Searching For- Your Daddy Ditched Me Again In- File

The snow thickened. The road narrowed. The GPS fell silent, the screen showing a blank gray void where the map should be. For a terrifying, liberating second, Lena was nowhere. No route. No destination. No man-shaped hole to drive around.

She looked up. There was no diner, no motel, no truck stop. Just a wide pull-off overlooking a frozen river, the moonlight turning the snow into a field of diamonds. The road ended here. Searching for- Your Daddy Ditched Me Again in-

The snow kept falling. The road behind her disappeared. And for once, Lena didn't look back. The snow thickened

She pulled out a map—a real paper one—from the glove box. Her finger traced a line north, toward her sister’s house in Montana. No interstates. No truck stops. No men who made promises they couldn't keep. For a terrifying, liberating second, Lena was nowhere

Then she turned off the GPS.

Lena slammed her palm against the dashboard, silencing the robotic chirp. The nickname she’d programmed as a joke six years ago—back when “Daddy” was an endearment, not an accusation—now felt like a hot needle under her skin.

When Eli woke up, she’d tell him they were going on a new adventure. Just the two of them.