56 pages • 1 hour read
Naima CosterWhat's Mine and Yours
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “September 2002”
The student transfer has been completed. Gee’s English teacher is a Black man named Mr. Riley. Gee dislikes Mr. Riley because he calls on him more often than the other students, as though he is taking a special interest in him. Mr. Riley tells Gee after class one day that he has arranged to have dinner with Gee and his mother. After their discussion, Gee notices Adira crying in the hallway; white students have bullied her, particularly over her hair. Gee proposes going to the principal, but Adira tells him it won’t do any good.
Gee is impressed with Mr. Riley’s wife, but finds Mr. Riley’s insistence that Gee do more to shine as a young man of color uncomfortable. Jade disagrees, insisting Gee has as much right to the school and an education as any other boy. Afterward, Jade goes to the home of her boyfriend, Dr. León Henriquez, to complain about Mr. Riley. She says the Rileys were “uppity” and feels that Mr. Riley only wants Gee to excel to prove that Black kids are equal to white kids, not because he cares about Gee. León comments that Jade has done the same thing, but Jade says she is simply “teaching [Gee] how to live up to his own standards—not anybody else’s” (198). León expresses jealousy that these strangers know Gee, but he’s never met him. He invites Jade to move in with him, but she refuses. She’s had the life she wanted with Ray, and she doesn’t want to share her life, or Gee’s, with anyone else.
Meanwhile, Noelle goes to Ruth to ask for help in getting an abortion. Ruth takes Noelle to the women’s clinic where Jade works, and Noelle recognizes her from the town hall meeting at the school. Jade holds her hand through the procedure, which makes Noelle cry:
She wasn’t afraid. It was this woman’s hand—soft and brown and perfumed. It encircled hers so easily, and it embarrassed Noelle how good it felt to have a woman touch her, an elder who was beautiful and warm, and who had nothing to say (202).
Afterward, Noelle asks for the name of Jade’s son. At school, Noelle seeks out Gee and invites him to join the school play.
Chapter 11 Summary: “October 2018”
Nelson calls Noelle in the middle of the night, but it turns out to be an accidental dial. Noelle can hear Nelson being intimate with another woman. She hangs up, but then calls him back over and over again until he finally answers on the 12th call. After a few minutes of pretending he doesn’t know about the accidental call, Nelson admits what he has done, and Noelle tells him not to come home. Diane finds Noelle crying and Noelle confesses everything to Diane. Diane mentions calling Nelson’s mother, but Noelle says he “drifted away” from her and they haven’t stayed in touch. Thinking about her love for Alma, Diane suggests that Noelle and Nelson could work things out, but Noelle says she refuses to be “hung up on a man she can’t trust” like Lacey May (210). They discuss motherhood, and Noelle urges Diane to start trying to have kids early, as she can’t assume things will work out. She then reminisces about the passion and bravery she had in high school.
The Ventura sisters gather to eat the breakfast Alma made. They decide to divide up, Diane and Noelle in Alma’s truck and Margarita in Diane’s car, in order to search for Robbie. Margarita is jealous of Noelle and Diane because they will share the searching duties, but she is aware that something must be wrong with Noelle for Diane to stick with her.
Margarita searches for a while with no luck. She ends up in a bar where she drinks a little too much. She has a minor car accident on her way to the sushi restaurant where she was supposed to meet Noelle and Diane for lunch an hour earlier. When she arrives, she is in a bad mood, which is only made worse when she sees that her sisters have started eating without her. Diane, Margarita, and Noelle argue; Diane and Noelle are upset at Margarita’s careless behavior, and Margarita is dismissive, pointing out that none of them want to be there. Noelle tells Margarita about her miscarriage and Nelson’s infidelity; she agrees that she and Margarita were right to leave, but she wants to maintain a relationship with her sisters. Diane begins to cry, and Margarita taunts her and calls her a “baby.” When Noelle tries to defend Diane, Diane lashes out, accusing them of treating her like a child. Diane tells her sisters that she and Alma are lovers, and that she doesn’t care if the Venturas fall apart because she has her own family and life now. She storms out of the restaurant, telling Margarita to get her car fixed.
Margarita and Noelle talk as they continue to search for Robbie. Margarita asks why Noelle stopped following her on social media, and Noelle admits she could tell Margarita wasn’t truly happy. As they discuss Margarita’s partying habits, Margarita suddenly realizes the best way to track down their father. They end up back at the bar, where Margarita arranges to meet with the bartender’s drug supplier, hoping that will lead to Robbie.
