Almost two weeks later, I sat in the Library of Congress cloakroom smelling my hair, looking at a picture of an empty store, listening in to Charlotte and Nicole's conversation while Adele's "Hello" played from my phone, and shoving a chocolate éclair into my mouth. The éclair was for research. Also, I needed to remember to put multi-tasking ninja on my resume.

"You could do a crowdfunding campaign," Nicole said from her seat on the floor next to me. She leaned against the ...