55 pages • 1 hour read
Ali HazelwoodNot in Love
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A 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 9-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
After Eli visits Rue in her lab, he goes home and spends time with his dog, Tiny. When Hark calls him, Eli can hear Minami and Sul in the background. Eli tells them that he has gained access to Kline’s documents, but because they are physical copies of digital files, it will take weeks to find anything useful. It is clear that Kline has handed over crates of useless paper for them to sift through in order to create a delay so that Florence can try to gain funding from another source and pay back the loan. They reason that if Florence is trying to get rid of Harkness, she must have breached key conditions of the loan and wants to avoid discovery. If they can discover the nature of her transgression, then her biofuel tech will be theirs.
Hark suggests trying to persuade Kline’s board to force Florence to turn over the specific documents they need in a digital format. They know that most of the board members are Florence’s friends and will try to protect her, but Hark knows one board member who opposes her: Eric Sommers, an older man with whom Hark plays golf. Hark tells them that Eric invited him to his retirement party; he proposes attending the party in an attempt to convince Eric to put pressure on Florence so that she will release the documents they want. Minami and Sul will be out of town during the party, so Eli agrees to go with Hark.
Chapter 10 Summary
Florence has been invited to the retirement party of Eric Sommers, one of her board members, and she wants Rue to go with her. Rue doesn’t dress up very often and enjoys the opportunity to wear a fancy dress and makeup. Rue has occasionally attended parties like this with Florence ever since Florence and her husband got divorced. Rue is extremely protective of her friends because she has so few of them. Now, she asks Florence if she will start dating or ever get married again, and Florence replies in the negative. Florence then asks whether Rue will start dating again, then corrects herself, because Rue has never really dated at all. Rue has always felt very socially awkward and out of place and has never had a boyfriend, although, in her college years, she did discover that she enjoys having sex. This is why she meets men on a dating app that is meant for casual sexual encounters only; she is not interested in anything more than a physical connection.
At the party, Florence introduces Rue to Eric Sommers, who introduces them both to Conor Harkness (“Hark”), whom they already know from the Harkness Group. Hark summons Eli and introduces him to Sommers. Rue is stunned to see Eli in this context. After some small talk, Sommers takes Hark and Florence to meet his wife, leaving Eli and Rue alone. Rue believes that Eli and Hark are trying to turn the board against Florence, but Eli insists that a CEO needs oversight and accountability. Although Rue expresses her faith that Florence has her employees’ best interests at heart, Eli thinks differently. As the two move to the outside balcony, Eli asks Rue if her brother has bothered her again and urges her to make a plan to deal with him. When she jokes that maybe she should call Eli, he invites her to do so. As he stares at her, they both admit to feeling an intense physical attraction. They kiss and agree to meet the next day at the same hotel where they first met.
Chapter 11 Summary
When Eli arrives at the hotel bar the next evening, he is not sure if Rue will show up. He knows that their romantic connection is problematic because they are on opposite sides of a business conflict, but he hopes that consummating their mutual attraction will clear the air. He waits for over 10 minutes and starts to suspect that she will not come after all, but she finally approaches and reminds him that this will be a one-time encounter. She emphasizes that she still doesn’t like him as a person, and she also disapproves of Harkness’s interference with Kline. Eli agrees to her terms, and they head upstairs to their room.
Rue undresses immediately in a very matter-of-fact, perfunctory way, and Eli is in awe of her beauty. As they begin to have sex, they both tell each other about the first times they slept with someone. Trading intimate and sometimes painful or shameful memories has become part of their encounters, and they find that it is easier for them to share this information with each other than with anyone else because there is a complete lack of judgment between them. Eli makes sure to understand Rue’s sexual boundaries before they proceed. They both find the experience to be the most intensely pleasurable they’ve ever had, but to Eli’s surprise and concern, Rue then gets up, dresses, and leaves without any explanation. Eli knows that their connection has only intensified after this experience.