Chapter 12 Summary: “October 2002”
Noelle has gone missing, and Lacey May is having a fit trying to find her. She is interrupted when Ruth calls to ask why Lacey May sold her house after all. Lacey May insists she hasn’t sold the house, and then realizes Robbie must have done it.
The play Noelle and Gee are doing is the Shakespeare play Measure for Measure. Noelle finds herself watching Gee and thinks he is kind, understanding, and good-looking. Noelle asks Gee out to dinner. He agrees, but admits his grandmother—Linette—will be picking him up. Noelle invites Linette to come, too. Linette tells Noelle about Superfine and Ray. Noelle is surprised to learn Gee’s father died. She teases him for being so serious all the time, accusing him of never saying what he’s really thinking.
Noelle returns to the school after dinner to find Lacey May waiting for her. Lacey May is angry because Noelle is keeping her from a meeting with her fellow protestors. In truth, Lacey May is angry because she confronted Robbie over selling the house, but she is still drawn to him and cannot be truly mad at him. Later that night, Robbie shows up at the house with gifts for the girls. He has a necklace for Diane, a leather jacket for Noelle, and a gold signet ring for Margarita with his initial on it, which matches one he has for himself, with her initial. Later, Hank argues with Lacey May over the money for the house and her participation in the protests. He tells her she’s going to lose her girls over it all.
After play practice, Noelle and Gee discover that Lacey May’s group has plastered the school hallways with blown-up articles about crime on the east side of town. One of the articles is about Ray’s murder, but doesn’t mention other details about him, like Superfine or Gee’s name. Gee is overwhelmed with emotion and flooded with memories, like the furniture that had been “in a maze” (249) in the yard. Gee falls to his knees, but when Noelle comes to him, he pulls himself together to hide his emotions: “If he wasn’t careful, she would see” (250).
Chapter 13 Summary: “October 2018”
Noelle and Margarita found Robbie at a motel. Now he’s in the hospital chapel, praying for Lacey May to stay alive to continue giving him a reason to keep fighting. Over the years, he has continued to struggle with his addiction, repeatedly trying and failing to get his life together. Margarita seeks him out to tell him Noelle isn’t coming with them to visit Lacey May. He tries to joke with her, but she doesn’t engage: “Margarita was sharp and didn’t return his smile, but Robbie didn’t mind. They had all found their ways to survive; Margarita had hers” (253).
The doctors say that Lacey May might have to have surgery, but they’ll begin with radiation. The swelling is down now and she’s happy, glad to have her family around her. Robbie admits that he still loves Lacey May, but she makes it clear that she’s happy with her life the way it is. She tells him that “the future is for the girls” and she no longer needs or wants his promises (257).
Nelson arrives at Diane’s house from the airport. Noelle is surprised to learn he contacted Hank to try and find her, as Nelson rarely interacts with her family. He asks how she is, and privately disagrees when she accuses him of being unfeeling. Noelle begins to cry, and they become intimate. Afterward, however, Noelle admits she can never forgive him for what he’s done. Nelson tells her he did it because he needed to feel wanted, but Noelle calls him out on that, telling him he’s always hidden himself, always expected her “to make [him] better” (262). Noelle sends Nelson away, and he realizes he has hidden his real self from her for years, but now she can see the man he really is.
Noelle goes to the hospital and runs into Hank. They talk about Robbie and Nelson, with Hank acknowledging that loving someone deeply makes it difficult to ever let go. He also expresses dread at the girls going back to their homes and leaving him alone with Lacey May during her cancer treatment. Noelle forgives him for moving Lacey May into his home so soon after Robbie left, and acknowledges that he belongs in their life now.
Chapters 10-13 Analysis
Race runs its threads through the novel, connecting to most of the book’s major themes. It ties to Strong Women Fighting for Their Futures through Jade, who understands that she receives harsher judgment as a young, single mother than her peers. Race is also a major aspect of The Struggle to Understand One’s Identity, particularly with Gee and the Ventura sisters. In Chapter 10, Gee feels singled out by Mr. Riley’s attempts to elevate him, and he is uncomfortable with Mr. Riley’s insistence that he needs to prove the worth of Black students within their predominately white school. Jade is similarly offended, as she has never wanted the stereotypes of young Black men to define Gee. Jade’s outspokenness was made clear during the school meeting, but it is mentioned again when Gee discusses bullying with Adira: As he recommends going to the principal to report the other students, he realizes he sounds like his mother, implying that Jade has done such things before. Jade’s determination to give Gee the life Ray would have wanted for him causes her to override Gee’s thoughts and emotions and put her own experiences on him in a misguided attempt to give him a better life.
