While riding home with Maddy, Emma gets a message from Justin after three quiet days. Their joking exchange about Q-tips turns into a more personal conversation, and Emma keeps it going by asking about his job. Justin asks where she lives, invites her for coffee, and learns that she is in Colorado and soon leaving for a three-month nursing assignment in Hawaii. Instead of dropping the subject, Justin suggests Minnesota as her next stop and then openly proposes a strange idea: if they date each other and then break up, maybe they can end the pattern where every former partner quickly finds a soulmate.

Emma calls Justin to challenge the superstition, but the conversation becomes unexpectedly honest. Justin admits he feels stuck in a repetitive cycle of relationships that never become deeply right, and Emma says she has never had that overwhelming "truck moment" of love either. Together they define the supposed rules of their curse: Justin's pattern seems to trigger after about three dates, while Emma's requires at least a month of daily contact and weekly in-person time. Because Justin cannot leave for that long and Emma is about to go to Hawaii, they agree to revisit the plan after she returns to the mainland in three and a half months.

After the call, Emma spends the evening with Maddy watching Forrest Gump, which leads into a painful conversation about Emma's missing mother, Amber. Emma explains that Amber's phone is disconnected again and that she recently quit her job without warning. Maddy bluntly condemns Amber, but Emma defends her in a complicated way, recognizing both Amber's damage and her occasional warmth. The discussion widens to Emma's foster-family ties: Maddy pushes her to attend Janet and Beth's thirtieth anniversary because they consider Emma family, and Emma reluctantly agrees to request time off, though she privately hopes she will not get it.

The next day, Justin sends Emma a picture of himself dressed as Princess Anna after babysitting his little sister, Chelsea, which prompts another call. This time their conversation flows easily and at length. Justin asks Emma to walk him through her entire day, and in answering she reveals more about herself: she became a nurse because she had to care for her mother young, she travels with Maddy as a travel nurse, and she chooses assignments partly by lifestyle and location. Justin, in turn, shares details about his own routines, his dog Brad, his lunch with friends, and the Minneapolis bridge where he walks.

As they keep talking, their playful "curse-breaking" premise turns into genuine connection. Justin sends Emma photos from the Stone Arch Bridge, they joke about public proposals, and he makes a light but persistent case for Minnesota. When a proposal happens nearby, he offers to video chat so she can see the walk in real time. Emma first refuses to show herself because she is not dressed, but after seeing Justin live on camera with Brad and taking in his warmth, humor, and attractiveness, she turns her own camera on. By the end of the chapter, Emma is noticeably more drawn to Justin and invites him to keep showing her his city, signaling that their bond is becoming more personal than either of them first claimed.