Macy has since worked three catering jobs, each with their own chaotic moments. Despite the stress of the uncontrollable, Macy feels calm after ending her days, thinking that “those few hours of craziness relax[] something held tight in [her]” (106).

When Macy returns home, her father’s truck is in the driveway, indicating her sister, Caroline, has come to visit. Later, at lunch with Macy and Deborah, Caroline brings up renovating the dilapidated beach house their father loved so they can take a vacation there in August, like old times. Deborah doesn’t want to talk about it, and for Macy, it brings up painful memories. Caroline admits to crying and grieving all over again when she first visited the beach house after their father’s death, but eventually the nostalgia of the memories surrounding the house uplifted her spirits. When Deborah admits it’s too much for her to handle, Caroline assures them that she’ll handle the renovations.

Macy is 20 minutes late returning to the library from lunch. When the girls berate her, she realizes that she’ll never be perfect, no matter how much she tries. She’s wasted too much of her fleeting life holing up inside and never taking risks, and it’s left her feeling unfulfilled.