The chapter follows Peter through a Tuesday evening and the following day. He calls Ivan, ostensibly just to say hello, though he half-hoped no one would answer. Their conversation is stilted but revealing: Ivan mentions the chess event in Clogherkeen and briefly references a woman he met there, calling her "pretty cool." Peter gently asks about their father, and Ivan straightforwardly admits he misses him. Ivan then asks if Peter is okay, prompting Peter to deflect. Peter proposes Sunday lunch together, and Ivan agrees warily, asking if Peter has big news like a marriage—a question that unsettles Peter, who connects it to Ivan possibly noticing his closeness with Sylvia after the funeral.

After hanging up, Peter receives messages from Naomi, his young girlfriend, who sends a screenshot showing she's overdrawn. He transfers her €200, then reflects uneasily on the transactional and morally ambiguous nature of their relationship. The next morning, Peter takes alprazolam before court, performs brilliantly during oral argument, then teaches a class at Trinity College. Walking through the campus stirs painful nostalgia for his earlier life with Sylvia. Throughout the day, he is haunted by suicidal ideation—calm, recurring thoughts of wishing he were dead—though he concludes he would never act on them, if only to spare Ivan the loss of a brother so soon after their father.

That evening Peter drinks with colleagues, then goes to Naomi's flat in a squat near the hospital, bringing whiskey and donuts. Her friends are partying. Naomi shows him a court order instructing vacation of the property. He's too drunk and medicated to read it properly. Naomi asks bluntly whether he sleeps with Sylvia; he says not anymore. When Naomi leaves to take a phone call and her friends crowd her room—one guy pointedly asking how Peter and Naomi know each other—Peter feels a surge of humiliation and anger. He reflects bitterly on how they met: a flirtation that escalated until he left his previous girlfriend, a well-connected woman, for Naomi, who was twenty-two, legally homeless, and involved in online sex work.

Peter abruptly leaves Naomi's flat, takes a taxi to Sylvia's apartment on Baggot Street, letting himself in with his own key. Sylvia is calm, listening to music, washing dishes. In her presence, Peter feels sober and at peace. They discuss his court hearing and her upcoming hospital procedure—an epidural for her chronic pain condition, which he plans to accompany her to the next day. The chapter culminates in an intimate scene: Peter kisses Sylvia, undresses her partially, careful not to cause pain. She tells him she can't go further, and he understands. In a raw, unguarded moment, he tells her he loves her, and she says it back. Peter is left exhausted, drunk, ashamed, and longing to live "the right life."