"I didn't think what I had was this bad. Am I going to be ok?" Liza asked her nurse, as she rested in her room.
"We think you have a mild to moderate case of this virus, but you are also recovering from another illness, so your body was susceptible. Just get some rest, but first we need you to fill out these forms for your emergency contacts. I'll tell your husband to go home," said her nurse, who she found out was named Kellie.
"Oh, that's not my -" Liza started to say, but Kellie was gone. She needed two contacts. She put Maggie, and then thought for a minute. If she put Caitlin, who was staying with her ex-husband right now, that might be awkward. So she made the next obvious choice and put Charles. She was staying with him, and he wanted to know what was going on.
That night, in her hospital room, Liza heard her phone buzz.
"Hey, are you settled in?" Charles asked.
"Yes, thanks for calling. I'm on some medicine for my lungs and some fast flowing oxygen. I'll send you a picture so you can see what they've done for me." She snapped a quick selfie and sent it. He sent one back of himself sitting at his desk in the study, surrounded by new manuscripts. 'Looking forward to working on these when you are better' he captioned it.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't take you to the doctor sooner," he said after seeing her picture and returning to their call. "What would help you feel better?"
"I never read the paper today. Would you mind? Just a few stories? Nothing too tragic."
Charles read her a few stories from the Times and she drifted off. She didn't realize until the next morning, waking up with the phone in her bed. Whatever medicine they gave her was helping with the pain that accompanied her breathing, but making her sleepy.
Several friends called over the next couple days. Josh called several times. His family was doing well, with Clare working from his home while the tattoo studio was on hold due to public contact being restricted. Liza got the feeling he and Clare might be getting closer during this time, but she said nothing. Maybe it was none of her business anymore. She introduced them years ago, but that didn't mean she had to know every aspect of their lives. But Josh felt differently, confiding in her about so many things for so long that she wasn't sure her phone battery would last.
"I think you should get a financial advisor to help you with this, " she told him as he went on about losing money with no one coming by the shop.
"Maybe I'll take out a loan against the property," Josh said. "Or, I could airbnb a few of the apartments we couldn't occupy. But not the space where we have the playgroup," he drifted into more concerns as one of her medical providers knocked on the door and then walked in.
"I have to go, the phlebotomist is here," Liza said. "You are going to do fine." She hung up and allowed for whatever type of blood draw was needed. She was starting to feel like a pincushion. As much as she enjoyed talking to Josh, she wasn't sure she could help him with this new set of problems.
She also spoke with Caitlin, who was keeping busy completing college work online while staying in New Jersey. She called Kelsey in LA to see how her new job was going and how she was coping with daily business being different now in the midst of this strange virus. She talked to Maggie daily, with updates on her condition and how Maggie was getting along with being indoors so much. Maggie was canceling her spring art show, but was able to return to gardening to pass time. She was considering making art with plants. Liza was enjoying Maggie's concept drawings.
When Liza was lonely, she mostly looked forward to talking to Charles, who she missed more than she thought possible. She missed their routine, conversations, just being with him. The few days they had stayed together had made her remember how good it used to be.