It is Saturday morning at the office. The weather is “freakishly warm” (117) and Binx continues his letter-writing project, assisted by Sharon. He stops working at eleven and invites Sharon to accompany him to the Gulf Coast; “[s]he is not surprised” (118). She agrees to go after she makes a phone call, so Binx calls Kate, but Kate is out with Aunt Emily. Sharon asks Binx if he is married to Kate, insisting that she won’t be “going out with any married man” (119). He suggests that Sharon go home to put her bathing suit on under her outfit, and she agrees, but Binx senses that, despite Sharon’s agreeable manner, “[i]t is not right at all. She is just like Linda” (119). Sharon shares her love of swimming with Binx and “addresses an imaginary third person: Now this is what I call real service. Your boss not only lets you off to go swimming—he takes you to the beach” (120).

Their trip to the coast starts off easily, even though Binx feels “it is not such a simple thing” (121) to “pick up a good-looking woman and head for the beach on the first, fine day of the year” (121).