Adrianne picks up Noah from Marsh and brings him back to their new apartment. Noah appears defeated and polite, as he did every time she visited him at Marsh over the last 18 months. As Noah robotically compliments the run-down apartment, Adrianne feels her “lively boy had been replaced by a Stepford wife” (76). Noah now wears his formerly long hair in a buzz cut, the standard hairstyle at Marsh. He has lost muscle mass since he does not swim anymore. Adrianne thinks that she and Lucas always told their children they loved them “no matter what” (76), but Lucas was lying. He gave up on Noah when things took a turn for the worse.

Noah loved the water since he was little and became an expert at all the strokes by the time he was five. Competitive and driven, Noah began to participate in swim races when he was in first grade. He took defeats hard, worrying whenever he lost a competition. As he grew older, Noah was asked to coach younger swimmers, which made him happy. He quickly became so popular as a coach that his classes had a waiting list. Adrianne was shocked when Noah quit coaching in the middle of summer.