Much of the novel takes place along the Q line of the New York metro. August rides it every day to get to Billy’s and to school, and it’s on the Q that she meets Jane, who is literally tethered to the route. However, “in her first month in the apartment on corner of Flatbush and Parkside above the Popeyes, August learns that the Q is a time, a place, and a person” (38). At first, it’s just the train she takes every day at 8:05am, making it a specific time in her day and her life. It’s also where she gets a break while hustling from school to work and can relax. Finally, it's where she always sees Jane, with whom she quickly falls in love long before she has any sense that Jane is a temporal anomaly.

In addition, the Q is a major place where August learns to be confident in herself and her abilities. Riding the Q with Jane forces August to use her investigative skills, which she’d long wished to push down in hopes of leaving her Uncle Augie’s case behind. She has no intention of solving it or being involved further; the fact that Jane knew Augie is serendipitous.