The narrative returns to the evening after the party, when Blair catches Aiden watching Whitney as well as Jacob’s friend’s girlfriend; Blair is dismayed but also feels “superiority” over the girlfriend because of the young woman’s “tawdry vibe” (153). Whitney, Blair, and Rebecca see Mara, and Whitney comments that it is “too much for her on [their] side of the fence” (154), suggesting that Mara is no fun. Rebecca looks displeased and tells Whitney and Blair about Mara’s son, who died young. Blair wonders if Rebecca condemns their lack of empathy, as they don’t sit and chat with Mara like Rebecca does. As mothers, Blair thinks, Blair and Whitney can understand how Mara feels more than the childless Rebecca.

Blair looks back at the girlfriend who caught Aiden’s eye and sees Aiden and Jacob ogling the woman. She senses that her marriage is destined to end.

Mara has been “trying to decide how the aloneness feels” in Albert’s absence (157). Ben comes to tell her what happened to Xavier. When he leaves, she goes to the basement, where Marcus’s room is untouched. He would be 61 now. She set up this room to separate Marcus from his father.