That night, Katie lies in bed fantasizing about Tyler. The next day, Tyler takes Katie on a surprise date to a large, duck-shaped building, a local roadside attraction. As they eat peaches, he confesses how much he has missed her and their connection. He tells her he thinks about her constantly and feels he might have a second chance with her. The intensity of the moment overwhelms Katie. Her past trauma resurfaces, and she pulls her hand away, telling him to stop.

The narrative flashes back 11 years to a night on the beach. A teenage Katie and Tyler are writing together when he playfully grabs her notebook, which contains a kissing scene she wrote. Their wrestling turns into a moment of intense romantic tension, with Tyler hovering over her. Katie asks him to kiss her, but he abruptly pulls back, claiming he is high. He becomes cold, telling her their time together means nothing to him and that he is only with her out of boredom because her brother, Mikey, is away. When Katie accuses him of being scared and brings up his absent father, Tyler grows angry, throws his notebook into the ocean, and tells her she cannot “fix” him. After a silent bike ride home, he coldly mentions that an older boy has been asking about her but that she should stay away from him. Katie slams her window shut. They would not speak again for two years.

Henry vanquishes the landscape architect with surprising ease. His victory is achieved simply by looking at Willa and whispering her name. Following this, Henry cups her face and kisses her. The kiss is followed by a downpour of rain, which is revealed to be a recurring phenomenon that also happened the first time they kissed.

In the present, Katie is in Montauk with Danny, preparing for a dinner they are supposed to have with Meredith and Tyler. Danny is openly uninterested in Meredith, calling her a recluse. At the restaurant, Tyler arrives alone and explains that Meredith is feeling unwell. Danny passive-aggressively insists that Tyler join them. During dinner, Danny repeatedly pesters Tyler about not drinking wine and, later, about cannabis. Even after Tyler explains that he does not drink “not even a little” (202), Danny sneers, “I’m sure your parents are so proud” (203), prompting Tyler to throw Meredith’s credit card on the table, tell Danny, “Fuck off, I guess” (203), and leave. Katie follows him outside, where he angrily asks what Danny could possibly be jealous of. Stunned, Katie cannot answer because they both know that Danny is jealous of their connection, and Tyler walks away.

Tyler returns to his cottage and begins packing, believing the entire summer has been a mistake. Katie arrives and tells him she has just broken up with Danny. She leads Tyler into the swimming pool, where it begins to rain as they kiss and caress each other, mirroring the scene from their novel. The moment intensifies, and Katie urges Tyler to have sex with her. He first says he cannot give her what she needs, then stops entirely, telling her, “I really can’t do this. Not with you” (211). Devastated, Katie accuses him of being cruel and manipulative, only wanting her when he feels bad about himself and can’t stand to see her with anyone else. She tells him that letting him into her life has always been the “biggest mistake” she has ever made.

A thunderstorm begins as Katie tries to get into the main house, but all the doors are locked. The power goes out, disabling the electric gate and trapping her on the property. Tyler says his key is on Meredith’s counter in the kitchen, left there because he was planning to leave. Katie collapses by the metal gate in despair. Fearing for her safety during the lightning storm, Tyler carries her back to his unlocked cottage. Inside, he calmly lights candles, makes her tea, and gives her a dry T-shirt. Overwhelmed by his attention, Katie breaks down crying. She gets into his bed. They laugh at the absurdity of their situation, which has perfectly mirrored the “one bed” romance trope. Tyler then confesses his deepest insecurity: After he sleeps with someone, he loses interest and becomes physically ill—nauseous and cold. He has never been with the same person twice and refuses to do that to Katie. Moved by his vulnerability, she invites him into the bed just to cuddle, and he cautiously agrees.

The next morning, Tyler wakes up with an erection. Katie playfully teases him, and they share a light, intimate moment. After she tells him to go take care of his “situation” in the bathroom, she proposes they go on an “extend-a-date” and insists that he win her a prize at a boardwalk carnival.

While Tyler showers, Katie discovers the doors to the main house are now unlocked. She finds Meredith calmly reading on the sofa. Without acknowledging the previous night’s drama, Meredith offers Katie homemade blueberry muffins to share with Tyler. Katie understands that Meredith knows they spent the night together and approves. She decides not to question the strange events.

Tyler and Katie spend the day on a date, visiting a bookstore, a sculpture garden, and a mini-golf course. That evening, after Katie gets a hole-in-one, she jokes that it is “customary” for him to kiss her, and he does. Back on the terrace of the main house, they kiss goodnight. Katie proposes they communicate via their walkie-talkies later, suggesting the distance will make it “so much hotter” (228).

