She glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled at her four-year-old son.

“Guess what?” she asked.

His dark eyes brightened as he grinned at her. “Are we there yet?”

“We’re here!”

Gabe clapped his hands. “I like here.”

They were in town for the summer or however long it took to get her past in order and her future set. Give or take a week.

Jesse put the car in Park, then got out and opened the rear passenger seat. She unbuckled Gabe from his car seat and helped him out of the car. He stood next to her and stared at the four-story building.

“We’re staying here?” he asked, his voice low with awe. “Really?”

The extended-stay hotel was modest at best-a local place. Jesse didn’t have the money for one of those fancy national chains. But the room came with a kitchen and the online reviews had said it was clean, which is what mattered to her. Once she had an idea of how long they were staying, she would look into renting a furnished apartment in the University District. It was summer, which meant empty rooms while the students were away and cheap rent.

But to Gabe, who’d never been in a hotel in his life, their temporary shelter was exciting and new.

“Really,” she said, taking his hand. “Want me to get a room on the top floor?”

His eyes widened. “Can we?” he breathed.

It would mean more stairs for her, but she would feel safer up top. “That’s what I asked for.”

“Cool!”

His new favorite word. He’d picked it up at day care. It was about the four-hundredth time that day she’d heard it and it was starting to get on her nerves. Then she reminded herself that “cool” was a whole lot better than some other words he could have learned.