Chapter 1

I left my packed rollaboard bag by the front door as I waited for my Uber.

A habit of so many years, so many trips, so many memories. Yet so much had changed as well. Both personally and with the world.

The damn pandemic was a big part of it. Not content with bringing the world to a screeching halt in 2020, or sweeping through the population with the Delta variant in 2021, the Omega variant had to arrive with a bang in 2024.

My Amanda was one of the early victims. One morning she was just fine, writing out grocery lists and planning what to watch next on Netflix. The next morning she was struggling to breathe, and by afternoon she was gone. Her body was incinerated at the hospital, all that remained was an urn of ashes and the memories of fourteen years of marriage.

The only silver lining was that we quickly learned how to combat Omega. The mRNA vaccines that seemed to be miracle workers with the early variants ironically were part of the problem this time. Something about how Omega reacted with the spike proteins caused an almost certain fatal reaction if you happened to get infected. However, the more traditional vaccines developed in Europe, India and China were incredibly effective. After Omega swept through the White House and killed 8 cabinet members in less than a week, the remnants of Government began a round-the-clock airlift of these vaccines, followed by a mass re-vaccination effort. Things stabilised by 2025, and life was moving forward again as spring of 2026 broke.

None of that brought back my Amanda of course. Yet I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t really lose anyone else close to me. I was fine and my parents were fine, having received the “traditional” type vaccines to begin with thanks to a twist of fate. And thankfully, Jillian was fine as well.

Ah Jillian. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this without her. It had been almost five years since I last saw her in person, an incredible night at a hotel in Tulsa, but she was my absolute rock in the aftermath of Amanda. She knew grief and she knew me. And she made sure that, despite the awfulness of having to deal with all the stages of mourning while still effectively isolated from the world, I always had a friend that I could turn to for support.

Incredibly, her crazy anti-vaxxer ex-husband Rick was fine too. Yes, I said ex-husband. They divorced in 2022, ironically over his unwilligness to let their kids get vaccinated. She got custody of course, and despite now being a single mother raising two teens, she somehow managed to be the incredible superwoman that most women secretly are capable of being but don’t always get a chance to demonstrate.

Anyway, the world was slowly getting back to whatever passes for normal now. And after much discussion, Jillian and I decided to see how we fit into each other’s future. So, with planes flying again and hotels reopening again, I booked us a trip to a beach resort. Just a few days away from reality, but a chance to meet up in person and determine how things would go.

Which brings me back to the bag by the front door. It felt strange packing for a vacation after everything that had happened. I’d packed many bags of course, even in recent months as work put me back on the road again. But this was different. I felt a little guilty when I put my swimming trunks in the bag, as if planning to have fun was something taboo.

My phone rang as I waited. The screen showed Jillian’s name.

“Hey darling”, I said as I answered. “All set?”

“Hi Georgie”, I heard the voice on the other end. “Uh, there’s a small problem.”

My heart sank.

“What happened?”

“It’s Lauren. She and Billy were supposed to be spending the week with their dad while I’m away. But I guess Rick said something to her and now she’s pissed off at him and refusing to stay there.”

“And Billy?”

“Oh, he’s fine. As long as he’s with a gaming console and you feed and water him occasionally, he’ll live in a cave.”

“Ah the joys of being a teenage boy!”

Jillian giggled, the sound that I had grown to love over so many conversations these last couple of years.

“I remember you as a teenage boy. You were pretty obnoxious to begin with.”

I laughed, thinking back to some of the awkwardness of those years.

“No comment!”

“Anyway, I asked my mom if Lauren could stay with her and she’s ok with it, but that also means I need to drive all the way up to her place to drop her off. Which means I won’t be able to make my flight in time. What do you think we can do?”

I thought quickly.

“Why don’t you bring her along? I can burn some more miles to get her a ticket and I can’t imagine the hotel won’t have a spare room available.”

I heard her sigh, a mixture of relief and apprehension.

“Georgie, are you sure? I mean we had a lot of plans and expectations for this trip. Do you really want a 17 year old girl as a third wheel?”

“Jill, that’s life. If our relationship is going to go anywhere, Lauren is gonna be part of my life anyway. Your daughter is never going to be a third wheel to me, regardless.”

I could sense her sniffle slightly on the other end of the line.

“I love you Georgie”, she finally spoke.

“I love you too Jill. Text me her full name and date of birth and I’ll set everything up on the way to the airport.”

I hung up just as my phone pinged to advise the arrival of my Uber. Thankfully, today’s ride was a sterile autonomous vehicle so I didn’t have to go through the full rigamarole of disinfection and testing protocols before getting in. The ride to the airport took only 15 minutes, but that was more than enough time to get a ticket lined up for Lauren. The hotel was a bit trickier though, as I texted Jillian.

