to Kai’s baseball cap on the kitchen island. Inside the inner brim, next to Max’s picture, is a photograph of her. When she asks why, Kai confesses he’s deeply in love with her. Miller denies it, reminding him of their rules against attachment. Kai rejects her rules and declares he won’t apologize for his feelings. He admits loving her was “one of the two greatest surprises of [his] life” and that he would chase her across the country if not for his responsibilities to Max (352). He begs her not to tell him whether she loves him back or give him false hope.

Instead of speaking, Miller kisses him. They go to his bedroom, and Miller asks him not to use protection, wanting complete closeness for their final night together. Before they have sex, Kai asks permission to tell her he loves her one more time. Afterward, he tells her that if she ever decides to stop running and make a home, she should make it with him. She silently agrees. When Kai calls it a good day, Miller thinks to herself that, for her, it was the last one.

One week has passed since Miller left. Kai is pitching terribly and hasn’t spoken to her, instead asking Monty for updates. He sleeps with her pillow and has spent the week correcting Max when the toddler calls her mama, though he is beginning to give up. During a game, Kai gives up a grand slam and Monty pulls him from the field, urging him to call Miller. Kai refuses, not wanting to distract her from her success. At home, Max notices his father is sad, and Kai explains that sadness means loving someone so much you miss them. When Max points to Miller’s photo and calls her mama, Kai gives up correcting him.

That evening, Kai scrolls through Miller’s online interviews searching for any hint she might return. Realizing he forgot about Ryan and Indy’s wedding on Saturday, he texts them. When Indy mentions that Miller misses everyone, his longing becomes unbearable. He calls Miller’s phone, but her agent answers and tells him Miller is working late and is happy and thriving. Kai asks Violet not to mention he called and hangs up feeling defeated.

One week after arriving in Los Angeles, Miller is overwhelmed by her demanding schedule. She gives her phone to Violet after a prep shift at Luna’s restaurant and is disappointed when her agent says that Kai hasn’t called. During dinner service, an order for Bananas Foster triggers memories of Max, and she becomes overwhelmed with sadness, reaching for the birthday card from Kai and Max she keeps in her chef coat pocket. After her shift, she returns to her large rental house but chooses to sleep in her van because the house feels too empty without Kai and Max.

She checks the internet, finds coverage of Kai’s terrible game, and feels responsible. Luna’s owner, Chef Maven, then texts to cancel Miller’s only morning off for an additional meeting. Looking at messages from her Chicago friends, including a video of Max and Kai, Miller is overcome with loneliness. She calls her father but reaches his voicemail and leaves a tearful message admitting she misses him and Kai. She cries herself to sleep in her van.

Miller wakes the next morning, momentarily forgetting she is in Los Angeles, not Chicago. She accidentally shatters the glass on Kai’s framed photo and, while removing the picture, discovers a handwritten note on the back, telling her he hopes she’s finding joy because she helped him and Max find theirs. The message devastates her. She meets Chef Maven for coffee, and Maven observes that Miller described her love for traveling in the past tense and asks if she still enjoys it. Miller admits her career has lost its appeal. When Maven asks for Miller’s reason for cooking, she immediately responds that it’s to feed the people she loves. Maven advises her to quit if she’s lost her passion, saying it’s better to be mediocre at something you love than excellent at something you don’t.

Miller shows Maven the magazine layout and is struck by how unhappy she looks in the cover photo. She opens a pending email from the photographer and finds a single outtake, a photo of her holding Max, both beaming with joy. Maven notes Miller looks at Max the way she looks at her own daughter. After buying a replacement frame, Miller returns home to find Monty waiting on the front steps. He flew to Los Angeles after hearing her voicemail. He shares the story of her kindergarten Mother’s Day tea party, where she first called him “Dad,” and insists raising her was a privilege, never a sacrifice. Miller finally understands. Monty tells her to pursue her happiness. At her magazine interview later that day, Miller tells the journalist she plans to go see two boys.

Thirteen days after Miller left, Kai drives with Max and Isaiah to Ryan and Indy’s wedding. Isaiah reveals he’s been texting Miller daily with updates on Max and that she occasionally asks about Kai. He grows angry with Kai for refusing to ask for help, pointing out he could have asked Isaiah to watch Max during the off-season so Kai could visit Miller. Isaiah also reveals what Brian Gould said to Miller at Family Day, giving Kai renewed hope. At the reception, Kai slips away and finds an advance copy of the magazine with Miller on the cover. The article reveals Miller is leaving the high-end culinary world. In the interview, she says that her new dream is a life of balance and love, that the only kitchen she wants is Kai’s, and that she stopped running from commitment after meeting him and Max. The article includes accessible recipes dedicated to his family, including one for his late mother.

As Kai processes this, Miller appears in the doorway holding two champagne glasses and says she quit her job. She tells him she wants to open her own patisserie in Chicago, watch his games, raise Max, have more babies, and be happy. She confesses she loves him, and they kiss. Max sees Miller through the glass door and calls for her, and Miller runs outside and embraces him. Kai joins his family on the dance floor, surrounded by their friends.

The narrative moves forward to Max’s second birthday, which is six months after Miller’s return. She’s prepared an elaborate jungle-themed party, and her new bakery, M’s Patisserie, has been thriving for six weeks. Monty arrives with gifts and privately gives Kai the engagement ring he purchased for Miller’s mother decades ago, which he never had the chance to use. The backyard fills with friends and family, including Stevie and Zanders with their new baby daughter, and Indy and Ryan, who are expecting. Isaiah and his teammates arrive late from Las Vegas, where Isaiah and Kennedy drunkenly got married. Kai tells Isaiah to hide his wedding ring so it doesn’t overshadow his own proposal to Miller later.

After Max’s birthday cake, Kai has Max deliver a small bag to Miller. Inside is a ring box. Kai kneels and proposes to Miller, asking her to marry him. Miller tearfully accepts as their friends celebrate around them.

Nearly two years after Miller returned, Kai and Miller are preparing for family dinner when Max asks why they didn’t go to Spring Training. Kai explains that he retired from playing baseball to stay home, and Max’s resulting sadness solidifies Kai’s decision to accept Monty’s offer to join the Warriors’ coaching staff. Retrieving the mail, Kai finds an envelope from their law firm containing finalized adoption paperwork, making Miller legally Max’s mother. He shows the documents to Miller, who’s overwhelmed with emotion.

Miller then reveals she had a gift made in case he accepted the coaching position, a Warriors jersey for Max with the word “COACH” on the back. She produces a second, newborn-sized jersey with the same design and tells Kai she’s pregnant. Kai is overwhelmed with emotion, grateful to be included from the beginning of this pregnancy, unlike with Max. They place their hands together on her stomach, overjoyed about their expanding family and the future ahead of them.