At the Desert Rose pool, Poppy and Alex try to relax, but the heat and their growing physical awareness of each other make the scene tense. While they put on sunscreen, Poppy complains about aging and her body, and Alex firmly tells her she looks better now than she did when she was younger. The exchange turns charged when Poppy rubs sunscreen onto Alex’s back, imagines kissing him, and then forces herself to shut down the thought.

When Alex returns the favor, Poppy tries to break the tension by asking about Sarah Torval. Alex admits he still talks to Sarah sometimes and still sees her at school, but his discomfort makes Poppy stop pressing. They attempt to cool off in the crowded pool, but being pressed so close together only makes things worse, especially when Alex steadies Poppy by the hips after she bumps into him. To escape the awkwardness, they go back to their lounge chairs and pretend to read for hours, though Poppy cannot focus and worries about her stalled work.

Back at the apartment, they discover it is even hotter than before. Poppy calls the host, Nikolai, who unhelpfully explains that the thermostat can only be lowered one degree at a time, confirming that the rental’s air-conditioning is barely functional. Poppy realizes she cannot easily solve the problem by booking a hotel because money is tight and her travel-job perks are limited, so she and Alex resign themselves to making the bad rental work.

Alex showers first while Poppy paces, documents the apartment’s problems, and slowly adjusts the thermostat as instructed. When Alex comes out wearing only a towel, Poppy is startled by how intensely she reacts to seeing him, even more than she did when he was in his swimsuit. She thinks this new awareness traces back to Croatia, then rushes into the bathroom and discovers that it has been remodeled into a bizarre blue-lit multihead shower that looks nothing like the listing photos.

Poppy calls Alex back to complain about the absurd bathroom, and their shared jokes about the apartment’s misery briefly restore some ease between them. Laughing together about the futuristic shower and their sadistic host cuts through the tension for a moment. Even so, the chapter ends with the same underlying problem intact: Poppy and Alex are trapped in close quarters, unable to ignore how much their dynamic has changed.