Paula visits Cherry Lockwood's home in Battery Point, brought by their mutual friend Stephanie. Cherry formally apologizes to Paula for her prediction on the plane, insisting she has no psychic abilities and that her accurate predictions were pure coincidence. Paula accepts the apology politely but realizes it changes nothing—she still feels compelled to continue Timmy's swimming lessons and her ritualistic line-writing.

Cherry's attempts at reassurance are complicated by her own anxious personality: she warns Paula about blowholes, mentions her mother was a fortune teller, and cautions that knowing how to swim doesn't prevent drowning. Stephanie grows exasperated trying to steer the conversation toward comfort. Meanwhile, Paula notices a photo of Cherry's late husband Ned, whose kind face reminds her of her former therapist, Dr. Donnelly.

This reminder triggers a breakthrough for Paula. She recalls Dr. Donnelly's words: her OCD doesn't respond to logic, and she can't reason with irrational thoughts. Paula recognizes that her obsessive focus on Cherry's prediction, the swimming lessons, and the line-writing are all manifestations of her OCD flaring up under the stress of motherhood—not rational responses to a genuine supernatural threat. She had been pretending this wasn't about her OCD when it clearly was.

Paula resolves to call Matt on the way home and tell him she's making an urgent appointment with Dr. Donnelly to get proper help. She also decides to ask Stephanie about part-time contract law positions, acknowledging that full-time motherhood alone isn't enough for her and that she needs the certainty that work provides. For the first time, Paula seems ready to address the real source of her distress rather than seeking external reassurance.