“Sam, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I never meant to upset you. I thought I could surprise you with a way to save some money, but I messed up.”

She shook her head, watching the forest roll by her window.

“I get that this trip is an epic deal for you,” Kevin said. “It is for me, too.” He looked at her. “You were up all night packing; you haven’t slept. Why don’t you get some sleep? Look, we’ve gone too far on this road. To backtrack now would be pointless. We should keep going. Try and get some rest, okay?”

She allowed him to take her hand, signaling a truce, before she pulled it away.

“Whatever,” she said before grabbing her pillow and punching it into position against her door. She curled up in her seat and looked down at the floor. Swaddled in a towel was a bronze urn. Leaves and doves were engraved in a fine band around its middle.

She blinked away tears.

Kevin was right. She hadn’t slept, she was exhausted, and, yes, short-tempered, because she was at a turning point in her life. Samantha Victoria Moore was 20 years old and leaving her lifelong home in New York City for Canada to study medicine at the University of Toronto.

Sam was born an only child in Queens. Her father, a hospital equipment salesman, was killed when the taxi he was in crashed on the Major Deegan Expressway. Sam was not quite three at the time. When she thought of him, she struggled to see his face. No matter how many times she watched the videos her mom had recorded of her squealing with joy as her dad, laughing, tossed her over his head and caught her, she barely remembered him.

Sam’s mom, Elizabeth, a clerk who’d managed medical records, never remarried, and had raised Sam alone. Sam was in high school when her mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was on visits to see her in the hospital that Sam decided to become a doctor. She’d worked part-time jobs, and did well in school. She earned scholarships and was accepted at several universities.

But after Sam graduated from high school, her mom’s condition worsened. She delayed going to college to comfort her in her final days. When her mother passed, Sam had no family, except for an aunt and uncle in Toronto, where Sam’s mother was born.

The estate lawyer helped settle the insurance money, the sale of their small house in Corona, and debts. With some of the funds, Sam enrolled at the University of Toronto. The school had a stellar international reputation for cancer research, Sam’s desired field, and tuition was a fraction of what it was at U.S. colleges. Sam was drawn to Toronto because of her mom’s connection to the city.