The Golden Couple

The narrative shifts to Marissa’s third-person perspective. Marissa is sleeping in her and Matthew’s bed alone; Matthew is sleeping in the guest room. The next morning, when Marissa drops Bennett off at school, Natalie approaches her about some school business. Natalie casually mentions that Matthew told Natalie that his firm lost one of its biggest clients. Marissa hides her surprise; Matthew hadn’t told her this news. Marissa remembers Avery’s warning about Natalie.

After dropping off Bennett at school, Marissa calls the florist who sent the flowers to the Bishops’ home the other night—she’s hoping to find out who sent them. The florist can’t help her, as the bill was paid by a Venmo account “@Pier1234.” Marissa goes to buy a pregnancy test; she doubts that she’s pregnant but wants to make sure. Then Marissa goes to Coco.

The narrative shifts back to Avery. She texts Marissa and Matthew, giving them a homework assignment: to go on a date, alone, and reminisce about when they first fell in love. Avery takes Romeo for a walk when she runs into Skip (real name Steven; Skip is short for skipper, because he was obsessed with sailing as a kid), a real estate developer with whom she went out a couple of times a few months ago.