After the first school drop-off, Madeline and Ed drive to Blue Blues to meet Jane and Jane’s parents. In the car, Ed argues that Madeline cannot make Chloe miss Amabella’s party just because Ziggy was excluded, but Madeline insists Renata broke an unwritten rule by handing out invitations at school while leaving one child out.

Madeline’s anger is sharpened by the emotions of Chloe starting school and by seeing Nathan in the school yard. Remembering how isolated Madeline felt as a single mother on Abigail’s first day of school, Madeline imagines Jane feeling similarly exposed and hurt, which strengthens Madeline’s protective loyalty toward Jane and Ziggy.

At the café, Jane’s mother, Di, asks Madeline to walk with her on the beach while the others order coffee. Di thanks Madeline for helping Jane settle in, then admits that Jane has moved often since Ziggy’s birth and seems deeply unhappy in a way Di cannot understand.

Di explains that Jane has changed: Jane is painfully thin, secretive, unsupported by any partner, and unwilling to accept money from Jane’s parents. Di says Jane broke up with a boyfriend named Zach before becoming pregnant, insisted Zach was not Ziggy’s father, and described Ziggy’s father as an unreachable one-night stand.

Di continues that Jane had once been told pregnancy might be difficult for her, making Ziggy’s conception seem fated, especially after Di’s father died during Jane’s pregnancy. Jane interrupts from the boardwalk to call them back for coffee, and Di apologizes for oversharing. Madeline promises to keep an eye on Jane, while later commentary frames Madeline as having effectively adopted Jane and become fiercely defensive of her.