At the wedding weekend party, Frankie feels immediate relief and joy now that George has finally arrived. She drinks, relaxes, and watches him slip easily into the family circle by entertaining Birdie and talking with her parents. Frankie keeps trying to steal a private moment with him, but the celebration keeps interrupting them.

Nate pulls Frankie onto the dance floor, where she reflects on the ballroom lessons she and George once shared under Mimi’s strict instruction. Nate is clumsy despite their recent lessons, and George quietly teases Frankie with an old joke about Mimi calling her a rhinoceros. The teasing makes Frankie laugh hard and reinforces how quickly George’s presence restores their old rhythm.

As the party loosens, older guests leave, Birdie is taken to bed, and the younger group shifts to scotch, edibles, tequila, and dancing. Frankie shares a warm moment with Aurora, who points out that Frankie became noticeably brighter as soon as George arrived. That observation underscores how central George still is to Frankie’s emotional life.

George then cuts in to dance with Frankie, and they fall effortlessly into a waltz. During the dance, George awkwardly but sincerely tells Frankie she looks beautiful and happy, while Frankie is struck by how confident and changed he seems. Dancing with him makes her feel the rare freedom of surrendering control, and she realizes she has not felt that way since they danced together at Darwin’s wedding.

When the song changes, Frankie presses George about his mood because she senses something is wrong. Their conversation moves from joking about Moby’s edible and George’s ex Lara to a more serious exchange: George admits that Frankie’s impending marriage is only now truly hitting him, and he asks whether she is really happy. Frankie promises that she is and asks George to promise he is happy too; he gives that promise just before Nate cuts in. Frankie throws herself back into the celebration with Nate, calls it the best night of her life, and the chapter ends with the ominous revelation that everything will fall apart eight hours later.