This section covers the winter, spring, and summer of Sally’s senior year of high school, five years after her sister’s death. The Holt family remains mired in grief. Sally’s mother has become depressed, drinks frequently, and makes regular visits to a psychic, while her father, who lost his job in the post-9/11 recession, is emotionally distant and plans to start his own business. Sally is dating Peter and preparing to attend Villanova University, where Billy has just finished his degree. 

As the Holt family watches the State of the Union address, the television suddenly turns off, though the other lights in the house remain on. After Richard goes to the basement to check the fuse box, Susan asks Sally if she thinks Kathy caused the power outage. Soon after, a cardinal repeatedly flies into the living room window. Startled, Susan spills her drink and declares the bird is Kathy trying to get inside.

Susan sees a psychic named Jan, a wealthy lawyer in the seaside town of Watch Hill who claims to see the dead and does not charge for her services. While driving to the mall to shop for Sally’s prom dress, Susan relays messages from Jan: She’s seen Kathy golfing, which will improve Richard’s game, and Jan is worried that Sally is not eating enough. Meanwhile, Sally has recurring nightmares in which she sees Kathy’s dead body in her casket. She also reflects that she hasn’t seen Billy since he left for college. At the mall, Sally and Susan struggle to find a prom dress that fits Sally’s newly developed figure, and Susan suggests they have one specially ordered.

A flashback describes the first time Sally’s boyfriend, Peter, a fellow high-achieving senior, came to the Holt house for dinner. Richard struggles with Peter’s vegetarianism and grills him a burger anyway. Peter tells the story about how he and Sally have technically been “dating” since the fifth grade, which confuses Sally’s parents. In the present timeline, Peter and Sally often watch movies after dinner and become physically intimate on the family’s white couch. Their intimacy is repeatedly interrupted by Richard criticizing a movie or by Susan’s footsteps upstairs. Peter keeps his graduation speech nearby to pretend they are working on it if they are caught.

On what would have been Kathy’s 21st birthday, Sally and Susan encounter Billy’s mother, Mrs. Barnes, at the grocery store. Mrs. Barnes reveals that Billy has just graduated from Villanova and that they are planning a party for him. In the parking lot, a grocery bag breaks, and an old man who helps Susan pick up the items tells her she has “two daughters,” which Susan interprets as a sign from Kathy. Later, the family takes a cake to Kathy’s grave, where Richard says a prayer and Susan cries. That night, Sally asks Peter to have sex for the first time, but they are interrupted when Susan runs downstairs screaming, “Kathy was here!” (202). Susan describes having a vision of Kathy appearing as an angel with white dreadlocks. After making tea for Susan, Peter takes Sally outside and insists that her mother needs professional help and that the psychic, Jan, should be arrested. He promises to call Sally the next day, but does not.

In response, Sally fakes being sick and stays home from school for four days. She tries on one of Kathy’s old green dresses and discovers it is now too small for her. She eventually resumes her relationship with Peter, and they begin spending weekends at his house, where they engage in oral sex.

On the day of her prom, Sally feels ill and is questioned by the school nurse about the connection between oral sex and throat infections. Feeling unwell and overwhelmed, Sally cuts class and goes to the mall alone to buy a dress. She unexpectedly runs into Billy Barnes at Macy’s and notices he has a large vine tattoo on his neck. Sally helps him shop for a shirt for a job interview, and Billy explains that he got the tattoo to permanently mark his body with a scar, expressing his guilt that he healed from the accident while Kathy did not. When Sally tells him about her mother’s psychic, Billy suggests they drive to Watch Hill to find Jan’s house. On the beach, they share their recurring dreams about Kathy. Their conversation is interrupted when they discover a real estate agent hacking up a dead seal on the beach, which he explains is scaring off potential buyers for a nearby house. Sally and Billy help the man bag the seal parts, and Sally notices the house’s address is 38 Lindell Drive. Her new cell phone rings; it is Susan, reminding her that she is missing her prom. Before they part, Billy gives Sally his phone number. Back at home, Sally checks her family’s Rolodex and confirms that Jan’s address is 38 Lindell Drive.

The next day, Sally apologizes to Peter, who is angry about being stood up for prom, but ultimately forgives her. He proposes they have sex in a hotel on graduation night, and Sally agrees. That night, Billy calls Sally, and they begin talking on the phone every night. At graduation, Peter gives his speech, and the valedictorian, Jim Kravitz, is escorted offstage after delivering a bizarre speech. Later, at a motel, Peter gives Sally his mother’s gold heart necklace and makes a crude comment. Repulsed, Sally breaks up with him on the spot and confesses that she is in love with Billy. She leaves the motel and calls Billy, who picks her up, refuses her request for a cigarette, and drives her home slowly.

Over the summer, Sally cleans out Kathy’s belongings, which have stayed just as Kathy left them in their shared room all this time. She finds a pair of gold earrings that Billy had once given Kathy and begins wearing them. A doctor confirms that Sally has a thyroid issue, which Susan takes as proof of Jan’s psychic insight. When Susan learns that Jan is moving to California, she’s distraught, prompting an argument with Richard about their marriage. Richard says he could leave, go to California, any time he wants. Sally’s mother asks him why he stays, and Richard tells her it’s because, even though they’ve lost a child, they “can still look each other in the eye” (245). 

Sally and Bill spend summer nights together before she leaves for college and he moves to Washington, DC. Billy tells her about college and his second attempt to overdose on painkillers. He was saved by a campus friar, which led to a religious conversion. He tells Sally that the reason he’s moving to DC is to enter a seminary and become a friar himself. They argue over who was to blame for the accident that killed Kathy. Each of them insists that it wasn’t the other’s fault. Sally tells Billy she’s always been in love with him, and Billy kisses Sally. On their last night together, Sally and Billy have sex in his childhood bedroom.

At home, Sally argues with her mother about Jan and whether her psychic gifts are authentic. After her parents are asleep, Sally drives to Jan’s house in Watch Hill. She demands to see Kathy, but Jan denies knowing her and tries to close the door. Sally forces her way inside, shouting for her sister. In a fit of overwhelming grief and frustration, Sally smashes a blue vase on the floor. Jan remains calm, puts her arms around Sally, and comforts her as she cries.