Lila waits at her agent Anoushka Mellors’s office, fending off a receptionist’s praise for The Rebuild before awkwardly revealing her marriage has ended. Anoushka pitches a hot-market concept: a candid, sexy midlife book tied to caregiving and independence, promising a potential six-figure deal if Lila can deliver three chapters quickly.

Energized by the prospect, Lila returns home, briefly encounters Jensen working on the memorial garden, and pointedly refuses to hear about a developing “shed situation.” Relishing rare quiet, she drafts a confessional opening chapter reframing her marriage’s collapse, writing 3,758 words in a cathartic burst.

Feeling lighter, Lila brings Jensen tea and shares an easy exchange; Jensen mentions Bill’s protective support and casually notes he skimmed her book. When Jensen tries again to raise the shed, Lila shuts him down, citing bandwidth and money limits, and leaves for the school run.

At pickup, Lila, dressed from her meeting, chats with Gabriel Mallory, who compliments her and gifts cinnamon buns in thanks for her earlier kindness. He shares that his daughter Lennie’s mother has died, and they acknowledge their respective burdens before collecting their children.

That evening’s dinner is calm until Truant’s frantic barking draws Lila to the garden. Expecting rats, she opens the shed to find Gene disheveled, high, and half-dressed among cushions and snacks, admitting the weed is too strong. Lila escorts Gene through the garden—under the gaze of nosy neighbors—back to the study sofa-bed.

Bill takes wine to apologize to the neighbors while Lila settles Gene and reassures the family. Later, after telling Bill she will make Gene leave once sober, Lila texts Jensen and learns Gene was the “shed problem” and appears to have been sleeping there for a couple of days, confirming what she’d refused to hear.