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“Are you settling in okay?” Jade asked, as I came to sit next to her. She had such a gentle voice and kind eyes. It made me relaxed in a way I hadn’t felt in days.

“I am,” I replied. “It’s so good of you to let me stay here with everything that’s going on.”

“Nonsense, it’s not a problem at all,” she said. “I’m happy to have you, and it’s the least I could do with your parents stuck overseas.”

“Still, it’s very generous.”

She gave a light laugh and shrugged. “If anything, it’s a little selfish. I can’t tell you how often I wish there was another girl in the house. Having you here is like a dream come true.”

I smiled in response. “Your boys are definitely a handful.”

“Don’t I know it.” Jade’s eyes were wide with agreement, but her smile was indulgent. It was clear that, despite Aiden and Elliot’s intensity, she wouldn’t have them any other way.

“I saw you cooked for them last night,” she continued. “I had some of the leftovers before I went to bed. Your pasta was amazing.”

“Oh, thanks. I like cooking.”

“Well, you’re very good at it.”

I blushed at the compliment. My parents always told me how good my cooking was, but they were completely biased. It was different hearing it from someone who wasn’t genetically programmed to think everything you did was perfect.

“She’s not just good; she’s a culinary genius,” Aiden said, entering the kitchen. His hair was wet, as though he’d just showered, and he was just as topless as he had been in my room earlier. I had to wonder if he was parading his body around just because he knew it annoyed me. He winked at me before walking over and giving his mom a kiss on the head. “Morning, Mom.”

“Good morning, sweetheart. Gotten into any trouble since you woke up?”

“Of course.” He chuckled, and his eyes briefly darted in my direction. He turned his attention to the fridge before his mom could notice the exchange though. He opened the door and startled rifling through the fridge, throwing questions over his shoulder to his mom as he did. “How was your shift yesterday? Have you had enough sleep?”

Jade glanced at me. “He worries about me too much.”

“Because you don’t worry about yourself at all.” He pointed a bottle of Gatorade in her direction.

As I sat there watching the two of them interact, it felt like I’d entered the twilight zone. Aiden was so sweet with his mom, but it was completely at odds with the guy I saw at school daily.

“Are you back at the hospital again today?” he asked her.

She was in the middle of taking a sip of her coffee and nodded as she placed the cup back on the counter. “My shift starts in a couple of hours,” she said.

“You haven’t had a day off all week.” Aiden sounded surprisingly annoyed.

Jade shrugged. “Well, they need me. More and more people are starting to come down with the virus. And judging by how hard hospitals in the rest of the country are getting hit, it’s only a matter of time before we start to struggle too.”

“Have you seen a lot of people with the virus?” I asked cautiously.

“Some, but luckily, most of our cases haven’t been too severe. We don’t have the capacity to handle a surge of critically ill patients…” She shook her head, as if she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. “We’ve been preparing for an influx of cases as best we can, so I’m sure it will be okay.”

We fell silent at her words. The pandemic was all anyone spoke about these days, but it felt different hearing Jade talk about it. I’d heard so much on the news about it that the topic had started to become white noise, but Jade was actually seeing people who were getting sick with the virus. They weren’t just numbers on a chart to her, and by helping others, she was putting herself at risk.

I glanced at Aiden. His face had paled as he looked at his mother. It was clear how much he cared about her but also how scared he felt that she was putting herself in danger.

My phone vibrated in my pocked, and I pulled it out to see I had finally received a text from my parents. I’d sent them about ten messages when I woke up, insisting they call me. This wasn’t quite what I wanted, but at least a text was something.

I let out a sigh as I read the message. “Mom and Dad are still stuck,” I announced, glancing up at Jade. I hoped she might have some wisdom to impart, but she looked just as helpless as I felt.

“It’s only been a day,” she said. “Everything’s still so chaotic. Give it time; they’ll get home.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

She rubbed my arm, gently reassuring me. “There’s not much we can do from here unfortunately. But it’s probably a good idea for you to keep busy. Have you got anything planned for today?”