Summary

After the woman in the water finishes her confession, she swims to the beach and leaves Popkey’s narrator alone in the water. Popkey thinks about her life, wondering when the last time was that she made a decision that was as certain as this woman’s decision to leave her family was—“a decision other than Yes, in fact I will have this next drink” (181). We learn that her son’s father is the man from the hotel and that perhaps that was the last time she made a decision of certainty, a decision to keep her child.

The next chapter moves to Los Angeles in 2017. Popkey’s narrator is in the kitchen with her mother, and they are both pouring themselves generous amounts of alcohol. Her mother is pressuring her to date again; Popkey’s narrator does want to date, but does...