After book club, Celeste drives home thinking about the last time she saw Saxon Banks and his wife, Eleni. At a family wedding in Adelaide before Celeste became pregnant with the twins, Perry and Saxon greeted each other with genuine affection, while Celeste and Eleni prepared to enjoy the reception.

When Eleni realized she had left her phone at the church, Saxon good-naturedly insisted on retrieving it himself. Perry went with Saxon, leaving Celeste and Eleni to drink champagne by the fire. The memory troubles Celeste because Saxon’s apparently loving behavior does not fit with Jane’s account of cruelty.

Celeste then recognizes that this contradiction is possible because Perry also behaves tenderly and violently. She speculates whether Perry and Saxon share inherited mental illness, since their mothers are identical twins, or whether their controlling but sweet-seeming mothers shaped them. Celeste briefly imagines that she and Eleni failed to become the powerful maternal figures Perry and Saxon expected.

Still, Celeste minimizes Perry’s abuse by calling it temper, volatility, and job stress, while deciding Saxon’s assault of Jane is far worse. Celeste wonders whether she has a responsibility to warn Eleni or other young women, but reminds herself that Saxon’s identity has not been proven.

Celeste arrives at her luxurious home and contrasts it with the practical difficulties of the escape apartment she has secretly leased. After looking at the bruises on her arm, Celeste sharply mocks the idea of staying with Perry for comfort and convenience, then tries to reassure herself that Perry is not as bad as Saxon.