The Things We Do For Love

Another protagonist, Lauren Ribido, is a determined high school senior who lives with her mother in a rundown part of West End. They have financial difficulties because her mother rarely works and spends her money on alcohol. Since she was a child, Lauren has had to provide for herself. When her mother suggested that she learn to live with poverty, it “had been enough to change the course of Lauren’s life” (27). She decided to be different than her mother. Getting odd jobs, she earned enough to buy necessities like new shoes, and hard work eventually garnered her a scholarship to the prestigious Fircrest Academy. She is even granted a full scholarship to USC, though she ultimately turns it down.

Lauren’s need for love is an essential part of who she is, and her character arc reveals The Transformative Power of Love. Despite constant disappointment from her mother, Lauren still wishes for her support. When her mother does not show up to the college fair, Lauren chastises herself: “So why did it hurt, after all these years? You’d think a heart would grow calluses at some point” (25). Even though she has experienced heartache repeatedly, Lauren longs to be cared for. This desperation surfaces in both small and large ways. For example, after Angie hires her, Lauren gets tears in her eyes “at the word family” (88), which stirs a feeling of inclusion that Lauren has never known yet has always wanted. Later, after Lauren returns to her old apartment, Mrs. Mauk scolds her for expecting her mother’s return, prompting Lauren to reflect that she could hardly do otherwise: “[A]ll of her life, she’d been waiting for her mother’s love. There was no way she could simply put her hope aside. It was a part of her, that faith, as ingrained as the beat of her heart or the flutter of her pulse” (22). Even though her mind tells her that her mother will not return, Lauren’s heart is wired to be hopeful, and the confidence and joy born of her relationship with Angie ultimately vindicate that desire. 

Lauren’s character arc also reflects gender inequities. While watching David at graduation, she notes that although they are both responsible for the pregnancy, he is “a boy with his whole life ahead of him, while she [is] here, stuck in the audience, a pregnant girl-woman who’s lost so much” (315). Lauren’s raw emotions are a reaction to the double standard surrounding teen pregnancy, the stigma of which falls largely on girls. Not only does she bear the physical burden of carrying a child, but the social and emotional impacts are long-lasting. By calling herself a “girl-woman,” she suggests her own loss of innocence while implying that David retains his youthfulness as a boy. Furthermore, her seat in the bleachers exemplifies her inability to participate in the life she once imagined for herself. Nevertheless, the novel ends on an optimistic note, suggesting that the family Lauren finds in Angie and Conlan will help her realize her dreams after all.

Billie Ribido, Lauren’s mother, is selfish and neglectful, making her a foil to Angie. Lauren notes how Billie contributes to their financial instability:

Mom’s paychecks were getting thinner lately. Supposedly it was the sagging economy. Mom swore that fewer women were coming to see her at the salon. Lauren figured that was half of the story; the other half was that the Hair Apparent Beauty Salon was four doors down from the Tides tavern (31).

The novel thus frames Billie’s drinking as her putting her own desires above her daughter’s welfare, not least because Billie seems not to recognize or care that Lauren needs her. When Lauren begs her for rent, for example, she tells Lauren to work, as though Lauren were the parent and Billie the child. Billie’s unwillingness to confront her substance use for her daughter’s sake contrasts with Angie’s gradual processing of her grief, which, though similarly not her fault, nevertheless impedes her ability to care for those around her.

For Lauren, Billie serves as a model of who not to be. Billie frequently reminds Lauren that she had a promising life until pregnancy ruined everything. With these words, she makes Lauren feel unloved and lays the groundwork for the shame and despair Lauren feels when she discovers her own pregnancy. Indeed, when Billie learns that Lauren is pregnant, she slaps her, and when Lauren chooses not to get an abortion, Billie runs away. Her cruelty and neglect are the antithesis of the novel’s depiction of true motherhood, as Mrs. Mauk forces Lauren to see when Lauren returns with her baby. Calling Billie Lauren’s “loser mother,” Mrs. Mauk emphasizes that all she does is run from problems and encourages Lauren to be different. Consequently, Billie’s gift to her daughter is to provide a blueprint of what not to do.

Angie’s mother, Maria, is another foil for Lauren’s mother, as well as for Angie herself. Even as Maria grapples with grief for her deceased husband, Tony, she still has the capacity to care for others—in particular, Angie. For example, when Angie hires Lauren, Maria knows that her daughter will need emotional support, so she goes to the cottage after work. Later, she is upset to learn that Lauren is living with Angie because she frets over her daughter’s well-being. She makes this clear to Angie: “I worry about you, that’s all. It is a mother’s job” (225). The role of a mother, to worry and love no matter what, comes naturally to Maria.

Tony DeSaria, although not physically present, is influential in his family’s lives. Through Maria’s comments about him and through Angie’s memories, Tony’s steadfast belief in Angie is made clear. This faith in his youngest daughter influences the family, as his insistence that Angie would be the key to turning the restaurant around contributes to their willingness to let her become involved in the business. Angie recognizes his impact when she talks with her mother about Conlan, reflecting, “This family was in her blood and her bones. They were with her always, even her papa who’d gone away” (163). Angie here suggests that her family’s love is omnipresent and a core part of who she is. She still feels her father’s love, and this buoys her in difficult times.

Angie’s older sisters, Livvy and Mira, are tough on Angie yet love her unconditionally, serving as the voice of reason amid her struggles. Even though Livvy initially resists Angie helping at the restaurant, she understands her sister and doles out important advice, as when she tells her to stop looking backward with regret. Later, when Angie takes in a pregnant Lauren, the entire family is against the idea except for Livvy: “Livvy voiced the lone dissent. ‘Let her do what she wants […] None of us knows what it’s like for her’” (224-25). Livvy articulates a fact: that Angie alone knows how she feels and what she needs. Amid the angry voices, this observation brings clarity to the situation. Mira, too, is always there for her sister, offering well-timed advice. For instance, she encourages Angie to see that Conlan still loves her and urges her not to give up on that relationship. Through their support and wisdom, the DeSaria sisters provide guidance in an emotional time.

Conlan is the male counterpart to Angie, struggling with grief over thwarted fatherhood and fueling the theme of the transformative power of love. When he first meets Lauren, “he [wears] his reporter detachment like a suit of armor, as if a few patches of hammered together metal could protect a man’s heart” (248). Conlan’s instinct to keep Lauren at arm’s length emphasizes how much he has been hurt in the past. Angie sees this when she likens his detached demeanor to armor protecting his heart. However, as he comes to know and love Lauren, he softens and changes enough to piece his life with Angie back together. When his fears about the adoption become a reality, Angie sees how their love has made him stronger, too:

Their whole life was in his eyes, all the good, the bad, the in-between times. For a while there, it had seemed that love had moved on, left them behind. They’d lost their way because they’d thought their love wasn’t enough. Now they knew better. Sometimes your heart got broken, but you just held on (331).

They both lost love and their way; however, when Angie notes that they know better now, it suggests that love has molded both her and Conlan into stronger, more resilient people.