Goddamn! Almost forgot. “Yeah, Mom.” He trudged toward the stairs, stealing a glance at her as he went. Though she might appear frail, his mom had a spine of steel. She reminded him of Sarah Nelson. Thank God Sarah had turned down his job offer because, Christ! He couldn’t imagine living with both of them under the same roof. Even in this twenty-thousand-something-square-foot house, there wouldn’t be enough room to contain the fireworks.
He chuckled to himself—and immediately stopped. If this virus was as bad as they said and they started shuttering everything, where would he find someone to help take care of his mother?
Oh shit. Sparky’s got a big problem.
Sarah woke up early the next morning, pulled from sleep by the urge to check her email. Had she received any replies to her rental inquiries?
As she scrolled through her phone, she drooped with disappointment. Getting her own place wasn’t going to happen today. Not only was the inventory already low, but landlords were temporarily pulling their places off the market to reduce the risk of coronavirus exposure. There was even talk the government might shut down short-term rentals. What?
She tossed her phone to the side, wrapped a thick robe around herself, and beckoned Archer. She padded to the back door and let him out. The only noise was the TV in the living room, and she went to investigate, discovering Gage and Lily watching the news.
“What’s up, guys?”
Lily looked over her shoulder, wide-eyed. “More people are testing positive for COVID-19 here in Colorado.”
Sarah plopped her butt in an armchair. “Any word yet on what the NHL’s going to do?”
Gage shook his head. “No, but we have a team meeting in an hour, so I’ll learn more then. Lily’s going to the store to stock up.”
A chill ran through Sarah’s limbs. She was in a twilight zone, suspended between a sci-fi movie and a dystopian reality. “I’ll get ready and go with you, Lil.”
Lily sent her a relieved smile. “Thank you, Sarah.”
If Sarah thought the news was surreal, Costco was like touching down on a different planet. The place was jammed. Had everyone in Denver decided to shop at the same store at the same time? The air was thick with tension, as though everyone was keeping a lid on simmering panic. But what they loaded on their carts was downright puzzling.
“Why are they stocking up on toilet paper?” Lily asked after the umpteenth cart piled high with the stuff rolled past them.
“Big sale?”
They ambled toward the paper goods section. When they arrived, a fight was breaking out between customers over a package of toilet paper.
Lily tugged Sarah’s sleeve. “Uh, Sar, I think we’re good on TP.”
“I feel you, Lil. I’m gonna grab extra bags of dog food, then let’s get the hell out of here.”
Back home, they put away their purchases and were high-fiving as Gage walked in. His eyes bounced between them. “Somebody win something?”
While Lily filled him in, Sarah took Archer into the backyard while she checked the rental apps again. Nada. Zip. Zero. As she was corralling her disappointment, her phone vibrated with a call, and her blood froze. Why the hell was Wolf calling? Hadn’t she told him specifically what he could do with himself? Anger—or the adrenalin shooting through her veins—made her hands shake as she slid his call to the red zone. She slipped the phone into her back pocket, but it went off again. She ignored it. The fourth time, she whipped it out to silence the damn thing, but it was a different incoming number.
“Oh hell,” she muttered. “Justwhat I need.” She tapped her screen to accept. “Hi, Mom.”
“Sarah!” her mother gasped. “Finally!”
Alarm bells went off in Sarah’s head, but she knew better than to get sucked into her mother’s frantic, guilt-laced rants before gathering a little intel. “Hey, Mom. What’s going on?”
“Where have you been, honey?”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “Well, actually, I’ve been making my way to Gage and Lily’s.”
A silent beat went by, then another. Sarah could practically count down to the “What? Why?” that exploded from her mom. Only it didn’t come. Instead, she got a mild “Oh.”
“Yeah, the company cut us loose to work from home, so I decided I could just as easily work from Colorado. I’m sorry I haven’t called. Between work and the drive, I’ve literally just found a little downtime. You happened to beat me to it.” She cringed and instantly reverted to her naughty little-girl self, hating that an unstoppable force pulled her there.
“Well, thank goodness you’re with your brother,” her mother whooshed. “Family should be together at a time like this.”
Not the third degree Sarah had prepared for, and now her worry bloomed. “Why? Is everything all right? How’s Grandma?” Her grandmother, who suffered from dementia, was both a source of ludicrous, laugh-out-loud stories and the depths of melancholy. An odd push-pull of emotions came into play every time Sarah thought of their once-vibrant supreme matriarch.
“I just saw your grandmother, and she’s fine. The senior home announced they’re going on lockdown, so unless it’s end-of-life, I can’t see her.” A little sniffle came from the other end.
A pain jabbed at Sarah’s chest. Though she and her mother constantly rammed heads, she hated for her to be unhappy. And, well, there was her grandma too, locked away and alone. “I’m so sorry, Mom. Maybe this is a case where the dementia is actually a blessing. If she doesn’t know what’s happening, she won’t miss us and she won’t be scared.”
Her mother quickly recovered a cheery note in her voice. “I hope that’s the case. At least she’s got Oscar there with her. I’m grateful he’s in your grandmother’s life.”
Sarah pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it. Invasion of the body snatchers. Has to be. Oscar was Grandma’s sweet gentleman friend who
