Madeline calls Celeste after arranging for Jane and Ziggy to visit for a playdate. Madeline wants Celeste and the twins to come too, partly to support Jane and partly to prevent awkwardness. Celeste mentions meeting Renata, who has already advised her to keep the twins away from Ziggy because of Amabella’s accusation, and Madeline objects that Renata has no right to blacklist Ziggy before school begins.

Celeste drifts into distraction, prompting Madeline to remember how their friendship began. Years earlier, during the children’s swimming lessons, Madeline noticed that one of Celeste’s twins, Max, had sunk to the bottom of the pool while Celeste stared into space. Madeline jumped in fully dressed and rescued him, then furiously confronted the swim school.

Afterward, Celeste, then an ex-lawyer, wrote a letter demanding compensation for Madeline’s ruined clothes and a refund of fees. The incident bonded the two women, though Celeste later told Perry only that she and Madeline had met through swimming lessons, which Madeline understood as a selective but sometimes necessary omission.

Back in the present, Madeline asks whether Perry has left on his business trip, and Celeste says he has gone to Vienna for three weeks. When Madeline jokes about Celeste missing him, Celeste answers indirectly that she likes having toast for dinner, suggesting relief at his absence. Madeline then worries aloud about looking older, while noting Celeste’s indifference to fashion and beauty concerns.

Madeline shifts to her troubles with Abigail, saying Bonnie picked her up and Abigail ran out eagerly, making Madeline feel she is losing her daughter to Nathan and Bonnie’s household. Madeline admits she wants to remind Abigail that Nathan abandoned them both, but feels she must remain the adult. The conversation ends with Celeste agreeing to bring the boys to meet Ziggy, while a later comment from Mrs. Lipmann denies that previous trivia nights have ended in bloodshed.