Chapter 12 Summary
On the weekend after her encounter with Eli, Rue decides to work on Sunday. She stays there all day, and when she is walking to her car in the evening, she sees that she has two texts from Eli, and she reassures him that she is fine. That week, Rue does her best to focus only on her work and avoid Eli. Eventually, Florence drops by to tell her that the board has called a meeting, but the Harkness representatives have not been at Kline that week. Rue realizes that she does not need to worry about encountering Eli. She starts to sleep better and is feeling like herself again by the end of the week.
Rue gets a surprise when her brother’s lawyer sends her a letter of demand, requiring their father’s cabin to be sold. Tisha tells Rue that Nyota will be her lawyer and help her to figure this out; she knows that Rue wants to keep the cabin because it is the only physical connection that remains of her father, whom she didn’t know very well. Later that afternoon, Rue sees Eli and Minami in the hallway, and Minami later stops by her office, wanting to talk about Rue’s research, which she claims is related to her own. Rue tells Minami that she does not feel comfortable talking to her because of Harkness’s current situation with Kline and Florence. Minami is about to tell Rue something that sounds like a warning, but she doesn’t finish her sentence. Eli stops by to tell Minami that the board has assembled for their meeting. Minami leaves, and as Eli lingers, the silent tension rises between him and Rue. Finally, Eli says, “Have a good day” (140) and walks away before Rue can answer.
Chapter 13 Summary
Later, Florence comes by to see Rue, who asks her about the board meeting. Florence does not seem concerned; she says that the Harkness Group just asked for a digital version of the company’s documents. Later, Rue and Tisha go to Florence’s house for Tisha’s birthday dinner, and Florence admits that Harkness is asking for an unreasonable number of documents. She hopes that new investors will give her the money she needs to buy back the loan and get rid of Harkness.
Later, Rue has a video call with Nyota to discuss her various legal issues. In addition to the letter about the cabin, she must also devise a contract for the patent she plans to file for the microbial food coating that she has developed to increase shelf life. Nyota recommends that Rue buy her brother’s share of the cabin in order to keep the property. Nyota also tells Rue that according to her research on The Harkness Group, the firm is not as predatory as other private equity firms in that they have never bankrupted any companies.
Every month, Tisha and Rue spearhead the Journal Club, in which staff members come together to read and discuss scientific articles. Attendance increased when Florence allowed them to purchase snacks and beer for the occasion. After this latest session, Rue has several beers and goes to use the restroom. She encounters Eli in the hallway, and he asks whether he did anything that upset or hurt her on the night they had sex together; he has been worried because she has been ignoring him. He asks her to go on a real dinner date with him, and she counters with an offer to have sex again that night. He does not want to take advantage of her while she is intoxicated, so he suggests resuming the discussion tomorrow.
Chapter 14 Summary
Eli kisses Rue and tells her again to ask him tomorrow about sleeping together again. Suddenly, Tisha sees them and can immediately tell that they have slept together. This is the first time that Eli and Tisha have spoken, but she knows details about him because Rue sent her his driver’s license on the night she and Eli first met. Tisha tells them that Florence will be upset if she finds out about their romantic connection. Tisha is also surprised that they are still seeing one another, as Rue usually only sees men once. Tisha tells Eli that Florence is going to win the confrontation with Harkness, but although Eli indicates that he knows something that she doesn’t, he leaves without revealing any information.
Chapter 15 Summary
After Eli leaves the conversation, Tisha confronts Rue and reminds her that hooking up with Eli is risky for Kline and could be harmful to Florence. She asks if Rue is in love with Eli, but Rue denies this. Tisha tells her that if she really is in love with Eli, she will support her, but if Rue is only pursuing him to have sex, she needs to break off the relationship to avoid damaging Florence’s career and their own as well. Rue doesn’t know how to respond, so she just nods and lets Tisha hug her.
Chapter 16 Summary
Rue never does follow up with Eli after their encounter at the Journal Club. Eli is disappointed but throws himself into his work. He travels to Iowa to work with another startup company, and then when he returns, Sul and Minami get sick, so he and Hark must shoulder the lion’s share of their work in Austin. When Minami and Sul return to work, they are even more deeply in love, which upsets Hark. He brings Eli to the gym to play racquetball so they can blow off some steam.
