Pay as You Exit features three main characters and a few others who serve the plot in important ways. Sarah is a bright, mature high school senior who seems to have much going for her, including an active social life, acceptance to a good college, and a solid relationship with her mother, Joan. Joan is intelligent and open, and she generally treats Sarah as an adult. Widowed, she begins dating a co-worker, and although she tries to break up the budding romance between Sarah and Dane, thereby creating a gulf between herself and her daughter, she is unable to see the problems in her own relationship.

Like Joan, Dane is a skillfully drawn character. In contrast to Sarah, who has a loving mother, Dane has not seen his mother since he was five years old, a situation that no doubt contributes to his dour...