Chap­ter 14 opens with Phoebe return­ing an out­fit bor­rowed from Lila’s moth­er, Patri­cia, before a bach­e­lorette par­ty. Patri­cia, sur­prised by the return, directs Phoebe to place the clothes near the raven sculp­tures that dec­o­rate her room. The pres­ence of the ravens adds an eerie atmos­phere, and Patri­cia half-jok­ing­ly sug­gests that they rep­re­sent all that has been lost in her life. Although Patri­cia clear­ly desires pri­va­cy, Phoebe sens­es the lone­li­ness in her pres­ence and feels com­pelled to offer com­pan­ion­ship. Despite the ten­sion, Phoebe can’t ignore her instincts and ini­ti­ates a con­ver­sa­tion, sens­ing a deep­er need for con­nec­tion in Patricia’s life.

Their con­ver­sa­tion begins with Phoebe thank­ing Patri­cia for the clothes and men­tion­ing her vis­it to Patricia’s gallery, prais­ing the impres­sive col­lec­tion of artists it has show­cased over the years. Patri­cia opens up about her pas­sion for art, men­tion­ing her love for both liv­ing and deceased artists. She humor­ous­ly dis­cuss­es her col­lec­tion, which includes Hud­son Riv­er School paint­ings and a Warhol piece, but the dis­cus­sion soon takes a more somber turn. Patri­cia begins to con­nect art with death, reveal­ing her dis­com­fort with the “death paint­ings” hang­ing over her bed, which rep­re­sent the con­stant reminder of loss in her life. This dia­logue about art and its inter­sec­tion with per­son­al grief becomes an insight­ful moment for both women, as they reflect on the pres­ence of death in their lives, both sym­bol­i­cal­ly and lit­er­al­ly.

As the con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues, Patri­cia shares a drink with Phoebe, an elder­ber­ry hibis­cus mar­gari­ta, and reflects on her cur­rent sit­u­a­tion. She con­fess­es her feel­ings of being trapped in the chaos of Lila’s wed­ding prepa­ra­tions, express­ing how Lila’s restric­tions have sti­fled her free­dom and sense of auton­o­my. The con­ver­sa­tion nat­u­ral­ly shifts to Patricia’s rela­tion­ship with her daugh­ter, Lila, where she admits that their bond was once much stronger before grief and emo­tion­al dis­tance took hold. Patricia’s sense of loss is not only tied to her hus­band but also to the dete­ri­o­ra­tion of her rela­tion­ship with Lila. This dis­cus­sion about fam­i­ly dynam­ics reveals how per­son­al grief and unre­solved emo­tions affect con­nec­tions between loved ones. Patricia’s vul­ner­a­ble shar­ing about her rela­tion­ship with Lila shows how loss, both emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal, shapes famil­ial bonds and affects her sense of self.

The deep­er the con­ver­sa­tion goes, the more inti­mate the top­ics become, with Patri­cia offer­ing her wis­dom about love, aging, and loss. She recalls her tumul­tuous mar­riage to Hen­ry and the pro­found pain of los­ing him, reflect­ing on how love trans­forms as one ages. Patri­cia express­es regret that Lila, much like her­self, seeks val­i­da­tion from men, warn­ing her that true love and self-accep­tance can only come through expe­ri­enc­ing and pro­cess­ing loss, not through seek­ing replace­ments. This insight comes from Patricia’s own hard-earned wis­dom, and she shares it with Phoebe in the hope of guid­ing her away from mak­ing sim­i­lar mis­takes. Their dis­cus­sion about love, loss, and self-worth speaks to the com­plex­i­ties of rela­tion­ships, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the con­text of gen­er­a­tional strug­gles with iden­ti­ty and val­i­da­tion.

As the chap­ter con­tin­ues, the con­ver­sa­tion shifts toward accep­tance of aging and the lessons that come with it. Patri­cia urges Phoebe to embrace her true self, advis­ing her not to con­form to soci­etal expec­ta­tions or the per­sona oth­ers may expect her to be. Patricia’s reflec­tions on her own choic­es about style and iden­ti­ty empha­size the impor­tance of per­son­al authen­tic­i­ty over exter­nal val­i­da­tion. This chap­ter beau­ti­ful­ly por­trays the evolv­ing rela­tion­ship between Patri­cia and Phoebe, as they con­nect on a deep­er emo­tion­al lev­el, shar­ing sto­ries of love, regret, and the com­plex­i­ties of their respec­tive famil­ial bonds. Through their inti­mate exchange, both women begin to under­stand the impor­tance of accept­ing them­selves as they are, mov­ing away from the soci­etal pres­sures that have shaped their past choic­es.