“hotel has no additional beach chalets left - we can do a separate room in the main building or move us all into the two bedroom chalet. what do u think?”

“how private is the 2bdrm”

“looks awesome on the app - huge master bdrm with outdoor shower - plus smaller bedroom with shared bath and living room”

“id prefer 2bdrm then if its ok with you?”

“of course”

I changed the reservation on the app just as we pulled into the airport drop off zone. I had my routines from years of travel set up like a well oiled machine, so I was through the security and testing checkpoints in minutes. A few minutes later, the flight was called for boarding.

The schedule I had worked out had us both flying to Dallas on commuter flights, where we would meet up and catch the bigger plane to our destination together. My flight was due to arrive first, so I made my way leisurely to their arrival gate just as the aircraft was taxiing in.

The girls were the first two out of the jetway and I spotted them immediately. Jillian looked just like I remembered her from our last meeting in Tulsa, down to wearing what looked like the same striped blouse and mom jeans that she had worn then. And a step behind her, was who I assumed was Lauren. Seventeen years old and looking exactly like her mother had all those years ago when I first fell for her.

I waved to attract their attention and they walked over to me. Jillian gave me a quick peck on the cheek, presumably deferring any PDA due to her daughter’s presence. Lauren for her part was friendly enough and said hello as warmly as a teenager greeting her mother’s friend could be expected to. We had a couple of hours to kill before our connecting flight, so I led them over to the airline club to wait. We were lucky enough to find a table by the window where we settled down.

Lauren and her mother exchanged a look and Jillian prompted her, “Go on!”

“Uncle George”, Lauren said a bit awkwardly. “I, uh, just wanted to thank you for bringing me along. I’m, uh, sorry for putting you on the spot like that.”

“Lauren, you don’t need to apologise for anything. I’m actually glad you agreed to come. And please, no need for the ‘uncle’, you can just call me ‘George’ so I don’t feel too old.”

Lauren looked at her mom again and Jillian nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Uh, thanks George. I’ll, uh, try not to get in your way. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”, she replied.

I laughed, thinking back to my chat with Jillian earlier. Jillian tried unsuccesfully to hide a smile but couldn’t.

“Anyway”, I said changing the subject. “Make yourself comfortable. Snacks and drinks are over there so help yourself!”

Lauren headed off to explore, leaving Jillian and myself at the table.

“Did you prompt her to apologise?”, I asked Jillian with a grin.

“Well, not really. She apologised to me on the flight down here and I just told her that it was you that she probably needed to apologise to instead.”

“Jill, I told you it was fine. She seems like a great kid and I’m sure we’ll enjoy having her around.”

“I think she likes you. She asked me if you were my ‘boyfriend’ and said that she approved if you were!”

“I dunno if she would approve of some of the things I have planned for her mom this week”, I replied with a slight blush.

Jillian blushed as well and reached over to squeeze my hand gently.

“That’s why I asked about the privacy at the hotel. I don’t intend to keep things PG rated if you know what I mean!”

Lauren returned from the buffet balancing multiple plates of nibbles for all of us. She seemed quite excited by the facilities at the club, ironic since grumbling about them was a usual pastime for most frequent flyers.

Time passed quickly as we chatted easily about a wide range of things. Lauren was a very bright young lady and wanted to study engineering, so we discussed colleges and the pros and cons of each. Similar to her mother at that age, she never considered failure as a possibility - it was just a case of picking which path she would be succesful upon. After a terrible last few years, the optimism of youth was quite heartening to see.

We headed down to our gate at the appropriate time and were the first to board. This flight was on a larger aircraft that usually flew international routes, so had the lovely sleeper suites in First Class. Lauren checked the seat number on her boarding pass and looked at her mother in surprise.

“Mom are we supposed to be in First Class?”, she asked incredulously.

I laughed and responded for her.

“Yes, its one of the few perks of my work travel. I have so many frequent flyer miles that it would be a shame not to use them to fly comfortably.”

“Oh wow! This is amazing. Just like in the movies!”, she exclaimed excitedly as she sat down and started pressing buttons. Jillian and I took our seats in a more conventional manner.

“You’re spoiling us Georgie”, she said with a smile. “A regular coach ticket would have been just fine.”

The flight attendant came around with a tray of drinks and we helped ourselves to our choices. Jillian took a glass of sparkling wine, but stopped the flight attendant before she could leave.

“Excuse me, where is the nearest lavatory?”