The next morning, Lucy drives to visit her grandmother and reluctantly brings her mother, Kathleen, along. They arrive at Grandma’s newly purchased tiny house, which Kathleen has been criticizing, and Lucy finds it strange but charming rather than embarrassing. Inside, the small home immediately highlights the difference between Kathleen’s disapproval and Grandma’s delight in her own unconventional choices.

As they drink Grandma’s very sweet iced tea, the conversation turns into a familiar family clash. Kathleen complains that Grandma sold a comfortable paid-off house for a 250-square-foot home on wheels, while Grandma defends herself with humor and refuses to be shamed. Lucy quietly sides with Grandma, partly because she genuinely likes the place and partly because Grandma’s old house had once been a refuge from the tension and yelling in Lucy’s childhood home.

The mood stays sharp but playful when Grandma adds vodka to her tea before noon and jokes about developing a drinking problem in her seventies. Grandma then redirects the conversation away from judgment and asks Lucy about Los Angeles and Nathan. Lucy admits the relationship is probably ending, which reveals that Grandma knows more about Lucy’s current life than Kathleen does and underscores Lucy’s emotional distance from her mother.

After that, Grandma shows Lucy her birthday party plans, including a guest list, cocktails, and a strong preference for pie instead of cake. The exchange briefly feels practical and warm, with Lucy agreeing and Kathleen noting that Don can make apple pie. The party planning gives Lucy a temporary role in the family that is less burdened by suspicion and conflict.

That calm breaks when Grandma mentions the podcaster in town. Lucy says he emailed asking for an interview and that she ignored him, because she never responds to messages about Savvy. Kathleen says the podcaster seemed perfectly nice and calls Lucy’s silence rude, while Grandma points out that his politeness was self-serving. During the exchange, Lucy again hears the violent whisper in her head telling her to kill, showing that the strain of returning home and revisiting Savvy’s case is intensifying, and the chapter ends with Grandma asking whether Lucy plans to see any old friends, prompting Lucy’s bitter reply that she had none.