Weeks pass and Nora starts to recall details from the Cambridge life she never lived. When a university friend, Lara Bryan, calls to meet for lunch, Nora somehow knows Lara’s partner and baby’s names in advance, and later finds them correct. Occasional slips remain—like forgetting Ash’s asthma—but as Nora relaxes, the right memories increasingly surface.

Nora delights in time with Molly, encouraging her as she pedals a tricycle in the garden. When the tricycle slides into a flowerbed, Molly falls and scrapes her forehead. Comforting Molly, Nora admires her resilience and feels a surge of protective love.

This moment prompts a stark reflection: achievements and pleasures in other lives meant little without love. In contrast to her root life’s emptiness, Nora senses a net of love here—Molly, Ash, and even Joe—yet she also feels she hasn’t earned this life, as if she joined a story halfway and is a fraud behind glass.

Later, while Molly does a jigsaw and the dog Plato rests on her lap, Nora notices an ornate chess set and a troubling thought returns. When Ash gets home, Nora tells him she is going to see an old friend from Bedford and won’t be back for a few hours.