A Covid Christmas Story

By Cathy Marie Bown

It's December 2020, and the Michaels family is a disaster. The marriage is in shambles, the kids are a mess, it's two weeks until Christmas, and the family has just been given a fourteen-day quarantine order after positive Covid tests. Being stuck in the house is no fun. As the two weeks count down, the family is forced to face a past trauma so powerful it splintered the family, leaving everyone in survival mode without realizing it.

The quarantine brings about serious illness, infidelity disclosures, and teenage rebellion, capped off with a blizzard that nearly costs one of them their life and changes everything forever. Either the family will learn to love each other again or cease to be a family forever. Amanda holds the keys to the future in her hands as she comes to terms with the woman she forced herself to be and the life that isn't what she wanted. Will Josh help her find happiness again or has too much damage already been done to save the family?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cathy Marie Bown
• Release date: Nov 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215378748

Cathy Marie Bown

Cathy Marie Bown is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Tau Delta – International English Honor Society, and Alpha Sigma Lambda Honors Societies. Cathy has an associate degree in Liberal Arts, a BA in Creative Writing and English with a minor in Art History, and a BA in History from Southern New Hampshire University. She is currently enrolled in a Creative Writing MFA program at SNHU. She is also a member of the Author’s Guild and the National Writer’s Union. She is 40 years old and a mother of 4. She is also a grandmother of three beautiful children and one angel baby. She is raising 2 kids with ADHD and a toddler with developmental delays/autism. She works as an advocate for domestic violence survivors and as a substitute teacher and librarian. Her hobbies include reading, writing, playing games (Animal Crossing and The Sims 3 and 4), and watching cooking shows (Food Network, Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef).

Book preview

Chapter One

The Positive Result

Friday, December 11, 2020

Y ou’ve got to be kidding me! I growled into the phone. I do not have time for this!

I’m sorry, Mrs. Michaels. It’s my responsibility to let you know. Your entire household needs to self-quarantine for fourteen days. The receptionist’s sweet voice, usually a welcomed sound informing me of upcoming PTA meetings or schedule changes, was very unwelcomed at that moment.

Can’t we just get tested?

Of course, you can. But any positive within the household will require a complete quarantine for your children to return to school. As you know, that’s the current policy. If you remember, you signed the agreement at the beginning of the school year.

Fine, we will do that. I’ll be there in a few minutes to pick up the kids. I assume they’re ready for me? I knew my voice was clipped and probably coming across as angry, but it was two weeks to Christmas, and my schedule was booked solid. I simply did not have time for virus crap right then.

Yes, ma’am.

I’m on my way, I grumbled into the phone and hung up.

Before I picked them up, though, I needed to find my husband. I believed Josh was in his home office, but he could have left without me knowing since it was lunchtime. I didn’t keep up with him anymore. It was easier to stay out of his way whenever possible these days. Everything was less stressful that way. Honestly, it’s not like we talked anymore anyway. We lived entirely different lives under the same roof.

I knocked on his office door, but there was no answer. I knocked again, then opened the door. He wasn’t there, but his computer was on, so I peeked at his screen. I didn’t even know what he was working on, but curiosity urged me to read the e-mail on screen. It was just a meeting notification for later that afternoon for a project that had to be completed before Christmas. I figured he had already finished it, based on how much time he spent in the office.

I was about to walk away when an instant message bubble appeared on the bottom of the screen.

Thank you for a wonderful lunch Joshie! I had so much fun. Next time, maybe we can just eat at my place? Then we don’t have to try to hide from anyone, and I can have you all to myself.

I was struck by confusion as I tried to understand the pet name. Josh never allowed nicknames with coworkers. As my mind wrapped around the meaning before me, betrayal flashed in my eyes, and all I saw was red.

But I couldn’t even deal with this problem because I had to go pick up the kids and get to the clinic for tests. A quick negative from all of us, and I could come home and pack Joshie’s bags for him. He could spend Christmas with his new girlfriend.

I left his office, stomped to the front of the house, grabbed my keys, and yanked open the door. Josh was standing with his hand outstretched, surprised.

Oh, Jesus! You scared me, Amanda! He looked annoyed, but I didn’t care. I wanted to run him over with my Lincoln Navigator, but I couldn’t do that, and besides, I didn’t have the time. I had a to-do list a mile long that needed to be completed before Christmas, and the list just grew longer. I pushed my anger aside for the time being and focused on getting the tests done so the kids could return to school, and I could get back to my schedule.

