Novalee takes the job at Walmart. One day while dropping off Sister Husband’s truck for work on the brakes, she meets a man named Troy Moffat who asks her out on a date. At the same time, her friendship with Lexie continues to grow. Lexie has also met a man, Woody Sams, whom she feels will be a good father to her four children—Brownie, Praline, Cherry, and Baby Ruth—because he likes kids and because he cannot have children of his own.

Novalee meets Moses Whitecotton again and he takes pictures of Americus for her with an old Rollei camera.

Novalee goes on several dates with Troy and decides to get on birth control pills to be safe. However, she only takes the pill for a few days before she sleeps with Troy for the first time. She is convinced she will get pregnant because they did not use any other form of protection. Novalee goes to Lexie who tells her all the tricks she tried to prevent her pregnancies that did not work. After two weeks, Novalee gets her period and is relieved, but she also realizes that all the books Forney has given her have changed the way she sees the world.