At the wedding festivities, Poppy watches Alex relax into his warmest, most playful self as he chases Bryce’s, Cameron’s, and Tham’s family’s children around the restaurant and pulls Poppy into their games. During dinner, the adults settle in while Poppy and Alex sit at the kids’ table. The emotional center of the evening shifts when Tham’s pregnant sister gives a loving toast about their closeness and how David became part of that bond, and then Ed Nilsen unexpectedly stands to speak. Ed admits he was not always the father David deserved, praises David’s brothers for raising him, and publicly welcomes Tham into the family, giving Alex and Poppy a glimpse of real change inside the Nilsen family.

Back at the hotel, Poppy and Alex make love with a new tenderness that reflects their honesty about loving each other. The next day, they attend David and Tham’s wedding at a beautiful garden venue, and the ceremony leads into a joyful reception full of food, dancing, and affection. Even while Poppy experiences the happiest parts of the night with Alex, she is haunted by the knowledge that the trip is ending and that they still have not answered what their life together would actually look like.

After the send-off, Poppy and Alex go to bed clinging to each other, but the next morning becomes a frantic rush. They oversleep, scramble to pack, race to return the borrowed car, and barely make it to the airport. Their banter on the way there is affectionate but strained, because both of them know a hurried airport goodbye is replacing the romantic resolution neither of them has managed to name.

At Alex’s gate, Poppy finally tells him that R+R did not approve the Palm Springs trip and that she paid for it herself because she needed to talk to him while she was feeling lost, dissatisfied at work, and unsure what she wanted next. When Poppy describes the trip as part of needing a “break from life,” Alex hears that as proof that Poppy used him and the wedding weekend as an escape from her real problems rather than as a deliberate choice about a future with him. His hurt deepens when he realizes she still has not thought through the practical questions that would come with being together.

Alex tells Poppy that his love has never been impulsive: he has known for years what he wanted, has imagined moving for her, and cannot let himself become a temporary answer to her uncertainty. Poppy insists that she loves him, but Alex says love has never been their problem; the problem is that he knows what he wants and Poppy does not. Before boarding, he asks for space and says he will not be her break from real life or the thing that keeps her from having what she truly wants. He leaves without looking back, and Poppy goes to her own gate and breaks down, feeling for the first time that the airport is the loneliest place in the world.