Justin begins the chapter thrilled for his date with Emma. He has carefully planned the evening around Emma’s survey answers, arranging a bridge walk, pizza, and music in the park, and he is so preoccupied with her that he has even brought her lunch on previous days just to steal a few minutes together. When Emma arrives at his apartment wearing the same Toilet King shirt, the matching joke quickly turns flirtatious, and Justin’s excitement intensifies as he imagines the possibility that their growing physical closeness might lead to something more serious.

Before they leave, Emma looks around Justin’s studio and steps onto the tiny balcony to inspect the giant billboard outside. While they joke about the Toilet King sign, Justin privately weighs what their attraction means. Because Emma lives lightly and avoids attachment, Justin worries that sex with Emma could either mean a real future together or nothing at all, and he cannot tell which possibility Emma is considering. Even so, Justin lets himself hope because Emma nearly came over the night before and because Justin has already made clear that he wants more than a casual fling.

On the bridge walk, the date briefly becomes more emotional. Emma reflects on how strange it is to stand with Justin in the place he once described to her over the phone, and Justin admits that showing Emma the neighborhood makes him feel as if he is showing her a life that is no longer his. Emma answers that she has also lived many lives that no longer belong to her, and Justin carefully tells Emma that she could stay and build one that does. Emma does not give a clear answer, and before Justin presses the issue, Leigh calls with an emergency.

Leigh tells Justin that Chelsea brought home lice from preschool and that the whole house now has it. While Leigh starts treatment and Sarah melts down in the background, Justin realizes he may also have lice and decides he has to go home to help rather than continue the date. Instead of leaving Emma behind, Justin jokingly proposes on one knee and asks Emma to spend the evening delousing his family with him. Emma says yes, turning the interrupted date into a new kind of intimacy. Emma also reveals that she had lice while in foster care and understands how humiliating it is, especially for teenagers, which explains why she is willing to help and shows Justin that Emma is stepping more deeply into his complicated family life.