Lowen recoils after reading more of Verity’s manuscript, physically sickened by the section describing Verity’s attempt to choke Harper. As Lowen skims ahead, another disturbing pattern emerges: Verity gradually stops writing about the twins as a pair and focuses almost entirely on Chastin, barely mentioning Harper for long stretches. Just as Lowen reaches the point where both girls appear again at age three, Jeremy interrupts to bring her dinner, forcing Lowen to hide the manuscript in the desk.

Outside, Lowen and Jeremy eat tacos, drink margaritas, and watch a meteor shower from the porch and the yard. Their conversation turns personal. Jeremy explains that he and Verity bought the Vermont house when the girls were three, shares details about his upbringing and his stalled return to work, and reveals that Verity’s deeply religious parents cut her off after she began writing thrillers. He also tells Lowen that even after Chastin’s death and Verity’s accident, Verity’s father responded coldly, saying that God punishes the wicked.

As the night grows quieter, the emotional intimacy between Lowen and Jeremy deepens. Jeremy asks whether Crew should return to therapy, and Lowen answers honestly that he should. Lowen then shares her own history with therapy after a sleepwalking incident and hints at a strained relationship with her mother. When Jeremy admits that reading Verity’s fiction troubled him because it felt too dark to be harmless imagination, Lowen withholds what the manuscript has shown her. Their attraction becomes palpable, and although both seem aware that a kiss is possible, Jeremy defuses the moment with a joke about locking Lowen in her room for the night.

Before bed, Lowen retrieves both the laptop and several manuscript pages, noticing a new lock outside her bedroom door that Jeremy has installed because of her sleepwalking. At the doorway, Jeremy stops her and confesses that he lied earlier: Verity never read Lowen’s book. Jeremy read it himself, thought it was excellent, and recommended Lowen to Verity’s editor. By telling Lowen that her writing matters to him, Jeremy gives Lowen the validation she has been missing, leaving her emotionally elated even as she returns to reading Verity’s disturbing confession.