In the only flashback when Evie’s mother is still alive, Evie describes her mother’s fantasy that Evie will have “a home and a family of your own one day” (50). Evie builds on this fantasy, envisioning that there will be a room in the house for her mother, and that they’ll build it “in that fancy new neighborhood near the lake” (50). This aspirational vision becomes a motif for key elements of Evie’s character arc through the novel. The maternal origin of the fantasy forms part of Evie’s yearning for connection and a family. The importance of family gives shape to Evie’s motivations early in the novel and also speaks to the community-building work that Evie will later undertake.

Evie’s fantasy house is expressive of the “American dream.” The perfect, suburban house, situated in a neighborhood whose geographic location signifies its status, symbolizes the idea that class mobility is possible through work and perseverance. For most of the novel, this vision of an idealized home remains out of reach for Evie, even as she occupies Ryan’s suburban mansion. As Devon first verbalizes, and Evie constantly reminds herself, while she lives under an alias she can never be “the kind of girl who could live in a perfect house with a perfect guy on a perfect street” (262).