At the same time Gee is being pressured to represent, he finds his life story being used to support the racism that spurs the protests against the school integrations. When Gee finds the newspaper article about Ray’s death hanging in the school hallway, it becomes clear that he continues to struggle with what happened that day. He consciously swallows his emotions and hides from Noelle—which is exactly what Noelle accuses Nelson of doing later in life. These hints build the foundation for the revelation that Gee and Nelson are the same person. Gee and Noelle directly interacted for the first time at the end of Chapter 10, and their relationship begins to develop further in Chapter 12, a stark contrast to the deterioration of Noelle and Nelson’s relationship in Chapters 11 and 13.
Coster further compares two characters through the lens of motherhood. This time she puts Noelle and Jade against each other, showing them both as teen mothers, but ones who make two very different decisions. When Jade became pregnant with Gee, she did not seek an abortion, but instead brought him into the world and has done her best to raise him well with a very small support system. Noelle, on the other hand, has the resources to seek an abortion without much struggle, and she receives immediate support when she chooses to go through with it. Pregnancy doesn’t upend Noelle’s world like it did Jade’s, and it doesn’t steal her childhood. The choice to get an abortion as a teenager injects irony into Noelle’s story as she struggles to have a child as an adult. Both Jade and Noelle are strong women who took control of their futures in their own ways, and both have their identities shaped by their experiences with pregnancy and motherhood.
Upon learning the truth about Nelson’s betrayal, Noelle begins to shift within the identity she has made for herself. She has created a family with Nelson to hide from the family she was born into, unhappy with her mother’s outspoken racism and the desperate moves Lacey May made to save herself and her children after Robbie’s imprisonment. Like Gee and his embarrassment over Jade’s outspokenness, Noelle is horrified by her mother’s opinions and has spent most of her teen and adult life trying to escape it. But now Noelle finds herself unmoored by Nelson’s actions. Left with just her family, she struggles to figure out who she is without him. When discussing Nelson with Diane, Noelle reminisces about the strong passion she held in high school. She also says, “I loved Gee” (211), another hint to Nelson’s identity. As Noelle begins to shift in her identity, she finds herself adjusting her views on Hank as well, accepting his place within the family and recognizing that he filled a position in their lives that Robbie, despite his good intentions, never could.
Robbie casts a shadow over the Ventura family for all the years in which the plot takes place. His actions reinforce the theme of Shared Tragedy, as all three Ventura sisters are affected by his behavior, which is ultimately driven by his addiction. When the girls are young, Robbie takes the family home that he bought as an investment in his children and sells it to pay for his addiction. Rather than keep the house and offer it to the girls as was the original plan, Robbie cashes it in and then uses a small portion of the money to give the girls gifts that lose any meaning they might have had over time. The most sentimental of them, the matching signet rings, is meant to reinforce Margarita’s likeness to Robbie: “Margarita—you’re the one who when I look at, I see myself. I look at you and say, There’s the one who came out like me” (243). Margarita struggles knowing she looks different from her sisters, who resemble their mother while she resembles Robbie, and though the young sisters are already well aware of Robbie’s unreliable nature, she is touched by the gift and its promise of a tie to her identity. Margarita wears this ring again in Chapter 13—Robbie reveals that he lost his and does not remember where, a symbolic example of his failure to support his family over the years.
The 2018 chapters show that Margarita still struggles knowing she is most like Robbie. She makes irresponsible choices, drinks, and uses drugs, just as Robbie has done for much of his life; this behavior also causes friction between her and her sisters, and even as an adult, she expresses jealousy over their bond. However, Margarita’s actions are the catalyst for Diane’s reveal of her sexuality—thus, the sisters help each other embrace their own identities, even though they do so through confrontation.
At the same time, Robbie and Lacey May have a connection that has never broken, one that brings them back to one another over and over. In 2018, Lacey May believes her fight for her future is essentially over, and not just because she is dealing with a potentially fatal disease. She tells Robbie, who confesses his lingering feelings for her, that the future belongs to their daughters. Her acceptance of Alma in 2018 is a stark contrast to her racism in the 2002 chapters, showing that she has made some effort to be more accepting. This adds greater depth to Lacey May’s character. Likewise, her refusal of Robbie no longer comes from a place of necessity; instead, she peacefully explains that she has learned not to have expectations of him, and that she is content just to have him close for the time being. Lacey May has thus matured over time; however, her tendency to reach for Robbie while simultaneously pushing him away is somewhat cruel—not just to Robbie, but to Hank, who has been caught between them for many years.
