“I suppose we could go all the way right now,” I say, “instead of finding a place to stay way out in the suburbs.” We had planned for a noon arrival on orientation day, so she would have time to organize her dorm room before heading into the maze of new student activities.

“No.” Her reply is surprisingly swift and firm. “That’s not the plan. We don’t want to get to the city after dark. And I bet there won’t be any vacancies near the school, anyway, and even if we found a place to stay, the hotels are massively overpriced and the residence halls don’t open to new students until tomorrow at noon.”

Her barrage of protests is a bit mystifying. She couldn’t wait to get to college but now, the night before her new life is set to begin, she seems to have all the time in the world. I’m gratified that she wants to extend our time together.

“You’re right,” I agree, and I watch out the window for the exit sign to the town we’d picked out as our final stop. “We should stick to the plan.”

She nods and glances at her cell phone, lying on the seat beside her. Travis hasn’t called all day, which I suspect is the cause of the prolonged silences that stretch between us. I, with a terrible and dark sense of satisfaction, find myself hoping this is the beginning of the end for them, that his failure to call is not due to the lack of a signal, but to the lack of commitment.

My own thoughts make me feel horrible. She adores Travis, and he makes her happy. Isn’t that what I want for her, to be happy? Still, I don’t want my daughter’s future to belong to him, a charming local boy who has spent the entire summer trying to convince her that there is no better life than the one our small Western town has to offer.

It was enough for me, I realize with a surge of guilt, and I swiftly glance at her. There in that same small town she’s been forced to leave, I’ve found all of life’s happiness. Suppose I’m robbing her of the chance to do the same?

And why do I hope her dreams are bigger than mine ever were? What is it that I want for her that I never wanted for myself?

The onslaught of second thoughts assaults me. Molly flips on the turn signal. “This will do.”

We have a club card for Travelers Rest, a chain of midrange hotels, and so I nod in agreement. The room is predictable, clean and bland, a faint whiff of stale air blowing from the register vent. We are plenty early, with a large portion of the afternoon ahead of us. Maybe I’ll finish Molly’s quilt after all.

Instead, I am possessed by restlessness. I take the Suburban to a nearby station and fill it with gas, asking the attendant to check the oil, the tires, the wiper fluid. I use the squeegee to clear the squished bugs from the windshield and grill. It occurs to me that I performed this same routine the day I went into labor with Molly. In childbirth class, we’d been told that a woman on the brink of labor often experiences a burst of energy—the nesting instinct kicking in. I cleaned and scrubbed the house and car all day and was just settling down for a good night’s sleep when my water broke.