Back at the Cornwall, Lila immediately redirects her irritation into complaints about her mattress while Pauline tries to satisfy her. As the rest of the wedding party disperses, Phoebe and Gary quietly stand together, jokingly turning the lobby books so their spines face out because, to Phoebe, books are meant to be read, not used as decoration. Upstairs, they also meet Lila's mother, who gives Phoebe the sweater she borrowed and has morbid bird sculptures removed from her room, creating another small clash over the hotel's carefully curated decor.

Once they are alone in the hallway, Phoebe and Gary talk more openly. Phoebe explains her knowledge of ravens through her work as a literature professor, and Gary thanks her for helping Juice mourn Human Princess, revealing that the toy mattered because Juice received it shortly before her mother's death. After a comic interruption from Gary's relatives asking for medical advice, Phoebe apologizes for the intimacy of their hot-tub conversation, and Gary responds by insisting she is not crazy and telling her she seemed fully alive, a remark that deeply affects her. They part only when Lila returns, and Phoebe declines the reception.

Back in her room, Phoebe feels the familiar weight of evening and reflects on her habit of catastrophizing her loneliness. Carlson's turn-down service, and his willingness to bring her a phone charger and tub stopper, gives her a small but meaningful chance to ask for what she needs. In the bath, while reading Mrs. Dalloway, Phoebe thinks about desire, shame, and her therapist's argument that wanting things is not inherently pathetic. She begins to feel pleasure and a renewed attachment to her body before Lila abruptly walks in.

Lila uses her room key to enter without permission, first ranting about Marla and the reception, which provokes Phoebe into finally drawing a boundary and angrily telling Lila she has interrupted an orgasm. The argument shifts when Lila reveals she came because she feared Phoebe might be dead, and then unravels into a confession about her father's criticism, her dyed hair, her loneliness, her strained relationship with Gary's daughter, and her inability to be honest with Gary or truly connected to her old friends. She also reveals that her maid of honor, Vivian, is not coming because her son has Covid. As Phoebe listens, she recognizes Lila's isolation beneath the bridal performance and responds with more sympathy than judgment.

When Lila asks Phoebe to replace Vivian as maid of honor, Phoebe hesitates but then accepts, recognizing how far she has already moved from the woman who arrived intending to die. After Lila helps rinse Phoebe's hair, Phoebe later turns on her recovered phone and finds messages from Bob about her missed classes, a student's absurd excuse, and increasingly worried texts from Matt. She replies only to Bob, saying she needs someone to cover her classes for now, and leaves Matt unanswered. Sitting on her balcony in the dark, listening to the wedding party below, Phoebe ends the night thinking about Mrs. Dalloway and the possibility that gathering people together, however imperfectly, may be one answer to loneliness.