Lowen spends the afternoon unnerved by the Crawford house, which feels increasingly threatening to her, especially after hearing suspicious footsteps and creaking stairs during the night. While Jeremy works on the dock and Crew plays outside, Lowen reflects on Jeremy's anger toward Verity and wonders whether he still thinks of his wife as mentally present. Curious about Verity's condition, Lowen goes to the kitchen and watches April feed Verity soft food.

As Lowen asks April how long she has been a nurse and how long she has worked with Verity, April remains distant and answers as if speaking to Verity instead. April then pulls Lowen into the hallway and firmly corrects her, explaining that it is disrespectful to talk about Verity as if she is not there because no one knows how much Verity can still process. The warning unsettles Lowen because she had not meant to be cruel, but it also reinforces the possibility that Verity may be more aware than she seems.

The tension breaks when Crew runs in excitedly with a turtle and tries to show it to his mother, who gives no response. Feeling sorry for him, Lowen takes Crew outside to find a bucket for the turtle and talks with him while Jeremy works nearby. During the conversation, Crew casually mentions that Jeremy would not let him keep another turtle because he once lost one in the house, and then says they used to go out to eat all the time before his sisters died. Because Jeremy has said Crew rarely mentions the twins, the comment lands heavily, and Jeremy responds by deciding to take Crew to dinner that night.

Jeremy invites Lowen to join them, and she accepts with more excitement than she wants to admit. At the restaurant, Jeremy notices that Lowen has made an effort with her appearance and quietly tells her she looks nice. Crew spends the meal telling jokes, and when Lowen tells deliberately terrible ones in return, Crew is unimpressed but Jeremy laughs hard. The easy dinner briefly lifts the grief hanging over Jeremy and Crew, and Lowen is deeply affected by seeing Jeremy relaxed and happy.

When they return home, Crew runs ahead, leaving Lowen and Jeremy alone in a dim corner near the stairs. Their silence feels charged, almost like the end of a date, and Lowen senses Jeremy was close to crossing a line before Crew's return interrupts the moment. Wanting more of Jeremy but knowing she should not pursue him, Lowen retreats to Verity's office and opens the manuscript again, deciding that reading Verity's intimate descriptions of Jeremy is safer than acting on her growing desire in real life.