Lauren hesitates in front of Stone’s house, noticing through the glass that the interior has been redecorated and no longer resembles the house she once knew. The entryway opens to a living room decorated in cool blues and whites. Bonnie calls out from the den. Lauren follows Stone back to find Bonnie curled on the couch under blankets, appearing very frail, though she has not lost her black hair. Bonnie is overjoyed to see Lauren.

She asks Lauren what she is reading, and Lauren describes a novel called Sylvia’s Second Act about a woman who leaves her cheating husband to restart her life in New York. Stone kisses Bonnie’s face, and a tear runs down Bonnie’s cheek. Lauren presses her fingers into Bonnie’s palm, and Bonnie closes her hand around Lauren’s. Lauren says she is glad to be there, and Bonnie agrees.

This chapter provides backstory about Sylvia. No one knows where her money comes from or who Lauren’s grandfather was. Sylvia refuses to discuss him, saying only that he left. Marcella tried to find information about him online without success. When Lauren was growing up, Sylvia would disappear for long periods without explanation, giving vague answers about traveling to villas and favorite cities. It frustrated Marcella, who wanted to know Sylvia was safe. Young Lauren was fascinated by Sylvia’s mystique and looked forward to her returns because she always brought gifts. As Sylvia aged, she stopped traveling entirely, claiming she had seen everything. Despite being home more, Sylvia and Marcella have grown more distant over the years. After visiting Bonnie, Lauren returns to a chaotic house, has a brief, unsatisfying call with Leo, and finds her mother reading. Marcella informs Lauren that she has invited Stone for dinner that evening.

The narrative shifts to Marcella’s perspective in a flashback. Before Lauren’s birth, Marcella dreamed of raising a daughter at the beach and having a best friend in her child. She and Dave were already living with Sylvia, but when Marcella got pregnant, they decided to stay permanently. Lauren arrived in February during a cold Los Angeles winter and spent four days in the hospital with jaundice.

Sylvia doted on Lauren, which both pleased Marcella and made her feel jealous. Marcella found new motherhood fulfilling and felt she belonged with her child in a way she never had with another person. She tried to include Sylvia in their activities, taking Lauren to the beach to hunt for treasure. Sylvia predicted Lauren would be wild and spunky.

As Lauren grew, she became increasingly adventurous and independent, preferring to dive into waves with Dave over collecting shells with Marcella. Lauren began to pull away, and Marcella felt abandoned. Unlike Marcella, who had desperately wanted Sylvia’s attention as a child, Lauren seemed not to need her mother. After Dave’s accident, Lauren became more anxious and cautious, and Marcell felt she finally had something in common with her daughter.

Stone arrives at seven for dinner, carrying wine and sunflowers from Bonnie’s deck. Marcella greets him warmly, and Sylvia jokes with him in the kitchen. During the meal, Dave and Stone’s hands collide, sending a water pitcher crashing to the floor. Marcella panics, frantically checking Dave for injuries. In the kitchen, Stone remarks that Marcella will never learn it’s just water. Lauren realizes she is not embarrassed about her family’s quirks around him—Stone already knows her family.

Stone and Lauren slip out through the kitchen door, walking down the beach to the Greek, a dilapidated abandoned house teenagers once used for parties. They sit on the broken deck with their feet dangling. Lauren remarks that life gets complicated, and Stone suggests they make it that way, adding that facing death makes everything simple. He expresses regret about moving away and missing a decade with Bonnie and the ocean and admits he’s not happy in Colorado. Lauren blurts out that she can’t have a baby. Stone takes her hand, and they sit listening to the waves.

The narrative shifts to Marcella’s perspective in a flashback. Dave had open-heart surgery the summer before Lauren started second grade, needing three bypasses and an aortic valve replacement after collapsing on the beach steps. Marcella was unprepared for the crisis. Dave’s parents flew in from New York, and Sylvia accompanied Marcella to the hospital, lending her a sweater and telling her to believe Dave would be all right. The surgery lasted six hours. Dave’s recovery was difficult, complicated by a viral lung infection that required rehospitalization, but he was young and eventually recovered.

