Blake paces her bedroom, calming herself after the confrontation. Despite her anger, she feels satisfied as Wyatt’s jealousy proves he cares more than he admits. She wonders why he clings to his self-described “man-whore” persona.

Outside, she finds Wyatt smoking on a lounge chair. He immediately apologizes, admitting he was possessive and irrational. They recall watching the sunrise together, and he confesses he was jealous and didn’t want Dave touching her. He apologizes for his behavior but not for being glad the hookup didn’t happen. Their conversation shifts to Blake’s ex, Isaac. Wyatt says Isaac is manipulative and that Blake doesn’t need validation from random hookups. He tells her he truly sees and understands her, but admits their situation is messy and that he’s afraid of hurting her.

Blake initiates a kiss that escalates until she is straddling him. Wyatt says Dave should have “worshipped her” instead. Blake explains she wanted to feel desired and make a man beg for her. When Wyatt asks if she wants him to beg, she says yes. She performs oral sex on him, and he pleads for her to continue, which thrills her. He climaxes.

The next morning, Blake wakes in Wyatt’s bed. He reveals he slept through the night for the first time in ages. They kiss, and Wyatt brings Blake to orgasm with his fingers. Afterward, Wyatt claims that Blake is his muse—the reason his songwriting has flourished—and cites Cole’s rule that he can’t sleep with his muse. They set rules for their summer relationship: It must end when summer ends, their friendship comes first, and either can end it at any time without explanation.

Blake receives an email from the County Records Department containing Darlie Gallagher’s death certificate, though no medical examiner’s report exists and no records were found for the two other people she inquired about.

At lunch with Annaliese, Blake reveals she and Wyatt still haven’t had penetrative sex. Annaliese is baffled, but Blake explains Wyatt is stalling, afraid of breaking her heart. Annaliese confirms a rumor about an ex-neighbor, Rosie Tipper: After Wyatt broke her heart, Rosie’s family sold their Tahoe house. Blake admits her feelings for Wyatt feel “like magic” and that he’s always on her mind. She receives a text from Little Spencer about a ghost sighting at the lighthouse and tells Annaliese she plans to search local cemeteries for Darlie’s tombstone.

At the lake house, Blake finds Wyatt on the swim platform and asks him to attend the Fourth of July fireworks with her. Turned on, he asks her to lift her skirt and show herself to him, which she does until a passing boat interrupts.

That evening at Commons Beach, they meet Annaliese, her brother Eddie, and Eddie’s girlfriend Shaye. The group add smuggled vodka to their sodas. As the fireworks begin, Wyatt and Blake snuggle under a blanket. He whispers that he’s horny and slips his hand into her underwear, fingering her while whispering dirty talk. Blake moans aloud and has to cover it with a cough. When she teases him by grinding against his erection, he warns her to behave. She does it again, so he removes his hand. Blake lets out a loud, frustrated cry, drawing everyone’s attention. She covers by claiming she’s disappointed in the fireworks. She pleads with Wyatt, but he refuses and tells her to watch the display.

On a rainy afternoon nearly two weeks later, Wyatt plays a song on an electric piano while Blake relaxes on the couch. He’s distracted by his constant desire for her and admits to himself that he’s resisting full sex because it will complicate things and make him addicted to her. Blake begins singing along, stunning Wyatt with her beautiful voice. He coaxes her into a duet, and their voices harmonize perfectly, a moment he considers magical. Overwhelmed by his growing feelings, he joins her on the couch and naps with his head on her chest.

Wyatt has discovered that Blake is the cure for his insomnia: He sleeps soundly every night she’s in his bed, though he has kept the full extent of this a secret from her.

Later, while making dinner, Wyatt receives a call from Tobey Dodson, who says he loves Wyatt’s song “Silver” and wants to hear his new material. Tobey proposes they connect in September and asks Wyatt to send his new songs for feedback. After the call, Wyatt is stunned but apprehensive, worrying Tobey will hate the new material. Blake reassures him of his talent and jokes that he’s too attractive to be insecure. Wyatt admits he fears he can never measure up to his successful family. Blake relates and reminds him of his own advice not to compare himself to others. They make a pact to keep each other from falling into the comparison trap.

The next day, Blake suggests they visit the lighthouse on the island at the center of the Darlie story. They take a boat and hike up a steep trail. An unexpected thunderstorm soaks them, and they make a final push to the lighthouse for shelter. Inside, they discover they have no cell service. As they wait out the storm, Blake theorizes that Darlie killed her sister and Raymond at the lighthouse for betraying her, before drowning herself. She comments on the romantic setting, and Wyatt improvises lyrics for a new song. Blake teases that the lyrics mean he’s falling in love with her but Wyatt denies it. Wyatt struggles with his growing feelings, privately acknowledging how easily he could fall for her but believing he’s bad at love and will only break her heart. Blake asks why he won’t have sex with her. He says if they cross that line, there’s no turning back. Blake reminds him their fling ends with summer and says it would be a shame never to feel him inside her.

Aroused, she tells him to take his pants off. She pulls a condom from her emergency kit and undresses. They have sex on the floor of the lighthouse, with Blake on top. He asks her to keep her eyes open and watch him. She begs him to stop holding back, and he responds by thrusting until they both climax. Afterwards, the storm subsides and sunlight streams into the lighthouse. Wyatt thinks Blake is the only otherworldly thing about this place.

In the week since the lighthouse encounter, Blake and Wyatt’s relationship has become intensely sexual: They have sex multiple times daily all over the house. The Spencers have discovered the relationship and attribute it to Darlie’s ghostly matchmaking.

