At shootaround, Ron confronts Ryan about missing practice. Ryan explains Indy was sick, and Ron accepts it as a family emergency, saying Indy is good for him. Ryan feels sick as he realizes the genuine parts of his relationship are exactly what he’s using to deceive Ron. Ron invites Indy to a game and reveals Ryan is the frontrunner for league MVP.

During the game, Ryan’s team dominates. The opposing point guard deliberately runs under him mid-air after a fast-break dunk. Ryan lands awkwardly, feels immediate sharp pain in his right knee, and collapses. As the team doctor rushes toward him, he knows he’s in serious trouble.

At the airport for a work trip, Indy learns her company’s insurance now completely covers fertility treatments. She is thrilled but realizes this means she could afford to move out, and the thought fills her with dread.

On the plane, her hockey colleagues urgently tell her Ryan is at the hospital with a suspected torn ACL. Indy immediately leaves the flight and goes to the hospital, where Stevie sneaks her past the media. In Ryan’s room, his stoic expression breaks when he sees her. The doctor reveals a grade one ACL sprain requiring three to four weeks off. Ryan is upset and says basketball is all he has, which stings Indy. At home, he cries in front of Indy and confesses that he feels suffocated by the pressure on him to be perfect and that he feels guilty for wanting a future beyond basketball.

With Indy in his lap, Ryan tells her his full story. In college, he fell in love with a woman named Marissa, who became pregnant during his senior year. Thrilled, he was drafted first overall and bought his current apartment for them. When he rushed to the hospital for the birth, he held the baby and instantly knew she was not his child. Marissa confessed the entire relationship was a scheme with her real boyfriend to trap Ryan for child support.

Indy cries as Ryan explains how the trauma sent him into a secret two-year depression, with basketball his only reason to leave bed. His obsessive cleanliness stems from those years of being too miserable to keep his space neat.

When Ryan says that he hasn’t let anyone into his life who wasn’t trying to use him, Indy misinterprets this to include herself and announces she can move out since her fertility treatments are now covered. Ryan is horrified and tries to explain, but Stevie walks in at that exact moment, catching Indy in Ryan’s lap. An overwhelmed Indy asks Stevie to stay, preventing Ryan from continuing their conversation.

The day after his confession, Ryan endures a torturous day watching practice from the sidelines. He decides to cancel team dinner because he feels that he’s let down his teammates. In the car with Stevie, he admits he has feelings for Indy and asks for her blessing. She gives her full support and teases him that he should make things official with Indy before someone else does.

Ryan arrives home to find the apartment transformed for a party and Indy and her mother cooking a massive meal. She had a teammate “un-cancel” the team dinner and moved it to their apartment, arguing it is an opportunity for Ryan to lead from the sidelines and stop treating his home like a prison. Ryan agrees and temporarily hides their fake-relationship agreement.

The dinner is a success. Inspired, Ryan takes Leon aside and promises to mentor him while the rookie is filling in as point guard. When a teammate jokingly invites Indy to move in with him, Ryan says she isn’t going anywhere, but she avoids his gaze.

After the team dinner, Indy slips away to Stevie’s penthouse, still planning to move out after misinterpreting Ryan’s confession. Ryan shows up moments later and finishes his statement: No one has come into his life without trying to use him—until her. He insists that she stay, and Indy agrees to go home with him.

Back at the apartment, Ryan carries her to his bed and admits he didn’t kiss her during their earlier sexual encounters because he didn’t know if she wanted him or just wanted release. She reassures him she wants him, and he tells her that his desire for her stopped being an act long ago. He performs oral sex on her, refusing to let her climax until she promises not to move out. After she reciprocates, he asks her to tell him how she wants to have her next release.

Ryan lies on his back to protect his injured knee. He realizes what he felt for Marissa was love for an imagined future while what he feels for Indy is real. He tells her he can’t be casual with her. She confesses she doesn’t want a casual relationship either and that he is clearly meant for her.

Ryan becomes overwhelmed with emotion, feeling free and like himself for the first time in years. Sensing his state, Indy tells him to stay with her, bringing him back to the moment. He realizes they are making love, not just having sex, and he feels completely undone and grateful.