Chap­ter 7 delves deep­er into the devel­op­ing rela­tion­ship between Phoebe and Matt as they face the pres­sures of grad­u­ate school, espe­cial­ly the stress of com­plet­ing their dis­ser­ta­tions. For two months, they sit togeth­er in the grad­u­ate com­put­er lab, both silent­ly absorbed in their respec­tive work. Their focus is sud­den­ly inter­rupt­ed when the pow­er goes out, plung­ing the lab into dark­ness. This unex­pect­ed event brings them clos­er, as Phoebe becomes wor­ried about poten­tial­ly los­ing her work. Matt’s calm demeanor in this moment is a stark con­trast to Phoebe’s anx­i­ety, as he reas­sures her that every­thing will be fine. Despite her ini­tial pan­ic, Phoebe is com­fort­ed by Matt’s pres­ence, which hints at the grow­ing con­nec­tion between them as they share this moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty.

As the pow­er is restored, Phoebe breathes a sigh of relief when she dis­cov­ers that her work was not lost. The ten­sion between them light­ens as they engage in a play­ful con­ver­sa­tion about his­tor­i­cal fig­ures and their attrac­tive­ness, a dis­cus­sion that sparks laugh­ter and brings them clos­er. They begin to bond over their shared expe­ri­ences, espe­cial­ly their fam­i­lies’ fail­ure to under­stand the depth of their aca­d­e­m­ic pur­suits. Phoebe reflects on her father’s con­cerns about her focus­ing too much on her stud­ies and not enough on her social life. This res­onates with Matt, as he too has felt mis­un­der­stood by those around him, cre­at­ing a sense of mutu­al under­stand­ing. Their exchange allows them to con­nect on a deep­er lev­el, as they find com­mon ground in their expe­ri­ences and their desire to be under­stood.

How­ev­er, as the chap­ter pro­gress­es, Phoebe is hit with the real­i­ty of her sit­u­a­tion. After a tense moment, she real­izes that her dis­ser­ta­tion work has been lost, prompt­ing her to pan­ic. The loom­ing dead­lines and pres­sure to com­plete her work start to over­whelm her. In con­trast, Matt remains calm and col­lect­ed, show­ing no signs of stress as he nav­i­gates through the same chal­lenges. Phoebe admires Matt’s abil­i­ty to stay ground­ed, while she feels less con­fi­dent in her stand­ing with­in the depart­ment. Despite her self-doubt, she finds com­fort in their bud­ding con­nec­tion, under­stand­ing that their shared time togeth­er is worth more than the stress of her work. This moment reveals the com­plex­i­ties of their rela­tion­ship, as Phoebe begins to lean on Matt for emo­tion­al sup­port, find­ing solace in his unwa­ver­ing pres­ence.

Through­out the sum­mer, Phoebe and Matt’s rela­tion­ship con­tin­ues to blos­som as they both fin­ish their dis­ser­ta­tions. They take breaks from their aca­d­e­m­ic strug­gles to engage in fun activ­i­ties, such as bowl­ing and dri­ves along the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er. These shared moments of joy help them unwind and deep­en their con­nec­tion, as they nav­i­gate the chal­lenges of post-grad­u­ate life. Phoebe, in par­tic­u­lar, finds her­self drawn to the themes of love and indif­fer­ence in Mrs. Dal­loway, which mir­rors some of her own inter­nal strug­gles. As she reads, she reflects on her grow­ing feel­ings for Matt and her own inter­nal con­flict about their rela­tion­ship. Despite the uncer­tain­ty of the future, she feels a deep emo­tion­al con­nec­tion with him, which con­trasts with the iso­la­tion she has often felt in the past.

The arrival of the fall semes­ter intro­duces new chal­lenges for both Phoebe and Matt. Phoebe takes on an adjunct posi­tion, which adds pres­sure to her already full plate, while Matt begins a new job that shifts his focus. This change in their lives forces Phoebe to con­front her own dreams and desires, par­tic­u­lar­ly her long­ing for a tenure-track posi­tion in Wis­con­sin. As she faces this cross­roads, she wish­es for Matt to take charge and make deci­sions for their future togeth­er. She feels con­flict­ed, as the weight of deci­sion-mak­ing falls heav­i­ly on her, despite her desire for a part­ner­ship where both con­tribute equal­ly. This inter­nal strug­gle reveals Phoebe’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, as she grap­ples with the fear of being alone in her pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al deci­sions.

The chap­ter con­cludes on a hope­ful note, with Phoebe and Matt shar­ing a qui­et yet sig­nif­i­cant moment dur­ing a solar eclipse. In this fleet­ing moment of con­nec­tion, Matt casu­al­ly sug­gests that they get mar­ried, offer­ing a sense of com­fort and assur­ance for Phoebe. The pro­pos­al, though casu­al, rep­re­sents the nat­ur­al growth of their rela­tion­ship and the deep bond they have formed. Phoebe feels both sur­prised and relieved by this sug­ges­tion, as it sig­ni­fies a shift toward com­mit­ment in their rela­tion­ship. The solar eclipse sym­bol­izes a new begin­ning for them, as they embrace the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a shared future. In this moment of clar­i­ty, Phoebe real­izes that despite the uncer­tain­ties and chal­lenges ahead, their love pro­vides a sense of sta­bil­i­ty and hope, a feel­ing that had been miss­ing from her life for so long.