Lena walks home from Cal's the morning after Trey stayed over, savoring the simple pleasures of the walk. Despite preferring to stay out of others' business, she heads to Noreen's shop because Johnny Reddy's return now affects Cal and Trey, and Noreen, the village's information hub, may know what trouble Johnny brought from London.

At the shop, Lena and her sister Noreen banter while restocking. Noreen theorizes Johnny was dumped by a girlfriend and forced home. She also reveals she knew Johnny had tried selling fake diamonds in London to her old friend Bernadette before Christmas, but kept quiet to protect Trey. Noreen then urges Lena to marry Cal quickly, arguing that if Johnny decides to make trouble, Cal would be safer as Lena's husband. Lena, briefly enraged, refuses, but the warning leaves her uneasy about Johnny's potential threat.

Meanwhile, Cal works on a TV unit for Noreen, unsettled because Lena offered no reassurance about Johnny. He decides not to interrogate Trey about her father. When Trey arrives, she shares her school report card showing strong results, especially A's in Wood Technology and Science. Cal is genuinely proud. Trey mentions her father grandly predicted she'd attend Trinity and win a Nobel Prize, though she just wants to be a carpenter.

Cal initially plans their usual celebratory pizza trip into town but pulls back, suddenly wary of how outsiders might perceive his relationship with Trey now that Johnny is around. Instead, he proposes making homemade pizza and inviting Lena. Trey shops at Noreen's, and the three of them share a warm evening cooking, teasing about Cal possibly shaving his beard, and reading her teachers' praise.

The mood is affectionate but shadowed: Johnny's name goes unspoken all evening, yet his presence haunts everything. When Trey says "Fuck 'em" with cold finality about the village's gossip, Cal feels uneasy at the hardness in her voice. As they sit down to eat, Cal feels an unexpected impulse to hold their hands as his grandmother once did at grace.