Blake lies naked in Wyatt’s bed as he plays guitar and sings his new song. She realizes “Lightkeeper” is about their experience in the lighthouse. Wyatt is bashful but confirms it, calling her his “only lighthouse girl” (298). Warmth surges through Blake, but she fights the hope that he’s falling in love with her. She theorizes that Wyatt runs from relationships because he craves the pain and heartache of tragic love to fuel his music. She worries her heart will be shattered when he finds a new muse and leaves. At his instruction, Blake touches herself while he plays guitar; he then crawls over and brings her to orgasm with his fingers before they have sex again.

Later, Wyatt sleeps with his head in her lap. Blake watches him, filled a desire for their time together to never end.

On Blake’s 21st birthday morning, she comes downstairs to find Wyatt has made her special pancakes decorated with chocolate-sauce freckles, an affectionate joke about the freckles that she hates but Wyatt loves. She’s deeply touched and fights back tears.

She receives new documents from the records department about the Darlie Gallagher case, revealing that Raymond Loughlin married Darlie’s sister, Dolly, and they eventually moved away. Blake excitedly tells Wyatt and the Spencers, who arrive by boat. Little Spencer again invites Blake to cohost his podcast, and she agrees to a single guest appearance about Darlie.

Blake announces she’s going to a bar to celebrate turning 21. Wyatt is initially protective, wanting her to celebrate at the house, but relents. They go to a karaoke bar with the Spencers and Annaliese. Annaliese’s brother Eddie also arrives and buys shots. The Spencers perform a song, and Wyatt reveals his mother wrote it. He realizes he needs to be kinder to her about her efforts to help his career. Blake calls it “growth.” The group does multiple rounds of shots. Both Wyatt and Blake get extremely drunk, making out in the Uber home before stumbling into the house. They have intense, drunken sex in one of the guest rooms.

Wyatt wakes severely hungover in the guest room. Blake tells him they had sex without a condom. Blake isn’t on birth control, but her cycle-tracking app suggests she’s likely not in her fertile window. They agree to go into town for emergency contraception just in case. In the car, Wyatt apologizes, but Blake insists they were both responsible for the mistake.

They discuss the imminent arrival of their families and agree to continue their relationship in secret. Blake asks if Wyatt ever hooked up with Alex Tucker. He admits to making out with her a few times, but it was always awkward with no chemistry, and mentions Alex is hung up on Owen McKay, his brother-in-law Ryder’s brother.

At the pharmacy, they find the emergency contraception shelf empty. The pharmacist explains there’s a local shortage due to supply chain issues and panic-buying, but a shipment will arrive Monday, still within the 72-hour window. The pharmacist takes Blake’s number and promises to hold a box. They leave empty-handed. Wyatt reassures a worried Blake that everything will be fine.

The annual summer family gathering begins. The Tuckers—John, Sabrina, Alex, and Jamie—arrive first. Sabrina greets Blake and Wyatt and seems to sense something between them. Blake’s parents, Grace and John Logan, and Wyatt’s parents, Hannah and Garrett Graham, arrive next. The Di Laurentises, including Beau and his sister Ivy, arrive after dinner.

The men gather on the dock with beers, including Wyatt. Blake watches him from the upper deck while talking with Jamie, Alex, and Ivy. Ivy mentions she’s disappointed that her cousin, Hudson Fitzgerald, isn’t there this summer. Wyatt sends Blake a sexually explicit text message, which she reads in secret. She sees him wink at her from the dock and realizes it’s going to be a long month trying to hide their relationship.

The family badminton tournament is intensely competitive. That evening, the younger generation—including Wyatt’s twin sister, Gigi; Stella Davenport and her brother, Gray; and their friend AJ Connelly—gathers around a firepit. Blake, Alex, Gigi, and Stella watch as AJ’s girlfriend, Tara, openly flirts with Beau.

Stella and Ivy recount a story from a Miami trip where they believe Tara cheated on AJ with an ex, returning with a bite mark she claimed came from an exuberant dog. Blake warns Beau that Tara’s interest in him is obvious, but he dismisses her concerns.

Later, everyone is dancing. Blake dances with Gray and Beau. While dancing with Blake, a drunk Beau gets an erection and whispers that he wants to have sex with her. Blake is shocked and uncomfortable. Alex saves her by calling her over to dance with the girls. Blake checks her phone and sees a message from Wyatt asking her to meet him behind the boathouse. She sneaks away, and Wyatt brings her to orgasm before sending her back to the party, promising a video of himself if she’s “good.”

A secret group chat among some of the men reveals that Tara propositioned Gray’s father, Hunter Davenport, in the middle of the night, offering to be a “sugar baby.” When Beau’s father, Dean Di Laurentis, suggests that Beau and Gray tell AJ, they leave the chat.

Over the next four days, Blake and Wyatt continue their secret affair with several close calls, causing them to make excuses to others. One night, Wyatt begs Blake to sleep in his room because his insomnia has returned since the families arrived. She agrees and sneaks back to her room at dawn but refuses to risk it again the following night. Beau apologizes for his drunken pass, and their friendship seems back to normal, though Wyatt is skeptical of his intentions

Blake spends an afternoon on the beach with her mother, Grace, discussing her Darlie research and the podcast offer. Grace suggests Blake may have found her career path in research and podcasting.

At a chaotic family lunch, Blake mentions recording the Darlie podcast episode next week. When Blake’s father offers everyone an LMD, Wyatt chokes on his water, as this is a private sex joke between him and Blake. Some of the young people tease Wyatt for not drinking and Gigi notes he’s stopped smoking. Wyatt claims he’s trying to quit because women don’t like it, and Blake realizes with a thrill that he’s doing it for her.

Later, Wyatt texts Blake asking her to take a nap with him. Blake immediately abandons her plans with the other girls and goes to his room.