“But you can't know that unless you're exposed to the virus. By then, it’s too late.”
I rubbed my forehead, torn between frustration and empathy. If our positions were reversed, I’d be losing my mind over Mia helping an infected neighbour. “I don’t know what to tell you. She’s alone. I live next door. I can’t go on with my life pretending I don’t give a shit about what’s happening to her.”
“Why is she in your apartment, anyway? Last time you mentioned her, she was barely acknowledging your existence.”
“Things have changed since then,” I said. “She got hurt while she was out with Tim, and I brought her back to my place to recover. Her symptoms kicked in straight after that.”
“God. Is Tim sick, too?”
“Not yet.”
After a long pause, Mia said, “It’s getting so, so bad—and you’re so much closer to it than I am.”
My sister’s house was at the end of a no-through road in a quiet town, and most of her neighbours were elderly. Knowing she was as safe as anyone could be during a pandemic gave me one less thing to worry about. “Is Ruby all right?”
“She’s coping surprisingly well, but I thought—”
“What?”
“That you might find a way to come see us. Have you talked to Dad?”
A teenager on a BMX tore down the road with a scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face, bunny-hopping onto the footpath to avoid a car. “A couple of days ago. Why?”
“He wants you home. He wants us all together.”
“Every time I talk to him, I have to remind him about the roadblocks,” I said asSadie coughed again. The noise was so violent, I frowned and made my way over to the bedroom doorway, peeking through to the lounge. “There’s a chance I could get to you or Dad via the back roads if I take my time, but—”
“You can’t go anywhere while Sadie’s sick,” Mia said, resigned.
“Right.” Or I could come down with the virus myself and die before I had the chance to decide. “If they pull the roadblocks and communication goes down—”
“It won’t,” she said too quickly. “It won’t go that far.”
I wanted to ease her concerns, but we were falling apart and there was no point in trying to convince ourselves otherwise. “It will,” I persisted, “and when it happens, go to Dad’s place so I know where to find you and Ruby.”
“You’re making it sound like the world’s ending,” she said with a nervous laugh. “We’re okay. It’s just hard right now.”
“Sissy,” I warned. “Promise me.”
She sighed. “Fine. If we need to—we won’t need to—I’ll drive to Dad’s with Ruby.”
“Good,” I said. “Now we have a plan for when it all goes to shi—”
“Theo. It’s not going anywhere close to shit.”
I smiled at her irritation. “If I can’t call you, trust me when I say I’m coming. I’ll be there for you and Ruby. For Dad. We’ll ride it out together.”
“I know. Your dependability is one of the few tolerable things about you.”
Somehow, even with Sadie’s health deteriorating a few short metres away, I found it in me to smile. “Tell Rubes I can’t do Zoom dance battles with her right now. It’ll be a few days until I know for sure what’s going on with Sadie.”
“Okay. Take care of both of you. Text me with updates when you can.”
I’d only just ended the call when a knock sounded. Everyone in the building knew about Sadie’s condition, so I strode into the main living area to find out which one of them had a death wish.
I opened the door and found Tim standing against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, making an exaggerated sign of the cross over his chest.
“I could have texted her,” he said through his mask, “but I needed to see for myself.” Raising his voice, he called out, “Sadie, my love, tell me you’re still with us.”
