The chapter opens with Jo and Sebastian finishing their song on the Revelry’s Steinway, feeling their old intuitive connection rekindled through the music. Their families and friends applaud; Jo’s parents banter proudly as the audience disperses and the generator is coaxed back to life, followed by the power returning and the jukebox resuming “Born to Run.”

Alone on the bench, Sebastian leans close and asks Jo not to push him away. Jo admits she wanted to protect him from the literal and figurative storms. Sebastian reveals he did not reach the flooded bridge; he turned back to her. They exchange apologies and vulnerability: Sebastian confesses fear that, without their telepathic-like link, he might be “no longer useful,” and Jo assures him she wants all of him.

They slip into the foyer as Jo’s mother cues “Wherever” by Roman Fell and the Boulevard on the jukebox. Jo teases Sebastian for knowing the lyrics; he distinguishes hating his father from hating music. They nest under a soundproofing blanket, kiss, and talk about music—his classical piano background, her self-taught guitar, and their differing views on the best chord progression—before Sebastian falls asleep while the storm’s backside pounds the town.

Restless, Jo checks on those sheltering in the theater: children onstage asleep, her father snoring by the jukebox, Mitch and Gigi murmuring about singing and trying Los Angeles together. Jo finds her mother by the loading dock door, watching the waning storm. Jo sits at her mother’s knee, and they share a quiet, intimate vigil.

Jo’s mother speaks candidly about the dementia: grayness, frustration, having moved from fear to anger about time running out. She asks Jo to look after Jo’s father and reflects on friendships and regrets, including drifting from Ami McKellen after Ami left with Roman Fell. She laments giving up music, fearing her life might not have mattered, and regrets being scared and assuming there would be time.

They discuss meaning, art, and the pull of the spotlight; Jo’s mother claims she lacked that “star stuff,” unlike Jo and Mitch. Jo longs for a song her mother could never forget and fears a future where her mother remains present yet unreachable. Her mother reassures her that she will live on in every song and reframes grief as “a love song in reverse.”

Jo breaks down and cries in her mother’s lap as her mother braids her hair and comforts her until the storm’s worst has passed. Jo then returns to the foyer, curls into Sebastian’s arms, and, when asked if everything is okay, answers honestly that it is not—but that it will be someday.