Over the course of a fast-moving week in mid-August, Charlie teaches Alice and Bennett to water-ski; Bennett succeeds on day two, while Alice struggles until she finally gets up and skims across the water. Charlie takes them on afternoon boat rides, sometimes with Nan, and supplies a box of old horror movies to supplement the cottage’s limited DVDs, joining some nights to tease Alice through the scary parts.

The trio spends so much time together that Alice and Charlie find no private moments. One night, after Bennett falls asleep on the couch, Alice and Charlie sneak to the screened porch and kiss, but Bennett’s movement inside spooks them apart. Charlie insists on keeping physical distance while they sit together, admitting he doesn’t trust himself not to touch her, and their mutual pull intensifies.

Charlie steadily brings Bennett out of her shell, often by joking at his own expense. Alice overhears Charlie counsel Bennett after a boy ignored her at the movies, emphasizing trust and friendship first. Charlie challenges Bennett to a cannonball contest; when Alice refuses to swim to keep her hair dry, Charlie hauls her to the dock and drops her into the lake, teasing, “Nah, you love me.”

That evening, after a FaceTime call with Alice’s mom where Bennett recounts her water-skiing triumph, Alice and Bennett arrive in pajamas for a sleepover in Charlie’s tree house, which he has prepared with an inflatable mattress and a star-view setup that ticks off another list item. Once Bennett falls asleep, Alice slips into the house to brush her teeth, nursing a sprained wrist from earlier.

Charlie appears, shirtless and in pajama bottoms, and gently offers to help. He literally brushes Alice’s teeth, an unexpectedly intimate act that leaves her weak-kneed. He notes they have nearly completed her summer list and then confides that he missed her during his week away, felt like he left family behind, and that she is important to him.

Alice reciprocates his feelings. Charged by the admission, they crash together in a passionate encounter, shedding clothes and escalating quickly on the bathroom counter. They are abruptly interrupted by Bennett calling out from the tree house. Alice hastily dresses, returns to Bennett, and lies awake reeling from Charlie’s confession: “I missed you so much, Alice.”