"You lucked out getting a mom as cool as me," she remarks. "Some people end up with socialites who do nothing but try on shoes all day and get their hair curled."

In another lifetime, where Ellie was another man's daughter, Tess might have followed in her own parents' footprints: a provider, but not much of a parent. There's no luck in being on the train, not with everything else wrong with it, but proximity has its virtues.