The chapter opens at Alice’s crowded gallery opening, where she is momentarily transported back to her teenage summers by a photograph of Charlie, Sam, and Percy in their yellow boat. Charlie joins Alice, affectionate and proud, and they admire the series together, acknowledging the serendipity that led to this moment.

Alice recounts the exhibition’s contents: twelve large-format photographs under the title Alice Everly: Seen. The works include Reunion (Nan and John in Ottawa), Unstuck (Alice’s mother in a vineyard), Coming Soon (Percy pregnant in an orange bikini), Falling (the photo of Charlie developed in his high school darkroom), and One Golden Summer placed in the back corner. She reflects on how seeing the installation privately earlier moved her unexpectedly.

Charlie teases Alice affectionately and praises both her talent and her bold outfit, while Alice admires Charlie’s new, less formal style since he quit his former job and recently became CFO at a heart disease research foundation. Alice observes how fully recovered and radiant Charlie seems a year after surgery, and how their everyday routines deepen her love for him.

A brief flashback covers the past year: Alice moved into Charlie’s home in the spring as he resigned and took the summer to consider his future and renovate John’s cottage, which they now own. Alice split time between the city and Barry’s Bay, spending days with Percy and baby Susie while Charlie and Sam, later with Harrison’s help, upgraded the cottage kitchen. Sam told Alice she made Charlie his best self; Alice replied he had always been that person, needing to be seen. Percy said it felt like things were incomplete until Alice arrived, and Charlie agreed.

Nan returned to the lake with Alice and Charlie, healthier after her hip surgery, and witnessed their biggest argument yet: Alice wants to paint the cottage’s wood walls white, while Charlie refuses. Nan laughed, noting John and Joyce used to have the same debate, and remarking on what has and hasn’t changed.

Back at the gallery, Alice reveals she took the final portrait a month ago: a self-portrait taken nude, without makeup or styling, to mirror the vulnerability she asks of her subjects. She did not show this image to Charlie before the opening. When Alice asks what he thinks, Charlie, emotional, calls it beautiful—both the photo and Alice—and tells her he loves her.

As Elyse signals it is time for remarks, Charlie offers comic relief by suggesting he could strip to ease Alice’s nerves. He reassures her she will be brilliant. Alice takes the microphone, scans the faces of family and friends—including Heather, Bennett, her mother, Nan, her father, Luca, Lavinia, Sam, Percy, and Susie—along with collectors and journalists. Finding Charlie with One Golden Summer over his shoulder, Alice meets his silent “I love you” and begins to speak.