Chapter 13 Summary: Pretty Sentimental

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The morning after their fight, Eva and Audre move around each other stiffly, and Audre slips out of the house without breakfast. Eva, still shaken but determined, heads to the West Village to find Shane at his rented town house on Horatio Street—a nineteenth-century redbrick building that once belonged to James Baldwin. She brings him coffee and asks him to teach English at Audre's school, Cheshire Prep. Shane agrees without hesitation, and Eva immediately emails the head of school, Bridget O'Brien, confirming Audre's enrollment.

Shane suggests they walk the High Line, and Eva cautiously agrees. They fall into easy conversation, and Shane reveals that he's struggling to write sober—he describes it as waking up one day not knowing English. Eva, in turn, opens up about her own history: after their breakup, she was sent to a psychiatric center for self-harm, where she learned that cutting was a reaction to feeling helpless. She admits she still misses the sting sometimes.

The conversation deepens as Eva shares her family's story. Her mother, Lizette, was a pageant contestant disqualified from Miss Universe in 1987 due to pregnancy, who later became a professional mistress. Her grandmother, Clotilde, was believed to be a witch and shot her husband during a migraine episode, then built a jambalaya business on her fearsome reputation. Her great-grandmother, Delphine, fled to New Orleans, passed as white (changing Mercier to Micelli), married the attorney general, and drowned herself at forty, writing a confession in lipstick on the tiles.

Shane is transfixed and urges Eva to write this story—her lineage of matriarchal badasses. Eva resists, saying she's never even been to Belle Fleur and that writing it would require breaking herself open. She also notes that Audre doesn't know any of this; she's tweaked history so her daughter can be proud of her family.

The chapter ends with the two visiting the Dream House, a nap-themed art installation, after being invited by a fan named Charlii. Meanwhile, Charlii has already uploaded a photo of Shane and Eva to a Facebook fan group.

Key Events

Eva and Audre's tense morning after their fight; Audre leaves without breakfast
Eva visits Shane at 81 Horatio Street and asks him to teach at Cheshire Prep; he agrees
Eva emails Bridget O'Brien confirming Audre's enrollment
High Line walk: Shane confesses his writer's block and inability to write sober
Eva reveals her self-harm history and psychiatric treatment
Eva shares her family's dark history: Lizette, Clotilde, and Delphine
Shane urges Eva to write about her lineage; she resists
The Dream House visit; Charlii photographs them for a fan group

Character Development

Eva — This chapter shows Eva at her most vulnerable. She reveals her self-harm history, her family's secrets, and her fear of falling apart. Her decision to ask Shane for help—and to share her lineage with him—marks a significant opening up. She's also protective of Audre's image of her family, having tweaked history to spare her daughter.

Shane — Shane's confession about writer's block and sobriety reveals his own fragility. He admits he can't write sober, and he can't bring himself to say Eva's new name—it would make her real, and he's not ready for that. His insistence that Eva write her family's story shows his belief in her talent.

Audre — Though absent for most of the chapter, Audre's presence looms. Eva's actions are motivated by securing her daughter's future, and the tension between them drives Eva's emotional state.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Matriarchal lineage and family history — Eva's stories about Lizette, Clotilde, and Delphine form the chapter's emotional core. Each woman's story is marked by survival, secrecy, and violence.

Racial passing — Delphine's decision to pass as white in New Orleans, and her eventual suicide, speaks to the cost of hiding one's identity.

Safe vices versus dangerous ones — The gelato and the Dream House represent undangerous pleasures, contrasted with Eva's self-harm and Shane's drinking.

Full-circle symbolism — Shane's choice to rent Baldwin's house, and the couple's return to bleachers, echoes their past.

Protective talismans — Eva's cameo ring serves as a security blanket, a physical object that makes her feel protected.

Vulnerability and fear of falling apart — Both Eva and Shane admit they can't afford to fall apart, and both are afraid of what opening up would mean.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in the novel's central relationship. Eva and Shane move from awkward reconnection to genuine intimacy, sharing secrets they've kept for fifteen years. Eva's family history—the matriarchal badasses she's hidden from Audre—becomes a potential book project, and Shane's encouragement plants a seed that will likely bear fruit later. The chapter also sets up future conflict: Charlii's photo on the fan group threatens to expose their reconnection, and Shane's refusal to say Eva's name signals unresolved feelings.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Shane refuse to say Eva's new name?

Shane explains that saying Eva would make her real—she'd stop being a memory and become tangible. He's here to come clean and go, and falling for her wasn't the plan. The name represents the boundary between past and present.

2. What does Eva's family history reveal about her character?

Eva's lineage is a mix of survival, secrecy, and violence. Her mother's instability, her grandmother's violence, and her great-grandmother's racial passing all shaped Eva's own fears and defenses. Her decision to hide this history from Audre shows her protectiveness, but also her unwillingness to confront her own past.

3. How does the Dream House function symbolically?

The Dream House is a safe acid trip—a place of peace and freedom, contrasted with the chaos outside. It represents the possibility of escape without self-destruction, a healthier alternative to the vices Eva and Shane once relied on.