The chapter, set three months earlier, follows the narrator as he finally persuades Nina Swann to meet after weeks of messaging. They meet at a lively beachfront pizza restaurant in Folkestone. The narrator is struck by Nina’s charm and vitality, noting that she appears happier than expected for a recent widow, and he delights in her immediate physical and verbal warmth toward him.

They chat about dogs and work. Nina explains Paddy disliked dogs, a policy she has since changed at his restaurants. She describes the intense workload she has inherited, lamenting that Paddy thrived on the stress and constant presence in his venues. The narrator adopts a semi-retired restaurateur persona, emphasizing investment and advisory roles and a temporary, subpar living arrangement to seem grounded and relatable.

When asked about grief, Nina says she and her son Arlo are coping, but she is very concerned about her daughter Ash. Nina reveals Ash’s idealization of Paddy and recounts a major incident months before Paddy’s death: police were called to Ash’s Greenwich flat after her boss accused her of stalking. According to Nina, Ash believed her boss loved her and had sent letters, but the police found the letters likely came from Ash herself, matching paper and patterns. Ash followed the man on holiday to Ibiza, prompting a breakdown, brief hospitalization, therapy, and a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Ash subsequently moved home, took a local shop job, became withdrawn from London and friends, and is often clingy and self-focused, which strains Nina.

Pressed gently, Nina admits she feels both sadness and liberation after Paddy’s death. She describes Paddy as a dominating presence who belittled differing preferences and soaked up all family focus, with Ash idolizing him. Nina confesses she nearly left him during a prior affair with a younger man who paid considerate attention to her daily comfort and was present in the evenings. That relationship fizzled after Ash’s crisis and Paddy’s death, but Nina does not feel guilty about it.

The narrator withholds that Paddy also had an affair but believes Nina likely knows. He feels validated in his pursuit, convincing himself Nina deserves “a man like” him. He reassures Nina that she did nothing wrong and calls her a good woman; when Nina asks if he is a good man, he affirms that he is, maintaining his façade.