He is very happy to be back in the car, heading north. The swirl of emotion that he’s observed coming from Rosie has his nerves on edge. The man and the other woman were so hard to befriend, and yet he has the sense that they are very well known to Rosie. It wasn’t just the touching at the end of the visit, something that he’s begun to expect from her; it was the way they all handled their mugs, and some of the expressions on their faces were so like Rosie’s, even the timbre of their voices. When he and Rosie left, he had the distinct impression that this would not be the last time they saw these people.
As she drives, Rosie is making conversation, and although he can’t understand all of her words, or those of the voice coming out of the ceiling, he does pick up on the general tenor of happiness Rosie is exuding. He’s never sensed this much of it in her before, and it makes him think that something is changing.