On Friday night, Minami gives Eli a deposition from Kline that will hopefully give the Harkness Group the grounds to ask for more documentation. She invites Eli out to dinner to celebrate, but Eli has plans to meet Dave, his childhood hockey coach. Eli always helps with the annual fundraiser at the ice rink because Dave gave him so much support when he was a teenager. Eli’s sister, Maya, has also taken figure skating lessons with Dave’s partner, Alec.
As Dave and Eli chat, Dave says that he wants to introduce Eli to someone. That someone turns out to be Rue.
Chapters 9-16 Analysis
This section of the novel explores the Challenges for Women in STEM Careers, and these complex dynamics become particularly apparent when Rue and Florence attend the retirement party of a Kline board member. Significantly, neither of them particularly wants to be there, but they must secure the support of all of the board members to fight Harkness’s likely attempts to take over Kline. Thus, both women find their scientific research threatened by financial and political elements, and they are forced to seek the support of wealthy white men like Eric Sommers to maintain their hard-won positions in their field.
The gender-based social disparities that the women face are emphasized when Eric makes sexist, condescending comments about female scientists. As Florence and Rue set themselves to endure these indignities, the party highlights their disadvantaged position in the scientific world. Hark and Eli have a much easier encounter with Eric because they are able to forge a perceived connection over the topic of sports, and they also take advantage of the fact that Sommers has more respect for men than for women. This scene reinforces the impression that Florence is the underdog and that Eli and Hark are using their societal privileges to destroy her work and take her company away from her. By portraying Florence as the victim in this scenario, Hazelwood sets the stage for the later reversal when the Harkness Group’s past experiences with Florence are finally revealed.
At the retirement party, Eli mentions playing hockey in college, and several days later, he and Rue discover that they used to train at the same ice rink. Owned by Dave and Alec, the ice rink is revealed to have been a safe haven for both protagonists while they were growing up, and this connection allows them to further explore their shared challenges of Overcoming Childhood Trauma. With this new mutual glimpse into each other’s past experiences, both Rue and Eli realize that skating helped them to cope with their respective families’ troubles. When Rue explains that Alec brought her food without her ever telling him that she was hungry, Eli begins to realize that Rue suffered from food scarcity in the past.
As the story unfolds, Hazelwood makes extensive use of ready-made plot patterns from the romance genre to accelerate the growing relationship between Eli and Rue. Although the two feel a physical attraction, they resist the idea of engaging in a full-fledged relationship. At this point, Hazelwood introduces a commonly used romance trope when the characters have sex in a misguided attempt to get rid of their building sexual tension, for rather than moving on afterward, they inevitably grow closer despite their reservations. However, the author also mitigates the inherent artificiality of this plot point by creating detailed backstories for both characters and emphasizing their emotional grounds for a more meaningful connection. As survivors of childhood trauma, both Rue and Eli are in the habit of having one-night stands because they believe that they are incapable of healthy emotional relationships. After they sleep together, however, many of these inhibitions weaken, and the depth of their connection becomes clear.
With the narrative structure of alternating perspectives, Hazelwood continues to offer different points of access to the story. By keeping Rue’s sections in first person, Hazelwood manages to hide many unpleasant truths about Florence’s past injustices against Eli and his friends. From Rue’s misguided perspective, Florence stands on a metaphorical pedestal as a friend, a mentor, and a hard-working, honorable woman who has managed to succeed in a STEM field without losing her integrity. The disparity between Rue’s opinion of Florence and the reality of the woman’s crimes creates a sense of dramatic irony and suspense as Eli’s chapters reveal problematic truths about Florence’s past actions. The narrative’s subtext also implies that when Rue eventually learns the truth about Florence, she will be devastated, especially given the fact that she extends trust to so few people in her life.
Related Titles
By Ali Hazelwood
