The chapter opens from Kaitlyn Cooper's perspective as she waits at home for her teenage daughter Casey, who took the family Suburban without permission and has been ignoring calls. Kaitlyn reflects on the challenges of raising Casey, now a headstrong teenager, while also caring for her nine-year-old son Mitch. She thinks about her divorce from George, an interventional cardiologist, four years prior, and how her carefully planned life hasn't turned out as expected. She misses the intimacy of being in a relationship but has no time for one between work and the kids.

Casey arrives home in tears, driven by a stranger—Tanner Hughes—after backing the Suburban into his car in the parking lot of Coach's sports bar. Kaitlyn comforts her sobbing daughter and pieces together what happened. Alarmed that Casey got into a car with a tattooed stranger, Kaitlyn goes outside to meet Tanner. She is immediately struck by his physical presence—fit, confident, with unusual eyes and an almost coiled intensity beneath his calm demeanor. They exchange insurance information, and Tanner shows her photos of the significant damage to his Shelby reproduction muscle car, while the Suburban has only minor scratches.

Kaitlyn offers to drive Tanner back to his hotel as thanks. During the ride, they engage in easy conversation. Tanner shares that he's in Asheboro searching for a man named Dave Johnson, that he served fourteen years in the army including a decade with Delta Force, then worked with USAID overseas, and has been on a three-year road trip since COVID stranded him in Hawaii. He tells her about his grandmother's recent death and that his grandparents raised him after his mother died in childbirth. Kaitlyn, in turn, tells him about her medical practice, her divorce, and her children. They also stop at Coach's so Kaitlyn can see the damaged Shelby in person, and Tanner texts her the photos.

Near the hotel, Tanner invites Kaitlyn for a beer at a nearby brewpub. Despite knowing she should decline, she accepts. Over drinks, they continue talking—about her education, hobbies, and children, and about his background. Tanner tells her he saw a young man grab Casey's arm in the parking lot before the accident, and Kaitlyn suspects it was Josh Littleton. The conversation feels warm and easy, and Tanner is openly flirtatious. When they part at the hotel, he asks to see her again. Although the rational part of her says no, Kaitlyn agrees, and they make plans for Tanner to join her and Mitch at the North Carolina Zoo the next day.

Driving home, Kaitlyn is lightheaded from the unexpected evening, but her mood shifts when she spots Josh Littleton's truck pulling out of her driveway. Inside, Mitch is getting ready for bed and accepts the news that a "friend" will join them at the zoo. Kaitlyn then goes to Casey's room, where a tense conversation ensues about Josh's visit, the accident, and Casey's missed dinner. Casey insists Josh came uninvited and she doesn't like him, but the exchange escalates. Casey delivers a stinging accusation: that Kaitlyn has forgotten how to be happy. Left alone on the couch, Kaitlyn sits with the weight of the evening's events, wondering whether her daughter's words might be true.