Lila attends a makeup launch with Eleanor, debating how to respond to Gabriel Mallory after discovering he had been seeing someone else. Eleanor discourages Lila from writing a letter he won’t read and urges her to tell Jessie and to properly apologize to Jensen, also pressing Lila to cancel the book project.

Lila reflects on her guilt over Jensen and on her finances: Dan has reduced child support, savings are nearly gone, and royalties have been spent, leading her to conclude she must cancel the book and likely sell the house.

Determined to tell the truth, Lila visits Jessie’s art shop under the pretense of buying supplies and confesses that she had been seeing Gabriel. Through an awkward, interrupted exchange with a clueless customer, Lila and Jessie compare notes: Gabriel used different pet names (“Bella” for Lila, “carina” for Jessie), had been seeing Jessie almost a year, and slept with Lila recently, revealing overlapping relationships.

Jessie reels, lamenting how Gabriel upended her previously steady life, but appreciates knowing the truth. Lila resolves to write two letters—an abject apology to Jensen and a detailed account to Gabriel confronting his behavior.

On the walk to school, Lila spots Gabriel at a pub with another woman. She approaches, introduces herself, and, in front of the woman, exposes Gabriel’s pattern—mentioning the pet names and warning about his poor condom use—thereby confronting him publicly instead of in writing. Lila leaves, deciding she will not expend further emotional labor on letters.