Part 2 opens with a flashback to the September 1983 book launch of Burning Heart, hosted at a Manhattan restaurant three months prior to Kendra Rae’s disappearance. Empty martini glass in hand, Kendra Rae drily points out a white fellow employee’s racial bias during what he believes is a casual conversation. As he storms away, author Diana Gordon, who is a little tipsy, comes to Kendra Rae’s rescue. Kendra Rae notices that her friend’s lipstick is smudged and that she’s wearing her “‘Donna Summer’ wig” (75). The women muse briefly about white fragility before Diana urges Kendra Rae to enjoy her night. Kendra Rae admits that two Black women publishing a bestseller together is a significant accomplishment but mentions that her fellow editors were prepared for the book to be a “flop.” (76). Seeing her friend’s disappointment, Kendra Rae immediately regrets her words. Diana is momentarily bitter but then gleefully reflects on all the money the book has made.

As the women laugh, Kendra Rae thinks about their girlhood together, drinking and doing Diana’s real hair with their friends Imani and Ola. She reflects enviously on their different college experiences: Diana at Howard, a historically Black university, was “blessed with the ability to forget white people existed,” while Kendra Rae at Harvard was “blessed with being smothered by them” (79).