Summary

Chapter 11, which takes place “Twelve weeks after conception” (309), begins by describing Ames’ friendship with a man named Jon who he knew from college. They saw each other about twice a year for emotional support whenever one of them needed it. Ames had decided to meet with Jon to talk about the situation with Reese and Katrina.

After receiving Reese’s email, Katrina acknowledged that she might have overreacted to Reese’s affair, but she still thought that the incident had shown that Reese was unreliable. She also objected to the rhetorical thrust of Reese’s letter, which had accused Katrina of gentrifying and not being able to “handle spice” (313), a turn of phrase Katrina found ridiculous considering her Chinese background. She presented Ames with a choice: Either he could commit to parenting without Reese, or she would schedule an abortion and they would break...