Home Office Lovers: Quarantine Matchmakers, #1

By Samantha Thomas

Successful and slightly nerdy marketing professional, Nicolette Ferris finds herself living the worst nightmare of much of the first world – a pandemic that even high dollar medical systems and economies are not well prepared for. After hoping for the best and isolating herself from social media and news for a week for her mental health, she gets the news on the same day that she will be working from home and schools are closed indefinitely.

Armed with her silly sense of humor, her 7 year old adopted son, and her secret embarrassing love for dating reality shows, she begins to find a new normal as she listens to her co-dependent and serial dating best friend complain about canceled dates due to the pandemic.

In this stressful time, an idea comes to her to help company morale – their own version of reality dating involving her as a matchmaker, anonymously connecting co-workers she thinks might click without knowing who the other is so pre-conceived biases are removed, excluding herself, of course. After all, she has a young son to worry about right now, and the one man she has ever wanted is way off limits.

But when someone anonymously requests a date with her, Nicolette takes the initial dive to join her own game, not knowing what to expect after her friend pushes her by agreeing to shelve her serial dating ways and take this seriously in exchange for this one selfish move from the typically selfless Nicolette.
Will this be the start of a happily ever after she has secretly wanted this whole time? Or will it simply bring more stress to her already busy and anxious world?
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samantha Thomas
• Release date: Apr 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393389521

Book preview

World on Fire

Nicolette knocked on the door at the end of the hall. Kevin! Time to get up!

I’m up Aunt Nicky! he called back, and she smiled.

Breakfast in ten. Nicolette moved down the hall and crossed the living room to the kitchen. She grabbed a box of cereal, a bowl, a spoon, and a jug of milk, placing them on the counter. Then, she scooped out some kibble from a container and dumped it in the dog’s bowl and refilled her water.

A Labrador came running to chow down on the food. Nicolette patted her. 

Nicolette’s cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and noticed she had a new email. She opened it. It was from work and was quite brusque.

Stay home. The governor has advised that all non-essential workers stay home, so from now on I need you to work from home.

Stay home? she asked, reading the email. Her cell phone began ringing. Hi Charlie!

Did you get the email? Charlotte asked.

Yes, I did. What is that about?

Haven’t you seen the news recently?

You know I don’t watch the news, it’s bad for my mental health, Nicolette said, and it was the truth. It was the only way to calm her anxiety.

Oh, I know, but just turn it on for two seconds.

Ok, hold on. Nicolette moved to the living room, hunted down the remote, and flipped on the TV to the local news.

The screen was split, and an anchor was interviewing an old man in a suit, some expert or a politician, who knew? But it was his tone of voice that got her. Americans are encouraged to stay home! The news reporter said Americans have been warned against holding large gatherings, but who is taking it seriously? If you don’t, look what happened to Louisiana where there are now suddenly 900 cases that sprung up since the gathering last week for Mardi Gras. The beaches in California were crowded over the weekend, and Central Park was still full of people even though the governor told them to stay home. He is cracking down to ensure the safety of more people. More states to follow in the stay home movement. The more Americans stay home, the safer they will be, and the sooner we can get over this pandemic that has now taken a massive toll on the world population.

Oh my gosh! What? What is going on? Nicolette asked. She flipped the TV back off before Kevin came in and heard the news. The last thing he needed was to hear about a virus that killed people, especially after his mom.

Kevin was Nicolette’s seven-year-old nephew who she had taken in ever since his Mom had died. Now, he was as close to her as if he was her own son, but he still called her Aunt Nicky.

There’s some kind of virus called Corona, it like started in China, and now it’s here, Charlotte explained.

Are people actually dying? Nicolette asked, her chest feeling a little tight.

Yes, people are actually dying, Charlotte said. Lots of people all over the world are dying.

What is it? What are the symptoms that I have to watch out for? Her panic was beginning to talk for her.

I think it starts with a sore throat; that’s what I read, at least.

"A sore throat, so if Kevin gets up one morning and complains about a sore throat,