She put me on hold again, and I cautiously lifted the other phone, the one with my mother freaking out on it, back to my ear.

“Sari, Sari, are you listening to me? Where are you? Answer me this second!” she yelled.

“I’m here, I’m here.”

“Please tell me you are not serious about driving with two strange men from Boston to New York, in a storm no less,” she said.

“They’re not strange.” At least Fitz wasn’t. I really didn’t know anything about his friend.

“No,” she said. “Conversation over. The answer is no.”

“Well . . .” She was going to kill me, but I had to say it. “It’s not really your call. I’m eighteen.”

“Sari Eliza,” she said, pulling out the middle name. “You still live under my roof. You will be grounded through summer. Forget performances. You will not be leaving the apartment for anything but school. You are not doing this.”

“Mom,” I said, “Please. This is so important to me. Fitz is a good guy.”

“Yeah, just what do you know about him?”

I smiled at Fitz. This conversation would be easier if he wasn’t stranding right there. “His grandpa lives in the same retirement community as Gram. He studies at NYU; he’s a junior; he’s nice, helpful.”

“Sari, are you trying to give me and your father a heart attack?”

I hated when she said things like that. “I’ll be fine. I’ll give you all of Fitz’s information. You can even talk to him if you want.” I really hoped she didn’t take me up on that part.

“The answer is still no, you are not going. I do not want to hear about my daughter on the ten o’clock news.”

“You won’t. I promise.”

“I said no.”

As if I didn’t have enough aggravation, Zev was walking toward me.

“Mom, it’s no different than me getting in a cab,” I told her. But she didn’t agree. “You are not traveling alone with two men I don’t know.”

Then I had an idea. A bad idea.

“What if I wasn’t?” I asked her.

“Wasn’t what?” she asked.

“Alone.”

“Sari, what are you talking about now?”

I couldn’t believe I was going to say this, but as I watched my ex-boyfriend come closer, I knew it was my only shot. “What if Zev came with me?”