Beth reflects on the period after Bobby’s death, when she left Frank and went to stay with her parents in Ireland. Distance made Beth realize she did not want to return, and Frank, as expected, told her to stay. Their contact dwindled, which suited Beth because separation let both of them avoid the pain, blame, and the lie that Bobby’s death was merely an accident of farm life.

Beth explains that she only came home because Nina traveled to Cork and told her Jimmy was falling apart. Jimmy had started drinking heavily, fighting in pubs, wandering the village at night, and seeming close to losing his mind because he blamed himself for Bobby’s death and needed proof that Frank had not lost Beth as well as his son. Even in the present, Beth recognizes that Jimmy still wants their damaged family to remain intact, but Beth cannot give that reassurance because her thoughts are fixed on Gabriel, not Frank.

In the present, Beth and Gabriel spend the day making love again, but this time their intimacy is slower and more deliberate. Their physical closeness revives the memory of their younger selves, and when Beth says, “I remember,” Gabriel answers in kind, confirming that what they share is not just desire but a powerful return to the past. With Gabriel, Beth feels briefly restored to the version of herself that existed before heartbreak and Bobby’s death.

Afterward, Beth and Gabriel lie together and talk openly. Beth asks about Gabriel’s writing career, and Gabriel in turn asks why Beth is not writing poetry, touching the fear and grief she cannot voice fully because poetry now leads her back to Bobby. Gabriel reassures Beth that her talent is still waiting for her, then admits his own guilt about the failure of his marriage to Louisa, saying that unequal love hurt Louisa even if she was the one who left.

The conversation turns to Leo and to Beth’s fear that Gabriel might move to the United States so Leo can be near his mother. Gabriel is shocked by the suggestion and promises Beth that he will not leave now. That promise fills their still-new affair with hope and optimism.

When Beth collects Leo from school, she is already more comfortable hiding her affair and slips easily back into ordinary routines. Later, in the kitchen, Gabriel joins Beth and Leo for a game of rummy while dinner cooks, and the simple domestic scene gives Beth a surge of happiness. Sharing cards, food, and easy companionship with Gabriel and Leo, Beth starts to imagine this borrowed family as something she wants every day.