Chapter 18

At a quiet corner booth, Skylar joins Rosie and Tabitha. Doris fusses, and Tabitha’s exhaustion is obvious. Seeking honesty, Skylar blurts that her parents are divorcing and she learned she owns far less of her songs than she believed, linking this to her recent disastrous interviews.

Tabitha then reveals her sister died a month ago. She is grieving and temporarily caring for almost-three-year-old Milo amid complicated arrangements. Rosie offers support, and Skylar comforts Tabitha, who decides to salvage the night with drinks and banter.

The trio heads to the local bowling alley on a whim to “talk trash,” which means seeing West on men’s night. Overwhelmed by the attention, Skylar freezes until Rosie steadies her and West’s warm greeting calms her anxiety. Friendly ribbing flies between the women and West and Ford; Tabitha needles West about commitment and inspires the team name, the Ball Busters.

Terence provokes the group until Rhys arrives, towering and threatening him into retreat. Rhys’s focus lingers on Tabitha, hinting at jealousy. West retreats to bowl, and the women claim the bar as “girls’ night.”

As they heckle the lanes, Rosie calls out Rhys’s gutter ball. Under pressure, Tabitha admits Rhys is staying with her and that she needed him out of the house, deepening the mystery of their situation. The women lean into tequila and laughter, turning grief and stress into a brief, defiant camaraderie.