Three days before the flower shop’s grand opening, Lily asks Allysa whether Allysa and Marshall give to charity because Lily has been thinking about starting some kind of charitable work. Allysa encourages Lily to focus on one dream at a time, then reveals the real reason she works at the shop despite being wealthy: Allysa and Marshall have been unable to conceive for two years, and working for Lily keeps Allysa from staying home grieving.

Allysa then gives Lily a bouquet from Ryle. His card says he is suffering withdrawal, and he texts Lily asking to see her. When Lily says she is having dinner with her mother at Bib’s, Ryle asks to join them. Lily is surprised because Ryle has moved quickly from rejecting relationships to wanting to meet Lily’s mother, and Allysa’s uneasy reaction makes Lily wonder whether Allysa is worried because of Lily or because of Ryle.

Ryle meets Lily at her car after work and kisses her intensely before they drive together to the restaurant. Lily’s mother, Jenny Bloom, is already seated and initially mistakes Ryle for a waiter. Ryle handles the awkward moment politely, introduces himself, and eases into conversation. When Ryle leaves for the restroom, Jenny presses Lily for details, impressed when Lily says Ryle is a neurosurgeon.

As Lily orders drinks, she recognizes the waiter as Atlas Corrigan, the boy she loved and sheltered years earlier. Shocked, Lily struggles to speak. She later excuses herself to the bathroom and finds Atlas waiting in the hallway. They embrace, stunned to see each other after so many years. Atlas says eight years in the army changed him, and Lily tells him she now lives in Boston and owns a flower shop in Park Plaza. Their reunion is warm but strained, and Atlas says he will come see her sometime.

Lily remains distracted through the rest of dinner, but Ryle charms Jenny and the meal ends well. After Jenny leaves, Ryle kisses Lily goodbye and says he will attend the shop’s grand opening before taking a taxi home for an early surgery. Lily feels hopeful about Ryle, but then Atlas appears by her car. Atlas asks about Ryle, and Lily asks whether Atlas is married or dating. Atlas says he has a girlfriend named Cassie and adds that he wishes this meeting could have happened a year earlier. Lily cries in her car afterward, telling herself that seeing Atlas was necessary closure so she can give her heart to Ryle.