Patch begins spending more time at Misty Meyer’s house on Parade Hill, but he feels uneasy when Misty and her mother try to remake him. On a trip to Lakeland Mall, Misty picks out expensive clothes and shoes as an early Christmas gift, and Patch refuses them. Misty is hurt, and her mother’s reaction makes Patch feel less like a boyfriend than a charity project.

By spring 1979, Norma is being forced to give up her bus route because of her age, and she angrily threatens lawsuits over the decision. Around the same time, Patch becomes more visible at school and in town. Other girls begin flirting with him, but Misty aggressively drives them off, showing both how possessive she is and how serious their relationship has become.

Patch and Misty settle into a romance that looks almost normal from the outside. They ride her old bike toward Pike Creek, lie by the lake, and when Patch finally removes his irritating eye patch, Misty retrieves it from the water and kisses him after putting it back on him. Yet Grace remains present between them: Patch and Misty talk about Grace often, and Patch knows Misty wonders how she can compete with someone who has become half memory, half ghost.

Patch’s continued pursuit of leads about Callie keeps reopening the same wound. Whenever he follows another dying tip and emotionally withdraws, Misty worries and resents being shut out, even as his failures temporarily pull him back toward her. Their first real fight comes when Misty buys movie tickets, but Patch abandons the date to chase a call from Loess Hills that he suspects is worthless; when he leaves anyway, Misty becomes so furious she chases and kicks the bus.

Later, on Sammy’s balcony, Patch tries to make sense of himself. Sammy jokes about women, then notices Patch’s new painting, an imagined, vividly detailed image of Grace’s family home, and says he wants to sell Patch’s work. Patch resists, admits he has been thinking about art school in St. Louis, and finally confesses the deeper problem: he feels guilty pretending to live a normal life with a girlfriend, movies, and burgers when he believes every second should still be spent searching for Callie.