It was going to be a late night at the flower shop. I was at the computer going through orders. We had lots of cancellations because of Omicron, but at the same time, orders were flooding in for Valentine's Day.

My two rugrats were asleep in the playpen behind me, and I was sipping ginger ale. I was trying to be discreet about it because my mom was working behind me. I knew she had to be suspicious, but she hadn't said anything yet. My doctor's appointment was in a few weeks, and I wasn't ready to tell my family that their eighteen-year-old was pregnant again.

I took a break to scroll through my social media for a few minutes. I specifically was looking for Jen and Karly's posts. They took the train down last night with their parents, finally accomplishing their dream of being in Times Square to watch the ball drop. They invited me to go with them, but I have to be with my kids.

"Do you think it's gonna be any different with this COVID nonsense?" my mom asked.

"I dunno. It looks bleak if you ask me. I checked the numbers this morning and statewide, we're climbing closer and closer to cases topping a hundred thousand."

"At least all the deaths aren't as high this time," she said, snipping the bottom of a rose and putting it into a vase. "I'm always so worried about the babies, since they're not vaccinated yet. You need to get your booster, by the way. We keep reminding you."

"I'll go get it when I have the chance," I said.

My mom sighed. "I don't want to do another year of this. I hope things chance, but it feels like it's just the same thing."

"I know. I'm frustrated too. We're going into our third year of this." I looked over at my sleeping toddlers. "I want them to be safe, but when they turn two and masks are recommended for them, I can't imagine how hard it's gonna be."

"I told you, you should start practicing with them now so they're used to it."

"That's easier said than done," I said.

"At this point I'm ready to move to someplace like Florida where they don't have any mandates. I'm so sick of this," she said.

"A vacation sounds really nice right now." I sighed. "I'd love to put my toes in some warm sand. I don't know if I'd survive with the kids on a three-hour flight though. Besides, so many people get COVID after flying. It's like one big germ tube."

"When it gets better, we should all go. One big family vacation."

"Yeah. If the numbers get down really low like during the summer, I'm down," I said.

We got back to work and left the shop around nine. I gave both kids a bath and tucked them into their cribs. These pregnancy hormones were making me really emotional, and I started crying when I put both kids in their cribs.

They were getting so big. I'd need toddler beds for them soon. I went to bed in my lonely room. It had been a while since I'd seen Faye's bed empty. Her class had multiple COVID cases and she had to quarantine for a week. By Wednesday I could see that she was breaking down.

It had been a while since she had a bad meltdown, so my parents didn't want to believe she was going to have another one. On Friday, she completely lost it and we had a couple of fresh holes in the living room walls. She'd be back at the Sunrise Center, getting her cocktail of meds leveled out again. She missed Christmas. All her presents were still sitting unwrapped under the tree.

I couldn't sleep, so I took out my phone and looked at toddler beds. Walmart had a really cute pink Minnie Mouse one for Jaxlyn. It was a great price, too. I couldn't decide on which bed I'd pick for Jaxson.

Eventually my eyelids started to feel heavy. I yawned and put my phone down on my nightstand. A few seconds later, it buzzed. Who on earth was sending me a text at ten-thirty at night?

I picked it up right away and looked at the text. It was Jaxson. My stomach dropped and my whole body suddenly felt freezing cold. The text said:

Hey love. Sorry I've been quiet all day. Been kinda out of it. I started feeling chills this morning and coughing so Gran took me to get a rapid test. It came back positive.