I type in the code to the safe but it doesn’t open. Shit. This is all I need. I can’t have forgotten the code. That can’t be God’s plan for me. The idea of a trip to the airport fills me with such relief, getting stuck here can’t be my destiny.

“No, I ran into Pete in the lobby. He’s gonna get it to Frank.”

“Well, why didn’t he come up to get it? He can’t expect you to be wandering around in…”

I tune Mom out and type in the code again. This time the click of the lock feels like I’ve reached the summit of a roller coaster. My hands start to shake. I’m excited and terrified at the same time.

I pull out my passport and hold it up toward Mom, careful not to let my driver’s license slip out from the pages where I stuffed it last night. “It’s fine, Mom. It gives me something to do so I don’t get nervous.” I eye my purse next to the window, but I can’t risk taking it. Mom will know something’s up.

She rolls her eyes, and Lydia takes her attention by asking her to referee an argument she’s having with Kitty.

I take in the scene. My mom, snapping at Kitty and trying to cajole Marion into standing up so she doesn’t wrinkle her dress. Kitty and Lydia trade insults like they’re playing snap like we did when we were younger during endless rainy days stuck in the trailer. The suite is twice as big as the trailer I’ve called home for all twenty-eight years of my life, but it’s still too small for all of us. We’ve spent our lives on top of each other, arguing, competing, surviving.

I’m done.

I curl my hand around my passport, grab Lydia’s gray hoodie from where it’s slung on the back of a chair, and slip out.

I race toward the elevator, stuffing my passport into my bra. If I run into anyone, I don’t want to have to explain why I’m holding it.

As I get into the elevator, I press the down button a thousand times in the hopes it will get me to the lobby faster. After all this, I don’t want Polly to have driven off, but as I get to the first floor, I see the amber plastic light of her cab over the flower arrangement in the lobby. I take in a breath. This is it. I made it.

I keep my head down, like anyone’s going to miss the girl in the white dress sprinting toward the exit.

“Excuse me!” someone calls behind me, but I pretend I haven’t heard them. I need to get to Polly. I need to get out of here.