On Armistice Day, Theo reflects on the meaning of 11/11 at the eleventh hour and notes that it is also Tony the bookseller’s birthday. Having learned Tony’s birthdate, Theo handwrites and delivers an invitation to celebrate at Ponder House, and Tony accepts, jokingly questioning whether his life is truly “good.”

On the evening of the dinner, Tony closes the Verbivore early, changes, and climbs to Theo’s third-floor apartment. He is immediately impressed by the apartment’s elegance and, when a striking young woman appears from the kitchen, Tony assumes Theo has arranged extra “perks,” teasing him with approving gestures.

Theo explains that he arranged the meal through Chef Bouchard of the Canto, a restaurant Theo visits weekly and where several of Asher’s paintings hang. Earlier that afternoon, Chef Bouchard personally delivered the food and left Mia, a young hostess/server from Barcelona, to help finish the dishes and ensure they were plated properly.

While preparing the meal with Mia, Theo questions her in Spanish and Catalan and learns she has been in Golden for a year on a worker’s visa, interning at a marketing firm, and recently began working nights at the Canto “to meet new people and get away from the house.” Theo senses nervousness in Mia and asks if they have met before, but Tony’s arrival interrupts the moment before Mia can answer.

Mia serves and presents an American-Portuguese menu, then departs, leaving Theo and Tony to eat. After the meal disappears in satisfied silence, Theo brings out a small cheesecake with a single candle and sings “Happy Birthday” in Portuguese. In the sitting area, Theo presents Tony’s gift: a special bottle of port from the Douro Valley near Theo’s home, and Theo begins an affectionate, detailed lesson about the hard work and heritage behind the wine, surprising Tony with stories of Theo’s childhood labor in the vineyards.