The morning after texting Alex late into the night, Poppy goes to Swapna’s office determined to make Palm Springs her next assignment. Poppy chooses the destination because Alex is already traveling there for his brother David’s wedding, and Alex has agreed to extend the trip so they can vacation together before Poppy stays for the wedding. Poppy frames Palm Springs as a smart, affordable summer travel story, hoping to align her personal goal with the magazine’s needs.

Swapna briefly considers the idea but rejects it as a bad fit for the magazine’s aspirational brand. Instead, Swapna tells Poppy she has already decided to send her to Santorini. That decision jolts Poppy into recognizing that the luxury assignment she once would have wanted now matters less to her than the chance to spend unstructured time with Alex and try to repair whatever has gone wrong between them.

Rather than accept Santorini, Poppy asks Swapna to give the trip to Garrett and says she needs time off for a real vacation. Swapna, confused but professional, agrees and tells Poppy to send her the dates. After leaving the office, Poppy feels briefly calmer because she has chosen what she actually wants instead of what her job expects from her.

At her desk, Poppy confronts the financial reality of that choice. She knows she can use savings, but she also knows Alex, a high school English teacher burdened by debt, likely would not let her pay if he knew she was funding the trip herself. Poppy convinces herself that a cheap, improvised vacation might be better anyway, because their trips only became strained once her magazine started paying for them and their earlier budget trips had always been joyful.

Poppy then texts Alex suggesting they do Palm Springs the way they used to: cheaply, casually, and without the magazine’s usual production. When Alex asks whether R+R is really fine with that and whether there will be no photographer, Poppy avoids a direct lie but misleadingly says everything is all set. Alex agrees, and Poppy ends the chapter determined to make this trip work.