Five months after surgery, Dave went surfing for the first time. Marcella restrained herself from objecting, having grown to rely on being needed during his recovery. When he returned from the water, she dried him off and made him shower immediately, citing concern for his lungs. This marked the beginning of Marcella’s protective behavior, which has continued throughout their marriage.

Lauren has been at the beach for a month, surfing regularly with Stone most mornings. Communication with Leo in New York is difficult; she has not heard his voice in over a week. She tries calling early one morning and gets his voicemail. She goes surfing alone before sitting on the beach thinking about having a child and teaching her daughter to surf.

Lauren recalls her engagement to Leo, which happened on the bathroom floor after food poisoning forced him to abandon his planned dinner proposal at a nice restaurant. She remembers their wedding at the beach house and the sadness she felt the day they got engaged, realizing Leo would not share her childhood memories of her parents in their prime.

Back at the house, Dave tells Lauren privately that he has been experiencing angina and one of his bypasses has closed, though doctors do not want to operate yet. He asks her not to tell Marcella. Lauren feels devastated.

She tries to call Leo but gets voicemail again. She recalls their final egg retrieval six months ago, when no viable eggs were retrieved, and Leo told her in the recovery room that he didn’t want to continue fertility treatment. They argued bitterly. Lauren realizes that was when things fundamentally changed between them, though they have done three more IUIs since that day. Suddenly, she realizes that today is their third wedding anniversary.

After Stone calls to say it is not a good day for visitors, Lauren works on the deck until he appears at sunset and asks her to go surfing. They paddle out just before sunset, the only two people on the water.

Lauren tells Stone he’s even better than he used to be. He says he thinks he’s better when he is with her. They talk about feeling connected and humbled by the ocean, about its ruthlessness, and about how the waves keep coming despite missed opportunities. As the colors shift around them, they paddle in, and Lauren falls on the last wave. Lauren invites Stone to stay for dinner, but he declines. Before he leaves, he tells her he’s glad she’s there.

For the next two days, Lauren does not see Stone in the mornings. She surfs once alone and once with Bert, considers texting Stone, and has minimal contact with Leo beyond apologetic texts. Finally, Stone appears at the back door and tells Lauren that Bonnie is gone. He cries into her shoulder and tells her he needs to get out of there.

Lauren drives Stone to the Trancas Country Mart parking lot—one of their old high school spots. Stone takes Lauren’s hand and kisses it, then begins kissing her wrist and arm. He tells her he can’t believe she’s there and that he still thinks about their relationship. He says nothing turned out the way he thought it would and he never should have left. Lauren asks why he did. Stone says he thought he didn’t know enough to choose, that life decides for you. They begin kissing and have urgent sex in the car.

Afterward, they dress in silence, and Stone drives Lauren home. He tells her he wants to say something but is afraid of getting it wrong. Lauren suggests they say nothing. Stone squeezes her hand and walks her to the door. Inside, Lauren is overwhelmed with panic and guilt. She listens to a loving voicemail from Leo saying he misses her. Unable to bear what she has done, she races upstairs to the guest room, opens the safe containing her ticket, and uses it to undo everything. The ticket works, and both the betrayal and the ticket are gone.

Lauren wakes to Leo calling. She is back in their West Hollywood house on the Friday she was supposed to drive to the beach. The ticket worked. Leo asks if she’s leaving for her parents’ house soon. Lauren spontaneously decides to go to New York to be with Leo instead. He is surprised but happy. She books a flight, packs, texts her mother, and arranges for their neighbor to take their cat for the summer. At baggage claim, Leo is waiting, holding a sign that says, “my wife.” Lauren runs to him, and they embrace. She tells him that she loves him and starts crying. Leo asks what is wrong and whether they are okay. Lauren insists nothing is wrong—she’s just happy.