Mallory returns to her cottage and sees a text from Adrian saying he has good news from the library. Adrian asks Mallory to come to his parents' house, where a dinner party is underway, and Mallory quickly gets ready and borrows one of Caroline's dresses. When Mallory arrives at the Flower Castle, Adrian admits he told his parents a harmless lie: that Mallory found old sketches hidden under the cottage floorboards and wants to know whether Annie Barrett made them.

Adrian's mother, Sofia, takes Mallory into the garden and explains what she found. Because old local newspapers are largely unavailable, Sofia searched the library's local authors shelf and discovered a rare self-published booklet, The Collected Works of Anne C. Barrett (1927–1948), assembled by George Barrett. George's introduction paints Annie as foolish, solitary, irresponsible, and immoral, then says she was abducted from the cottage behind his house and presumed dead. But when Mallory looks through the booklet, the reproduced paintings are abstract and look nothing like the realistic drawings appearing in her cottage, so the book does not confirm Annie as the artist Mallory has been seeking.

Sofia then reveals the more important discovery: wills from George and Jean Barrett. George had written that he and Jean had no siblings, yet Jean later left fifty thousand dollars to a niece named Dolores Jean Campbell in Akron, Ohio. Sofia suspects Dolores may actually have been Annie's child, hidden behind family language and George's moralizing version of events. She gives Mallory Dolores's phone number and warns Mallory and Adrian to be careful if they keep digging into family secrets. Mallory wants to call immediately but decides to wait until morning, then tells Adrian that the Maxwells dismissed her evidence and treated her ghost theory as delusion or attention-seeking.

Back inside, Ignacio's lively dinner party has turned into music and dancing, and Adrian leads Mallory back outside with churros and seltzer for a tour of the garden. In the privacy of the koi pond and gazebo paths, Adrian kisses Mallory. Mallory briefly tries to stop and tell him the truth about herself, but the moment feels too perfect and she cannot bring herself to ruin it. Instead, Mallory kisses Adrian back, choosing intimacy while continuing to hide the parts of her past she fears will make him reject her.

After the party ends, Adrian insists on walking Mallory home. On the way, Mallory tries to slow things down and hints that Adrian may learn things about her he will not like, but Adrian responds warmly and asks her on a date for the next evening in Princeton. At the cottage, the two kiss again, and after Adrian leaves, Mallory decides she will finally tell him everything over dinner. That resolve is shattered the moment Mallory unlocks her door and discovers Ted Maxwell lying in her bed.