At sixteen, Patch has left school and started working for the Bell Lewis Company, taking multiple buses each morning to the mines. The work is physically hard and dangerous: Patch learns the routines of drilling, blasting, and hauling, struggles with the noise, damp, and cold, and joins the older miners in their daily rituals, including crossing himself before descending underground. When one of the men asks whether Patch has a girl, Patch answers yes, showing how central Misty has become to his life.

After school each day, Misty waits for the 42 bus and runs to Patch as soon as he steps off it. Their relationship is now open and intense, drawing the attention of other girls and the amused tolerance of Misty’s parents. As they move through the seasons together, they walk in winter woods, swim in the lake during spring, watch television side by side, and spend ordinary time together while Misty grows into a confident, beautiful young woman.

Misty also tries to care for Patch in practical ways, even if imperfectly. She cooks ambitious meals that Patch politely endures, and she sends cupcakes for him to share with the men at the mine because she believes that is how he should make friends. While Misty’s grades continue to improve and her life moves forward, Patch balances work with quieter routines, including Saturday mornings at the gallery.

In the winter after Misty gets her license, Patch follows another possible lead in his search for Grace. Misty drives him across the state to Petra in Marion County, where Patch meets Carol Birch, whose daughter Melinda disappeared four years earlier. Carol tells Patch about Melinda as they walk the frozen streets, but Patch finds nothing to prove Melinda was Grace. The visit leaves him with another photograph for his wall and a deeper sense that hope can be a cruel burden.

Back home, Patch pins Melinda’s photograph to the noticeboard in his bedroom, then joins Misty on the roof, where they hold hands and talk under the coming stars. Misty worries about Patch’s safety in the mines and fusses over whether he shared her cupcakes, while Patch quietly hides harsher truths from her. The chapter ends by showing the split in their lives: Misty is excelling at school, but Patch remains driven by grief and obligation, chasing leads across the state even as he fears Grace may already be gone.