I scanned the list of suggested networks and audibly laughed when my eyes landed on the last one.
It had to beJack’s.
So, he was a hotshot and a pun nerd.Icould appreciate that.Idouble-tapped on the network and paused when the password box popped up.
ShouldIjust ask him ifIcould mooch off his internet?He’dprobably say yes.Thenagain, he had left to go to the fire station this morning and, by my guess, he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow morning.
I could figure it out.AndifIcouldn’t, that would be the excuseIneeded to bail on attempting to write.
I typed in the first thing that came to mind: the street name.
MermaidCourt.
No dice.
I tried again, adding a number and a punctuation mark.
Still nothing.
I probably only had a few attempts before it locked me out, which meantIhad to make them count.
The network name was a cute play on words.Maybethe password was fire-themed too.
stopdropandroll.
Still nothing.
I added capital letters and added an exclamation mark for good measure.
Connected.
I nearly fell off the couch.Noway was it that easy.Butthe bars at the top of the screen didn’t lie.Thebrowser loaded in a flash.
Oh, he hadgoodWi-Fi.
My email inbox was overflowing, and the number of unread messages was growing by the second.Iclosed that tab and shivered.
My phone chimed with incoming texts.
Willow
Oh myGod!Areyou back from the dead?!Itjust showed you were live in the group chat.
I glanced at the tab where our group chat was pinned.Shit. . .Theycould seeIwas online.
I lovedWhitneyandWillow, but they were crushing it.Iwas . . . stuck.Ijust wanted to lick my wounds in private.
Whitney
Yay!Wewere just about to get on a writing call!Youin?
As much asIwanted to say no,Imissed them.Ityped out a quick response, sayingIwould join them, and waited to be looped into the call.Iexpected to see their matching smiles and boisterous conversation, but the faces that met me from the other side of the screen were anything but happy.
“You’re alive!”Willowsaid with a watery smile.Shewas putting on a façade, andIknew it.
“We were worried about you,”Whitneysaid. “You’vebeen radio silent in the group chat.”
I shrugged and adjusted the pages on my screen so the video screen split the space with my blank document. “I’vebeen focused on the house.”
