Lily wakes in Atlas’s bed smelling toast and briefly imagines Ryle is making breakfast for her. The memory of the previous night returns immediately, and Lily forces herself to get up and eat because she is hungry and pregnant. Lily notices that Atlas likely watched over her during the night, worried she might have a concussion.

In the kitchen, Atlas prepares breakfast with the quiet care of someone trying not to overwhelm Lily. A newspaper article about Boston’s best businesses unsettles Lily because it reminds Lily of Atlas’s restaurant, the interview Ryle read, and Ryle’s violent jealousy. Atlas serves crepes, and Lily acknowledges to herself that Atlas’s restaurant deserved its praise.

Lily and Atlas talk about Atlas’s cooking. Atlas says he trained as a chef in the military, but Lily remembers that Atlas could already cook as a teenager. Atlas explains that he taught himself because his mother worked late and he needed to feed himself, revealing another part of his difficult childhood. Atlas also explains that he saved money in the Marines, opened a small café, then opened Bib, though he modestly downplays its success.

Atlas sees Lily’s mood shift and does not press her. Before leaving for work, Atlas asks Lily not to go home that day, and Lily promises to stay. Atlas writes down the alarm instructions, phone numbers, addresses, and a small encouragement for Lily: “Just keep swimming.”

After Atlas leaves, Lily writes to Ellen for the first time in years. Lily explains that she stopped watching Ellen and stopped writing because Ellen was tied to memories of Atlas and pain. Lily catches Ellen up on her life: her father died, Lily became a business owner, married Ryle, and moved to Boston.

Lily then uses the letter to confront the truth that Lily loves a man who physically hurt her. Lily compares the pain to mourning Ryle’s death while also feeling hatred for him. Lily recognizes the dangerous reasoning that makes her blame herself and imagine ways to avoid Ryle’s anger, and Lily connects that reasoning to what her mother must have felt. The pregnancy intensifies Lily’s crisis because Lily sees no good option between raising a child in a broken home or an abusive one, and Lily ends by rejecting the idea that marriage vows should require enduring abuse.