Until the World Stops - L.A. Witt Page 0,36

you and Dad? Or God forbid, Grandma?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that. I’m pretty sure we all had it back in December. Remember when we were all so sick we could barely do Christmas?”

I let my head fall back on the couch and stared plaintively at the ceiling. Why did I ever introduce my parents to Facebook? Why? Why? Because that had to be where they were getting all of this.

Head still tilted back, I rubbed my eyes with my free hand. “Mom. It’s… You guys really need to take this thing seriously. It’s—”

“Oh, we are, but it’s just not as bad as people are making out to be. There’s no reason to grind everything to a halt.”

“Yes! There is! There really, really is. Mom, I…” I blew out a breath, dropping my hand to the armrest. “Seriously, Michelle should not be taking the boys to Disney. It’s not safe right now. I know they want to go, but for God’s sake, Carlin gets pneumonia as easily as I do, and Reuben almost always ends up in the hospital if he gets a fever. Is… Are Michelle and Derek insane?”

“Of course they’re not, but it’s a moot point anyway.” She sighed. “They’ve already cancelled everything and gotten refunds. The boys are crushed, but Michelle and Derek are going to try to take them to Disney World next year to make up for it.”

I pursed my lips. Well, at least the trip was cancelled. Hopefully it would stay that way until this shitshow was well and truly over. “Okay, well, listen. I’ll have to get back to you about Casey and me visiting, but it probably won’t be this summer.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “We can even stay home the whole time if you don’t want to go anywhere, but it would be so nice to see the two of you.”

I winced. I was such a sucker when it came to disappointing my mom. “We can’t. Honestly, even if—” I stopped myself before I said “even if we wanted to.” Instead, I went with, “Even with the reduced airfare, I’m not working right now, and Casey’s restricted to Maine. He can’t go farther than Bangor.”

“Not even if he takes leave? They can’t tell him where he can and can’t go if—”

“They can, Mom. They definitely can. And they probably just won’t approve his leave right now anyway, but even if they did, he’d be restricted to no farther than Bangor.”

Casey eyed me from the other end of the couch, his forehead creased.

I rolled my eyes, and he smothered a laugh as he scratched under Tilly’s chin.

Mom sighed heavily. “Okay, well, as much as we’d love to see him, there’s no reason you can’t come, is there?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I…” There was no convincing her it wasn’t safe to travel, so I went with, “I just got laid off. Casey and I really need to be careful with money for a—”

“Oh, we can spot you!”

Damn. Should’ve known I was walking into that. “Not until this is over. I just don’t feel comfortable traveling right now. Not with so many people refusing to take precautions.”

Another sigh. One of those guilt trippy kryptonite sighs that screamed “you disappointed your mother.” Fuck my life.

“We’ll come see you as soon as things quiet down,” I said. “I promise. In the meantime, just…be careful, okay? Take this thing seriously?”

She gave a quiet, patronizing laugh. “We’ll be careful, sweetheart. I promise.”

That was probably the best I was going to get. And maybe later on I’d have to call and try to gently persuade my sister to forego the Disneyland trip for a while even if the park reopened. But not right now.

After my mom and I ended the call, I put my phone on the armrest and sighed as I rubbed my eyes. “For fuck’s sake.”

“So, uh…” Casey turned to me, absently petting Tilly. “I’m kind of afraid to ask, but how’s the family?”

I groaned. “Ugh. They’re not taking this seriously at all.”

“Yeah, that’s what it sounded like.” He arched an eyebrow. “Tell me your sister isn’t really going to Disneyland.”

“Fortunately, no, but only because the park’s closed.”

“They’d—seriously? They’d still be going if it wasn’t?”

I nodded, rubbing my stiff neck. Then I dropped my hand to the armrest and looked at Casey. “To tell you the truth, I’m terrified. I don’t know how bad this virus is going to spread, but I’m really worried my family’s going to get sick. Or