It is now March, and Brooke has entered the second trimester of her pregnancy (making it significantly less likely that she will miscarry). She misses Mitch, feeling isolated and spending her days browsing the “Have Baby, Will Travel” online forum. At a doctor’s appointment, she learns her screening tests are normal and her pregnancy is healthy. Brooke’s observations of her friends cause her to reflect that many women carry significant loads related to caregiving and emotional labor. She is frustrated when Mitch fails to return a phone call; he is currently in London, and she wonders what his daily life is like there.

Marie’s learns that her popular course, “How to Say No,” is being removed from the university’s offerings due to its vulnerability to scrutiny amid funding issues. The dean also mentions vague complaints about Marie seeming distracted. Later, during that class, students give presentations on why the course is relevant. One student shows a viral video of a woman running a marathon who is interrupted near the finish line by her husband and children, who ask her to stop and retrieve a dropped toy. The student argues that the issue is not just that the mother could have said no, but that she never should have been asked. The video is a powerful catalyst for Marie, who realizes that Kyle has not been a true partner or a source of support. Overcome by this sudden clarity about her marriage, Marie begins to cry.

In Chicago, Lucy meets with her agent, Delia, and tells her that she has an idea of what her future career could like: an unspecified path forward that combines writing and the new confidence she has acquired from quitting. The narrative resumes back in Ohio, when Brooke picks Lucy up from the airport. They go directly to the rehabilitation facility to visit Collins, who tearfully reveals she is scheduled for discharge but is terrified to return to the house filled with painful memories of Sullivan. During the conversation, Brooke admits her own anxieties about being “motherhood material” (273). Lucy and Brooke reassure each other, reaffirming their support for each other. Lucy suggests that Collins consult with legal experts about Sullivan’s estate to find a way to relinquish some of the responsibility to Sara, which would ease her burden.

Brooke and Lucy return to the house and find Marie in the kitchen. Marie announces that her marriage to Kyle is over and that they will tell their sons on the weekend. Later, as Brooke closes her blinds, she is stunned to see Mitch pacing outside in the snow. She goes out to meet him, and he tearfully apologizes for his absence and poor communication, explaining that his phone was stolen in London, limiting his ability to communicate. Then, a series of travel disasters delayed his return. He reveals that he has been offered a job in London, which includes housing. He proposes that this could give them both the adventure of living abroad and the stability they need to raise a child. Brooke is delighted that his plan aligns perfectly with the dreams she has been having about travelling and raising a baby abroad. Overjoyed and immensely relieved, Brooke kisses him, all her fears about their future dissolving.

Marie and Kyle tell their sons, Wade and Connor, about their divorce. To Marie’s surprise, Kyle defends her decision to the boys and promises to attend co-parenting counseling. Afterward, Marie visits Collins, who is packing to leave the rehab facility. Collins needs to remain in Columbus for cancer treatments, and she reveals that Sara found her an apartment in Columbus (owned by an art professor on sabbatical). Collins explains that Sara wants them to pause on discussing Sullivan’s estate and focus on rebuilding a relationship; Collins is relieved and happy with this outcome, since it gives her more time for legal consultations and planning. Collins and Marie apologize and fully reconcile. 

Marie explains about her pending divorce and Collins tells her that Marie and her sons are welcome to stay in her Athens house for as long as they need.

Mitch and Brooke travel to Florida to visit his parents; Lucy, Marie and her sons remain in the house (while Collins is in her new apartment in Columbus). In April, Enzo visits Athens, meets Lucy’s friends, and solidifies his relationship with Lucy, who now considers him her boyfriend. Lucy reveals her final MBA project to Marie: two sister brands, Lucy’s “How to Quit” and Marie’s “How to Say No,” transforming Marie’s canceled university course into a book, podcast, and social media platform. Lucy reveals that her agent has already connected with a multimedia company in Chicago that is very interested in the concept. Marie enthusiastically agrees to the partnership, seeing a new professional future for herself.

Upon their return from Florida, Brooke and Mitch travel to Collins’s apartment in Columbus to support her on her first day of chemotherapy. To ease Collins’s anxiety about facing treatment alone, they reveal they have signed a short-term lease on an apartment just down the hall. They explain their plan to stay in Columbus and act as her support system until their baby is born, after which they will move to London. Touched by their deep gesture of friendship, Collins cries with gratitude and accepts their help.

During a visit with Brooke and Collins in Columbus, Marie learns her students have started an online petition to save her canceled class. Collins then makes a major announcement: She does not plan to move back to Athens after her treatment ends. Instead, she is considering relocating to Saugatuck, Michigan, where Sara lives. Sara has offered to help her find work managing artists. Collins also reveals that she initiated a discussion of the estate with Sara: After consultations with a lawyer, Collins proposed a way to transfer day-to-day control to Sara while keeping legal safeguards in place to protect Sullivan’s legacy 

Collins offers to sell her Athens home directly to Marie. Overcome with emotion, Marie gratefully accepts. All of the women are filled with happiness at the outcome of their quitting project.

Two years after the pact began, Collins is living in Saugatuck. She has completed chemotherapy and continues immunotherapy. She reveals that her fall from the ski slope was indeed a suicide attempt born from overwhelming grief. She does not intend to ever tell her friends, as she does not want them to feel guilty. She reflects that this desperate act paradoxically saved her, as the resulting medical evaluation led to the early discovery of her lung cancer.

Lucy and Marie’s podcast called “The Quitters Club” has become very successful. Collins has transferred day-to-day control of Sullivan’s estate to Sara, with legal safeguards in place, and they are now friends and colleagues. She enjoys her new work and her new life in Michigan. Lucy is now engaged to Enzo and Brooke and Mitch are happily living in London with their young daughter. The Epilogue closes with Marie, Lucy, and Brooke happily arriving to visit Collins.