Helen gets a call from Ray, who tells her that Barry was robbed after being shot. Once Helen finds out how Ray got into Barry’s hospital room, she decides to go there. Ray tries to talk her out of it but doesn’t tell her about the other women Barry is dating. Ray also convinces her that the shooting is unrelated to the letters, but Helen is still determined to visit Barry. She thinks Ray betrayed Barry by suggesting they dissolve the pact.

Helen goes swimming in her apartment pool and sees Collie talking to a schoolteacher poolside. He asks about Barry, and the other woman notes that Barry is her boyfriend. Helen says Barry is recovering. Collie asks her to race him and jumps in the pool. The teacher is angry that Helen is leading Collie on and tells Helen that Barry is more interested in other women than Collie. Helen jumps in the pool, racing Collie.

As she swims, Helen thinks about how the other woman is jealous and how she doesn’t have female friends. Her friendship with Julie happened because their boyfriends were friends, but she finds Julie less combative than the women in her apartment building. The teachers would have made negative remarks about her buying clothes from thrift shops, but Julie didn’t.