For Beth’s thirtieth birthday, Frank surprises her with a stay at an elegant country hotel on the Devon border. Beth is thrilled by the luxury of the room, though she immediately worries about the cost until Frank explains that he sold an old trailer to pay for it and tells her not to think about money. The privacy and novelty of the trip quickly draw them together, and they spend the afternoon in bed and in the hotel’s large bath, enjoying a rare period of ease after the strain that has built up between them.

Their physical intimacy reminds Beth of how well Frank knows her and how naturally they can still be close. As they relax together, Beth feels some of the recent tension lifting. Away from the farm and its routines, the couple briefly recovers a version of themselves that feels simpler and more connected.

At dinner, the hotel’s formality and the expensive wine make the evening feel like a special return to their honeymoon. After a second bottle of wine, Beth and Frank begin reminiscing about Bobby, recalling small, vivid memories from his childhood, including his disappointment with a toy tractor, his pride in cycling without stabilizers, and his Christmas habit of bringing treats to the animals. The memories bring both of them to tears, but the distance from home makes it possible for them to speak about Bobby more openly than usual.

When Frank starts to say what he wishes had been different about the day Bobby died, Beth understands how deeply both of them are still bound to guilt and loss. Beth tells Frank that all the wishes in the world cannot bring Bobby back and that they must try to let him go. Frank then asks whether they are going to be all right, exposing a vulnerability Beth rarely sees in him. Beth cannot promise that they will be, but she says she hopes so, and the chapter ends with both of them acknowledging, however uncertainly, the possibility that time might help.