Contents
Saturday, 6 July
Overview
Josie’s fixation on Alix escalates from covert interest to trespass-like surveillance and theft when Josie peers into Alix’s home and takes a magazine from the recycling. Alix and Nathan discover the incident through doorbell footage, forcing Alix to confront the danger of inviting Josie into her life while still weighing the podcast’s professional promise.
The chapter also deepens Alix’s domestic strain, as Nathan’s drinking at a party leaves Alix isolated and responsible. Josie’s private reverence for the stolen magazine and Alix’s receipt shows that Josie’s attachment is becoming more intimate, obsessive, and unsettling.
Summary
Josie returns to the spot near the coffee shop where she previously believed she had seen Roxy. Josie watches passing young women, caught between near certainty that it was not Roxy and a lingering belief that Roxy could still appear. When Roxy does not appear, Josie feels hollow, then relieved.
Seeing that Alix’s house looks empty, Josie goes to the front door and peers through the shutters and hallway window. Josie studies the unfamiliar front room, family details, and signs of Alix’s domestic life, enjoying the time to look without being rushed. When a slowing car frightens Josie, she searches for something connected to Alix and steals a glossy interiors magazine from Alix’s recycling box.
Later, Nathan notices Ring doorbell footage from noon and shows Alix that Josie was outside their house. The recording shows Josie staring through the windows for an unusually long time, then opening the recycling box and taking the magazine. Alix tries to rationalize Josie’s visit at first, but the theft leaves Alix shaken.
That evening, Alix and Nathan go to a birthday dinner with Nathan’s college friend Giovanni and Giovanni’s partner Nathalie. Alix wants to discuss Josie but holds back because Nathan would likely tell Alix to end the podcast, and Alix does not want his judgment to determine a project that might advance Alix’s career. As Nathan drinks heavily and performs for his friends, Alix becomes uneasy and eventually leaves alone when Nathan refuses to go home for the babysitter.
In bed, Alix messages Josie about the doorbell footage. Josie immediately replies that she was just passing and meant to say hello, but Alix senses the explanation is incomplete and postpones confronting it until they meet in person. Afterward, Josie sits with the stolen magazine, making a list of home items she could buy with inherited and saved money, and notices Walter is not in bed, which unsettles Josie.
While reading the magazine, Josie finds an old receipt from Planet Organic dated 8 June, the birthday Josie shares with Alix. Josie treats the receipt as a magical trace of Alix’s life before their first meeting, kisses it, and places it back inside the magazine.
Who Appears
- Josie FairSearches for Roxy, spies on Alix’s home, steals a magazine, and fetishizes Alix’s receipt.
- Alix SummerDiscovers Josie’s intrusion, weighs podcast ambition against family risk, and feels growing dread.
- NathanShows Alix the doorbell footage and later drinks heavily at a friend’s birthday dinner.
- RoxyAbsent but central to Josie’s street vigil and conflicted fear of seeing her again.
- Walter FairAbsent from bed at midnight, unsettling Josie as she studies the stolen magazine.
- GiovanniNathan’s college friend whose birthday dinner becomes the setting for Nathan’s heavy drinking.