Chap­ter 5 begins with Frank, Tam­my, and Abi­gail leav­ing behind their mun­dane rou­tines to embark on a jour­ney toward Osprey Cove, where Margaret’s wed­ding awaits. As they dri­ve through the dense woods, the road grows rough and unmarked, caus­ing a rip­ple of doubt to set­tle in. Tam­my, how­ev­er, reas­sures Frank, draw­ing from her under­stand­ing of the wealthy and their ten­den­cy to keep things pri­vate and enig­mat­ic. After what feels like an end­less jour­ney, they final­ly spot a grav­el dri­ve­way adorned only with a bou­quet of gold bal­loons, sub­tly guid­ing them deep­er into the wood­ed area, sig­nal­ing they are close to their des­ti­na­tion. The unusu­al sig­nage only adds to the mys­tery, but it’s a sign they are on the right track. Frank, still uncer­tain but now more curi­ous, fol­lows the path with­out much choice.

Once they arrive at the gate of Osprey Cove, they are greet­ed warm­ly by Hugo, the prop­er­ty man­ag­er, who imme­di­ate­ly rec­og­nizes Frank. His wel­come, though warm, comes with a touch of eccen­tric­i­ty. Hugo intro­duces them to the con­cept of “Gard­ner Stan­dard Time,” a curi­ous idea that requires them to set their watch­es ahead by fif­teen min­utes to sync with the sched­ule of the elite. Though Frank finds the idea strange, he reluc­tant­ly com­plies, espe­cial­ly as Abi­gail eager­ly fol­lows the social expec­ta­tions set before them. The allure of a lav­ish week­end filled with lux­u­ry and cel­e­bra­tion looms ahead, but Frank’s unease only deep­ens when he’s asked to sign a lengthy pri­va­cy agree­ment that’s filled with dense legal lan­guage. This for­mal­i­ty, which he doesn’t ful­ly under­stand, makes him feel uncom­fort­able and uncer­tain about the true nature of the week­end ahead.

After pass­ing through the toll booth, a stun­ning sight unfolds before them: Osprey Lodge, an archi­tec­tur­al mas­ter­piece, stands at the end of the dri­ve­way, sur­round­ed by a vast and pris­tine land­scape. As they approach the entrance, Mag­gie excit­ed­ly greets them, her warm embrace offer­ing a com­fort­ing sense of famil­iar­i­ty. With­in moments, Abi­gail is ush­ered into the role of a flower girl, replac­ing one who has fall­en ill with strep throat. This unex­pect­ed turn of events brings a moment of joy and excite­ment for Abi­gail, who is thrilled to be part of the cer­e­mo­ny in such a spe­cial way. How­ev­er, the under­ly­ing ten­sion that Frank feels about the idea of “not com­pro­mis­ing” in his inter­ac­tions with Mag­gie and the com­plex dynam­ics of their blend­ed fam­i­ly become increas­ing­ly evi­dent. Aidan, ever the medi­a­tor, finds him­self nav­i­gat­ing these dif­fi­cult waters, try­ing to keep the peace as fam­i­ly mem­bers adjust to the shift­ing dynam­ics.

Once inside, the fam­i­ly is shown to their lux­u­ri­ous accommodations—a beau­ti­ful, high-end cot­tage known as Black­bird, with all the com­forts one would expect from such a grand venue. Yet, just as they begin to set­tle in, Aidan sud­den­ly leaves to attend to a friend, cast­ing a shad­ow over what was sup­posed to be a bond­ing expe­ri­ence for the fam­i­ly. This sud­den depar­ture leaves Frank feel­ing some­what aban­doned, as Mag­gie, busy with the whirl­wind prepa­ra­tions for the wed­ding, is pre­oc­cu­pied with the details of the event. Frank is left alone with Abi­gail, and while the lunch spread is plen­ti­ful and invit­ing, a grow­ing sense of dis­com­fort lingers. The under­ly­ing ten­sions regard­ing the pri­va­cy con­tract, the awk­ward­ness of being in a fam­i­ly that isn’t entire­ly his, and the over­ar­ch­ing stress of the wed­ding arrange­ments all com­bine to make Frank feel more like a vis­i­tor than a par­tic­i­pant. His long­ing to be part of some­thing mean­ing­ful for his daugh­ter dur­ing this impor­tant week­end is cloud­ed by the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing him.

The atmos­phere of cel­e­bra­tion and antic­i­pa­tion sur­round­ing the wed­ding con­trasts sharply with the inter­nal strug­gles and wor­ries of the fam­i­ly mem­bers. While Osprey Cove offers an idyl­lic set­ting and the promise of joy, Frank can­not help but feel the weight of the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties involved. The beau­ty of the loca­tion and the excite­ment of the event only serve to high­light Frank’s sense of iso­la­tion. As he nav­i­gates through the week­end, try­ing to be present for Abi­gail and Mag­gie, his grow­ing dis­com­fort with the sit­u­a­tion becomes more pro­nounced. The fam­i­ly dynam­ics are com­pli­cat­ed, and Frank’s hopes for a peace­ful, enjoy­able week­end are over­shad­owed by his fears of mak­ing a mis­take or say­ing the wrong thing, poten­tial­ly jeop­ar­diz­ing his rela­tion­ship with Mag­gie. The chap­ter clos­es with Frank filled with a mix­ture of hope and appre­hen­sion, unsure of what the week­end will bring, but deter­mined to find a way to make it through with­out fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing the sit­u­a­tion.