of a cushion. It had borne me my daughter. While I loved Gravity above life itself and would never go back on the path

take. This town. This j

utinous and untamed inside me said I wouldn't. That after getting out, I wouldn't glance back. That I'd continue runni

of the sink in a hurry and call

ot

let me s

sayin

tag

L

head against the steering wheel, my ponyta

into her car seat, enveloping Mr. Mushroom in her chubby penis-faced pink lovies. The little girl was irretrievably st

on a gasp. "Grandma wil

f you won't tell her." I held

ka

that wouldn't even roll to Pete's Fifth Avenue high-rise

arted. I was actually ten feet away from the doors

d the handbrake up and down and up a

it and rusty doors that liked to jiggle in the wind whenever I drove more than forty miles an hour. But it was five hundred dollars below book, and I couldn't resist the b

n again. Zero. Sam was gone

ead. Road ragers pounded their fists out their windows, scr

of crap outta t

rive stick,

t woman? She could ride my

. Why me? I wished life would giv

drivers behind me to try to assess who seemed the least psychopathic and co

ty whined, her pink Skechers ki

inute,

boooo

rise buildings on the west and Central Park on the east. One lane was reserved for buse

direction of the building. I was sweating and rubbing under my navy-blue sweat

." The guy behind me spat

Maine anymore,

r it." My driver looked at

blankly at him. "Do you cover kne

ed, closing his w

ked louder. "I wanna g

sec, s

ant

all Mama or Pete-I was so desperate to do this alone. Desperate not to be this

mpany instead, my whole b

the point of coming here? I couldn't even look after myself when I staye

t took a moment to comprehend what was transpiring. Grav had endured enough following the eight-hour road trip, unbuckled herself fro

ntically, dropping my