Four summers earlier, Poppy is thrilled to combine her annual trip with Alex and her new job at Rest + Relaxation. She plans to surprise him with a far more luxurious Scandinavian itinerary than they could ever afford on their own, including an ice hotel in Sweden, and she eagerly prepares with help from Dani’s detailed Norway recommendations. In the weeks before departure, Poppy and Alex text constantly about everything except the trip itself, and their affectionate exchanges about Alex’s cat make Poppy’s growing romantic feelings even harder to ignore.

Just before they leave, Poppy gets increasingly sick. After a bad dream that Alex will cancel and get back together with Sarah, Poppy nervously seeks reassurance, and Alex tells her the summer trip is the highlight of his year. The next day, Poppy’s illness worsens into a high fever, making travel impossible. Afraid she has ruined both the assignment and the trip, Poppy emails Swapna, who responds kindly, tells Poppy not to apologize for being sick, and says Alex can still use the booked accommodations while Trey handles the photography.

Left alone in her apartment, Poppy becomes too weak and delirious to care for herself. By evening, Alex appears at her door instead of flying on to Norway. He finds her burning with fever, helps her shower, changes her bedding after she has wet it, gives her medicine, makes tea and soup, and stays through the night to monitor her. The next morning he takes her to the doctor, where Poppy learns she has pneumonia, though not badly enough to need hospitalization.

When Alex returns from a quick shopping trip with food, vitamins, and supplies, he explains that his flight to Norway connected through New York and that he chose to leave the airport and come to her. Poppy is overwhelmed that he gave up the trip for her, and their physical closeness deepens into a charged embrace in bed that nearly becomes something more. Later, when Poppy asks about Alex’s mother, Alex opens up about how little he remembered after her death, how Betty once showed him home movies, and how that memory helped him think of his mother as a real person instead of only a family tragedy.

Over the next several days, Alex stays with Poppy while she recovers, and they settle into a fragile domestic routine of medicine, meals, cartoons, and quiet companionship. Although the attraction between them remains palpable, both pull back from acting on it. By the time Poppy is well enough to function again, she has convinced herself that Alex wants a rooted life with marriage, children, and permanence, while she wants freedom and motion, so preserving their friendship means shutting down the possibility between them. At the airport, Poppy keeps their goodbye deliberately restrained, and after several days of silence, Alex finally texts her a photo of Flannery with the message: fate.