Humph, I groaned at him. Get in my truck. We have to go get the kids from school.

I can’t. I have a meeting. He tried to push past me, but I stopped him.

You need to come with me. We have to go to the school, get the kids, and get a COVID test.

He cursed. These kids had better not have brought that virus home from school. I have a Christmas party at work tomorrow. I can’t miss it.

"Then get in the truck, so we can get the tests done and get on with our lives. We wouldn’t want to interrupt your schedule."

I didn’t give him a chance to argue. I led him to the truck and opened the passenger door for him. He hesitated but got in. We didn’t speak on the drive to the school, but it was only three blocks away anyway. I went inside to find an office full of teenagers and pre-teens in face masks staring at me, several of them coughing. The secretary directed me to the sign-out sheet that I quickly filled out. My two kids got up and followed me out without a word.

When we got back into my SUV, I called my doctor’s office to find out when we could get rapid tests done. The receptionist informed me they couldn’t do rapid tests but gave me the name and address of a clinic that could, which I punched into my GPS, and we took off.

When we arrived at the address, I didn’t even want to park my vehicle, let alone get out. The building was an abandoned car repair shop. Nothing about it seemed legitimate. If I hadn’t gotten the information from my doctor, I wouldn’t have even considered stopping. There were dozens of white signs along the parking lot indicating that this was, in fact, a COVID TESTING SITE! RAPID TESTING DONE HERE, said some of the signs. Others said, NO WAITING, FAST RESULTS. It was very tacky and not the sort of place I would ever be caught dead, but my clinic said it would take a day to get in and four days for results, and I couldn’t wait that long. Hence, the seedy car lot turned medical clinic. There was no way this place could be sterilized and sanitary, but I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to get back on track.

Well, are you going to park? Josh said impatiently, staring at me and waiting for me to do something other than sit in the entryway. I parked the truck in one of the drive-up stalls and waited as instructed. A man in medical scrubs and a cloth face mask came to the passenger side. Josh rolled down his window, and the man handed him a stack of cards.

Fill these out, one for each of you. I’ll be back in five minutes with the tests. He walked to the next car that pulled in after us, then went inside. Josh handed me the stack, and I stared at him.

Can’t you help? I asked him.

I guess. He took one card and filled out his information while I filled out three cards. I finished all the cards for the children and myself before he finished his.

Done, he proudly announced, then looked at me, realizing the rest were done. Oh darn, I was going to help with those, he said sarcastically.

Yeah, I am sure you were, I responded with a cutting edge, knowing he had no intention of helping. In our fifteen years together, he had never filled out any forms when I was with him. He always had some excuse for why I was better equipped to do it. In fact, he’d never filled out a single school, medical, insurance, or picture order form. I’d done all of them.

The man in the scrubs returned and knocked on Josh’s window. He rolled it down again and let a burst of cold winter air into the SUV. The man took his card, reached in with the long white cotton-swab testing stick, and swabbed Josh’s nose. He put the end of the stick in a tube and stuck it in a Ziplock bag. Next, he moved behind Josh to Zach, our thirteen-year-old. I handed the kids their cards, then Zach handed his to the technician. He sat through the testing, never taking his headphones off, or turning down his music. I was grateful that Zach cooperated without fighting back since he could sometimes be very argumentative.

Our fourteen-year-old daughter, Sally, was next. She barely put her cell phone down long enough for the tech to swab her and pull the stick away. After he had slipped it into the baggie, she put her window back up, barely acknowledging him. That left just me. I rolled my window down before he had finished with Sally, anticipating his movements and hoping to be done quickly. The tech stepped up to my window, swabbed my nose, then put the swab away.

How long before we have answers? I asked him. We would like to get back to our lives.

Of course, he said, a little sarcastically. You should get a text in about fifteen minutes and an e-mail follow-up within 48 hours.

Thank you. I rolled my window back up and made sure the tech was out of the way, then backed my SUV out of the stall and headed home. Nobody spoke on the ride. My phone had dinged several times by the time we got parked and inside the house. I pulled out my phone, shut the door behind everyone, and read the messages.

I can’t believe this! I exclaimed as everyone was heading to their rooms.

What? Sally asked me, annoyed.

Well, everyone tested positive. Nobody can leave this house for two weeks.

