Lila introduces Phoebe to the wedding party in the hotel lobby, where Phoebe quickly sees that Lila behaves differently around her guests than she does in private. The bride becomes careful, cheerful, and subdued, especially around Gary’s sister Marla and Gary’s daughter Mel, who insists on being called Juice. When Marla’s cool sarcasm makes the mood tense, Phoebe steps in with jokes and small talk, sensing that Lila wants support but cannot openly push back.

As the group waits for the car, Phoebe observes how mismatched the wedding people are despite their shared purpose. Lila tells a polished version of how she met Gary at her mother’s gallery, and Marla repeatedly undercuts the romance with dry comments. Outside, they discover that the vintage convertible Suz rented is a stick shift, and because nobody else can drive it, Phoebe volunteers. Taking the wheel gives Phoebe an unexpected role in the group and briefly reconnects her to a steadier, older self through the memory of learning to drive with her father.

During the drive to Bowen’s Wharf, the women admire Newport, trade stories, and expose the fault lines among them. Lila retells Gary’s proposal in Germany, framing it as evidence of his thoughtfulness, while Marla resists treating Gary like a flawless hero and reveals that he once accidentally burned down their kitchen. Phoebe also notices explicit messages from someone named Robert appearing on Marla’s phone, which suggests Marla is carrying her own private disorder beneath her controlled exterior. Traffic traps the group long enough for each woman’s profession and personality to come out, and Phoebe realizes that this wedding is full of people who are supposed to be intimate but do not actually know how to connect.

At the wharf, Phoebe discovers that Gary is the same man she met in the hot tub the night before. Both Phoebe and Gary immediately pretend not to recognize each other, and Gary accepts Lila’s introduction of Phoebe as a new friend without acknowledging their earlier conversation. That mutual silence confirms to Phoebe that their encounter mattered, even if neither will name it, and it deepens the strange emotional tension now sitting underneath the public wedding performance.

The chapter ends with Juice suddenly breaking down because her virtual dog, Human Princess, has died, and the adults freeze in discomfort when the child links the toy to her dead mother. Gary tries to soothe Juice, Gary’s father makes an insensitive remark, and nobody else knows how to respond. Phoebe, remembering her own grief over Harry, is the only one who meets Juice at the right emotional level: she asks what happened, listens seriously, and offers to hold a funeral for the dog on the boat. In doing so, Phoebe becomes the person willing to fill the silences that the wedding people cannot manage themselves.