That night, Tyler and Katie use their walkie-talkies to talk intimately. Tyler describes in detail what he wants to do to her. When he offers to come to her room, she gently reminds him of their agreement. He admits he still needs time but is tired of holding back and tells her she is all he thinks about. Katie promises to wait for him. They stand at their respective windows, looking at one another across the yard, and she tells him she has always been waiting for him.

The narrative notes that Henry and Willa are finally together in the manuscript, but their first kiss has not magically healed their past traumas. It acknowledges that both characters are “broken” and that their path to healing will not be easy.

The next morning, Katie asks Tyler how he manages to have sex given his intimacy issues. He deflects by telling a story about his estranged father, who used their father-son breakfast dates as a pretext to flirt with servers, modeling a dysfunctional approach to relationships. Later that night, while Katie is making a collage, Meredith approaches her and begins to cry as they talk. As Katie gently asks what is wrong, Meredith gradually reflects on motherhood, admitting that she never bonded with her daughter, Juliet, the way she had hoped and that she retreated into writing instead. Katie listens, asking careful questions as Meredith ultimately concludes that she “just kept trying [...] to turn back time” (241). When Tyler returns from a meeting, Katie asks him to make a peach cobbler, and they share a comforting moment in the kitchen.

The following nine days pass in a peaceful routine of writing, cooking, and quiet affection. Tyler has a creative breakthrough and decides to rewrite his personal manuscript from the beginning. One night, he realizes it is August 1st and is overcome with guilt. Meredith finds him on the beach, and he confesses that he forgot Mikey’s birthday. Meredith reveals she knows he is referring to Katie’s brother, clarifying that it was her assistant, Selma, who researched them online. Tyler opens up about his history with Katie and his feeling that he had to disappear after Mikey’s death. At her gentle prompting, he begins to tell her the story of what happened.

In a flashback to December, 11 years earlier, Tyler is driving Mikey home from school. While Mikey is on a speakerphone call bickering with his girlfriend Ingrid and Katie, Tyler loses control of the car. It crashes into a cast-iron mailbox, which smashes through the passenger-side window and severely injures Mikey’s pitching arm. Mikey tells Tyler he can no longer feel his arm.

The narrative returns to the present day, the anniversary of Mikey’s death eight years prior. Katie’s mother calls, as she does every year, and spends an hour reliving the trauma of her son’s final days. Afterward, Tyler finds Katie crying in bed and comforts her, apologizing for being distracted and not realizing how much she was struggling. He holds her until she falls back asleep. When she wakes, he proposes they honor the day by following a tradition of his and says they are going “home.”

This interlude establishes the history of the deep friendship between Henry and Willa’s brother. Their bond formed effortlessly as they were neighbors, the same age, and both played lacrosse. Despite having differences, they grew up inseparable and became “thick as thieves” (253). The narrative presents their friendship as a natural, inevitable part of their lives.

Tyler takes Katie on the train back to their Long Island hometown. He gives her a handwritten itinerary for the day, which outlines all of Mikey’s favorite activities: eating meatball subs, loitering at Starbucks, getting free frozen yogurt, sneaking into a movie, and eating pizza. The day is planned to end at Mikey’s grave, where they will listen to a Mets game on the radio. Katie is deeply moved, realizing that Tyler has honored his friend with this ritual every year.

A brief flashback shows Katie and Tyler in the hospital waiting room immediately after the car accident. She quietly asks him if he was high when it happened. He admits that they both were, trailing off with “It was just weed…I didn’t think…” (257). The gravity of their situation settles on them both.

In the present, Tyler and Katie are at the cemetery, lying on the grass next to Mikey’s grave. They share happy childhood stories, and Tyler recounts a funny memory of Mikey getting sick after secretly eating a whole box of rainbow cookies. The mood shifts when Katie confesses she was always jealous of Mikey—not only for the attention he received for baseball, but because he got to have Tyler as his best friend.

On the car ride back to the Hamptons, Katie falls asleep on Tyler’s shoulder. He carries her from the car into the house and up to her room, tucking her into bed. The day concludes with a feeling of warmth and peace.

At night, Tyler quietly leaves the main house and starts walking across the pool deck toward the cottage. Halfway to his destination, he stops and turns to face the water. Realizing he is not finished talking, he hopes Meredith will be there and that she will listen to the rest of his story and understand.

In a flashback to two weeks after the accident, Mikey is home from the hospital, his arm in a large, complex brace that signals the end of his baseball career. Riddled with unspoken guilt, Tyler is unable to apologize. Mikey, who is in severe pain, asks for his prescription OxyContin. After taking his dose, he offers a pill to Tyler. In a moment of weakness and self-loathing, Tyler accepts it. The narration concludes that Tyler would spend the next 15 months chasing that high, while Mikey never stopped using.