You can’t be serious? My daughter cried. I am not missing my date this weekend. It’s my first date! And I’m supposed to go shopping with Karen’s family Sunday. You can’t keep me here locked up for that long. I’ll go crazy!

Sucks to be you! Zach taunted his older sister and then laughed. I’ll be in my room. As he walked away, he was still laughing at her.

Moo-oom! You’re just going to let him be mean to me like that? Sally whined.

Sweetie, I said, exasperated. That’s the least of our problems right now.

Oh, leave him alone. Josh said to me, He’s just being a kid.

Oh, suddenly you have an opinion? I snapped at him.

You know what, I’ll be in my room too. I’ve gotta call Karen anyway. Sally disappeared down the hall, always quick to dodge an argument between Josh and me.

Don’t take your anger out on him. It’s not his fault. Josh said to me, ignoring Sally entirely.

Like you even care? I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him, my frustration bubbling into anger.

Of course, I care. They are my kids too. Josh stepped toward me as though challenging me to disagree.

Oh yes, like I could ever forget. Nobody would know since you’re never involved in anything but work. I held my ground and stared at him.

Well, someone has to pay the bills, Amanda.

You’re right, and my savings accounts haven’t helped. It’s been all you, all along.

Might as well. You don’t spend that money on anything we need. That was a lie, and he knew it, but he didn’t back down. This man hadn’t bought groceries, school supplies, or clothing in a decade.

We don’t NEED a 60-inch flatscreen, Josh. We don’t NEED a thousand TV channels that nobody watches. We don’t NEED brand new cars every other year. We’d had this conversation before and gotten nowhere then as well.

Well, that didn’t stop you from picking out your new Navigator just six months ago.

The day after you picked out a shiny new Escalade EXT. Yes, if you’re getting a new truck, so am I.

Exactly my point. And now, we have to spend Christmas stuck in this house together because you couldn’t handle home-schooling the kids anymore. God knows we all got it from that school. His words burned in my head, and I couldn’t hold my temper any longer, despite my best efforts.

Are you sure we didn’t get it from your girlfriend? Josh stopped and stared at me for a minute as emotions flashed across his face.

Were you in my office? His anger was visible; however, I wasn’t going to back down. 

So, you don’t deny it? I stepped toward him, ready to fight. It was about time he showed some emotions.

I specifically told you to stay out of my office. Is it so hard for you to follow instructions? Of course, it is. You’re incompetent. His voice was stern, as though he was scolding an unruly child. I hated when he talked to me like that, even though it happened often. He was never wrong, and I could never do anything right—the story of my life.

Well, I assure you it doesn’t matter now. When this quarantine is over, you can move in with whoever she is. I started to walk away from him, to find something else to do but fight with him in the kitchen.

What makes you think I’m leaving this house? he asked, knowing it would trigger my anger. He knew the story of this house very well. He knew how much it hurt me to think about how we came about owning this house. But, more importantly, he knew it was the one thing in our lives he had no control over. I turned around and stalked over to where he was standing, meeting his eyes and staring him down. I was never assertive or aggressive toward him; usually, it was the opposite. But this topic boiled my blood, and he knew it without a doubt.

This house belongs to me. It was mine before I even met you, and I’ll hire a whole team of lawyers to make sure you don’t get it, I growled at him, and I watched the fire die in his eyes as I called his bluff.

You know what? I don’t even care. You don’t want me here. I don’t want to be here, and the kids couldn’t care less either way. You have become a world-class bitch, and I hate you. Keep the house. Keep the kids if that’s what they want. When this quarantine is over, I’m gone. Just stay out of my way for the next two weeks, and everything will be great. You can have your perfect little life without me. Josh backed away from me, then turned and stomped to his office and slammed the door. I followed behind him and heard him turn the lock.

I was so angry with him that I stomped to the kitchen, pulled a bottle of wine off the wine rack, poured myself a glass, and drank the whole thing. Next, I wandered around the kitchen, opening cabinets, and taking stock of my food supplies. We were in trouble. Our private chef delivered groceries on Saturday when she usually showed up to prep meals for the next few days. She would typically come on Saturdays and Wednesdays, but there was no way I would expose her to the virus for the next two weeks

There were a few random staples in the pantry, but not nearly enough for two weeks. The fridge was bare too. After taking a complete inventory, I sat down on the island with my tablet and credit card. Fortunately, our local grocer delivered, so I spent an hour putting together a food order. With Zach home all the time, it would take a lot to keep him from complaining. Typically, he ate a lot and then snacked constantly.

