It took several days to even consider leaving New York, and then she’d been delayed further. Her board members were flying to London this week in the private jet, so she’d been forced to fly commercial. It had snowed Sunday, the first time she’d tried to leave New York, and after several canceled flights, she’d accepted an economy-class ticket to Salt Lake City Monday afternoon to get closer, at least. After an incredibly uncomfortable and long, hot flight squashed between two corpulent chatterboxes—really, how did people travel like this?—she’d landed in Utah in the middle of a blizzard well after midnight her second full day of trying to get to Colorado. Her luggage had somehow been routed through to Denver after all, and she was stuck in a city in the middle of nowhere, still hours from her destination, with nothing but her purse and a dead cell phone. The car-rental agencies were snowed in or closed entirely, and all the nearby hotels were booked. She’d spent the rest of that night freezing and dozing on an airport bench with only her light blazer to use as a pillow.

The storm continued overnight, and by morning she was marooned in a mountain of snow outside the airport. She’d planned to drive from here, but with the roads clogged, and the snow still falling, driving and flying were a no-go. Everything was grounded. After another screaming match with another incompetent ticket agent, some jerk employee had suggested taking the bus, and, basically to spite them, she had done just that.

Which is where she found herself now—in the last seat at the back of a bus many, many hours later—Wednesday, now, actually—overheated and sweating despite her light clothing. The bathroom, if it could be called that, was right next to her, and even without someone using it, the odor leaking from the door was nauseating. That smell wasn’t as bad as the stench of spoiled and sour milk that drifted from somewhere, everywhere here in the cabin—a stink she was pretty sure could be traced to a child some three seats ahead who had been trying to make eye contact with her the last several hours. Fucking kids.