Dana Lynn Yarboro

Dana is the daughter of Gwendolyn and James, and has known from an early age that she and her mother are James' "second" family, with their very existence kept a secret from James' first family (Laverne and Chaurisse). James would visit Dana and Gwendolyn once a week throughout Dana's childhood, and Dana and her mother would irregularly go and spy on Chaurisse at her own elementary school. Dana is the narrator of the first half of the novel, which takes place during her junior year of high school. Dana's perspectives on Chaurisse, James, and their complicated family are meaningfully opposed by Chaurisse's own views, which are revealed in the second half of the novel.

Much like Gwendolyn, who moves through her life knowing that her husband is also another woman's husband, Dana is willing to accept a complicated arrangement with her high school boyfriend, Marcus McCready...