Chap­ter 18 begins with Lila vis­it­ing Phoebe in the morn­ing, on her way to the flower ven­dor, where she casu­al­ly men­tions a pow­er out­age that has affect­ed the flow­ers. Lila, with­out dis­cussing the com­plex­i­ties of blend­ing their fam­i­lies, asks Phoebe to accom­pa­ny Gary for errands due to his back injury from surf­ing. With a humor­ous ref­er­ence to her­self in the third per­son, Lila brush­es off con­cerns about Gary’s con­di­tion and states her intent to keep him occu­pied. Despite her calm demeanor, Phoebe dreads spend­ing the day with Gary, as she has been try­ing to move on from him. This reluc­tance to spend time with Gary is cou­pled with an under­ly­ing ten­sion, as Phoebe must nav­i­gate her feel­ings while attempt­ing to hon­or her role in the sit­u­a­tion.

As they set off on their errands, Phoebe is con­flict­ed, feel­ing both anx­ious and excit­ed about a pub­lic speak­ing engage­ment lat­er that day. Through­out their time togeth­er, she and Gary engage in ban­ter, dis­cussing their mutu­al dis­com­fort with aging and the phys­i­cal pains that come with it. They laugh about their shared expe­ri­ences of bod­i­ly changes, turn­ing what could have been com­plaints into a humor­ous exchange. This light­heart­ed con­ver­sa­tion helps ease some of the ten­sion between them, pro­vid­ing a sense of cama­raderie before the weight of the day’s respon­si­bil­i­ties set­tles in. Despite the play­ful moments, Phoebe remains aware of the under­ly­ing emo­tions she is try­ing to sup­press, par­tic­u­lar­ly the com­plex­i­ty of her feel­ings for Gary.

After pick­ing up pre­ordered liquor from a store, Phoebe receives an unex­pect­ed text from Geof­frey, the man­sion keep­er, regard­ing a care­tak­er posi­tion at New­combe Man­sion. Intrigued by the oppor­tu­ni­ty, Phoebe decides to meet Geof­frey after she drops Gary off. Upon arriv­ing at the man­sion, she is greet­ed by Geof­frey, a charm­ing south­ern gen­tle­man who explains the require­ments for the care­tak­er posi­tion. Phoebe is eager to dis­cuss her research on his­tor­i­cal build­ings, some­thing that sparks a renewed pas­sion in her dur­ing the inter­view. Her enthu­si­asm for the sub­ject gives her a sense of pur­pose, offer­ing a brief escape from the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of her day. As the con­ver­sa­tion shifts to the mansion’s poten­tial and her qual­i­fi­ca­tions, Phoebe begins to envi­sion a new path for­ward, one that could pro­vide her with a fresh start away from the cur­rent emo­tion­al tur­moil.

While explor­ing the man­sion, Phoebe and Gary dis­cuss the lav­ish inte­ri­ors, lead­ing them to philo­soph­i­cal con­ver­sa­tions about hap­pi­ness and art col­lec­tion. Gary, in a moment of unex­pect­ed vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, admits that he feels hap­pi­ness in the present moment, offer­ing a rare glimpse into his emo­tion­al state. This hon­esty deep­ens their con­nec­tion, as Phoebe begins to real­ize the weight of her unre­solved feel­ings for him. Despite their com­fort­able exchange, the real­i­ty of Gary’s impend­ing mar­riage looms large, and Phoebe’s heart aches at the thought of him mar­ry­ing some­one else. These moments high­light the deep emo­tion­al pull she feels toward Gary, com­pli­cat­ing her abil­i­ty to move on, espe­cial­ly as they share such inti­mate and mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tions.

They con­tin­ue their day by stop­ping at Gary’s tai­lor, where Phoebe’s mixed emo­tions resur­face. She begins ques­tion­ing whether she can tru­ly move for­ward from her cur­rent life as a teacher to embrace a new life in Rhode Island. The thought of leav­ing her career behind con­flicts with the pow­er­ful pull she still feels toward Gary, cre­at­ing an emo­tion­al tug-of-war. Their shared moments through­out the day blur the lines between friend­ship and some­thing deep­er, mak­ing Phoebe ques­tion whether her feel­ings for Gary are just rem­nants of the past or if they still hold sig­nif­i­cance in her life. This inter­nal con­flict con­tin­ues to build as the day goes on, mak­ing her feel more uncer­tain about her path for­ward.

At the bar­ber, Gary opens up fur­ther, shar­ing a moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty about how much he miss­es teach­ing. In this con­ver­sa­tion, they con­nect over the pre­tense they both have had to main­tain in their pro­fes­sion­al lives, reveal­ing the pres­sures they each face. This mutu­al under­stand­ing brings them even clos­er, but the reminder of Gary’s impend­ing mar­riage remains a con­stant under­cur­rent, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for Phoebe to ful­ly embrace their con­nec­tion. She rec­og­nizes the del­i­cate bal­ance between her loy­al­ty to Lila and her unde­ni­able feel­ings for Gary, know­ing that these emo­tions com­pli­cate her role as maid of hon­or in his upcom­ing wed­ding.

As they return to the hotel, the atmos­phere between Phoebe and Gary shifts, filled with unspo­ken feel­ings and pow­er­ful emo­tions. Lila’s unex­pect­ed appear­ance ampli­fies Phoebe’s fears, remind­ing her of the impend­ing wed­ding and the com­pli­cat­ed role she will play in it. The real­iza­tion that while she and Gary have shared a mean­ing­ful day togeth­er, the real­i­ty of his mar­riage to Lila is fast approach­ing, hits Phoebe hard. She must now pre­pare her­self for the role she has agreed to as maid of hon­or, all while grap­pling with the unre­solved emo­tions she har­bors for Gary. This chap­ter leaves Phoebe in a state of emo­tion­al flux, torn between her loy­al­ty to her friend and the lin­ger­ing love she feels for the man about to mar­ry some­one else.