Once the food order was done and scheduled for delivery the following day, I called my housekeeper, Anita, and let her know what had happened and that she needed to be tested since she was in the house that morning. After that, I called the school to update our test results. Next, I called Teresa, our private chef, and canceled her services for the quarantine period and informed her I would still be paying her for the time since it was almost Christmas.

Then, I pulled out my day planner and made phone calls, rescheduling appointments, canceling Christmas events, and lining up alternative volunteers for the multiple events I had scheduled. As irritated as I was over the whole thing, everyone I spoke to was beyond polite and understanding. They all wanted to share their own Covid story, and I was obliged to listen since I was messing up their schedules.

Once all my phone calls were made and plans were penciled into my planner, I poured myself another glass of wine and returned to the tablet. I pulled up the website for my favorite restaurant and ordered dinner for everyone. The kids always ate the same things, and I didn’t care if Josh was happy with dinner, so I put in the order I wanted. It would take an hour for dinner to arrive, so I went upstairs to my office. I didn’t work, so I didn’t need an office for the same reason as Josh. But I did a lot of volunteer work with the PTA, so I had a computer set up.

I sat down, fired it up, and loaded a search for divorce lawyers. I picked out one I recognized from a friend and gave him a call. After explaining my situation, he ended the call by letting me know he would e-mail me a preliminary divorce agreement. The lawyer said it was better if I could get Josh to sign it without fighting in court. If he didn’t sign, we would plan our subsequent legal actions. As I hung up with him, my phone dinged, alerting me that my delivery driver was nearby.

Once dinner was moved from takeout containers to actual dishes, I set the table in the kitchen. I set a place for Josh opposite my plate, but he never joined us for dinner, and I didn’t expect tonight to be an exception. I gathered the kids, took away their phones, and sent Zach to let his father know that dinner was ready. Sally, Zach, and I sat through a quiet dinner. They both quickly ate so they could return to their rooms. They had computers, TVs, game systems, and plenty of hands-on activities in their rooms to keep them occupied for months without coming out for anything but food and bathroom breaks. Not that I wanted that, but that was how things had ended up. Josh bought them anything they wanted, and I had developed the habit of trying to beat him to it so that they would like me more.

Our relationship had become a competition for the children’s favor over the last few years. We didn’t even sleep in the same room anymore. Technically, we still shared a bedroom. It was just that Josh slept on the couch in his office more often than anywhere else. He spent most of his time in that room. If he wasn’t in there, it was because he’d gone out to lunch or dinner with co-workers or was at the bar with friends. Due to the pandemic, his work was entirely remote, but most employees still got together for weekly meals and drinks. They didn’t even wear masks unless a business made them.

That didn’t matter now. The kids didn’t even glance at his empty spot anymore. We ate, and the kids asked to be excused when their plates were cleared. I excused them because I didn’t have a good reason not to. Once I was finished, I cleared the dining room table and got everything put in the dishwasher.

It wasn’t even six p.m. yet, but I’d had enough of the day. I turned everything off downstairs and locked up. I took my second bottle of wine upstairs to my room, ran myself a hot bubble bath in the enormous corner tub in the private bathroom, and turned on my favorite Christmas music through the wall speaker. The world could have burned down around me, and I wouldn’t have noticed. I soaked in the piping hot water as I enjoyed my wine and the snow falling outside the large windows that frame the tub. It was cold outside but a toasty 100 degrees in my bathtub. When my bottle of wine was gone, I got out of the tub and wrapped up in a fluffy pink robe.

I had consumed more wine than usual, and I realized it when I started to walk around the bathroom. Giggling at my clumsiness, I didn’t bother to clean up. Instead, I headed straight to bed and curled up on my side of our California King mattress. I turned on the Christmas movie channel and fell asleep to re-kindled romances and new beginnings. 

Chapter Two

Day One

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Iwoke up alone. My head was throbbing from my over-indulgence the previous night, but it was hard to be upset when I woke up to Christmas music. It was lovely until I also heard voices, which startled me. I sat up, only to realize the television was still playing, where a happy-looking couple was walking through a winter wonderland, talking about their dreams for the future.

Yuck, romance movies. I never watched those. I must have been drunk last night. Years ago, I gave up on romance when managing the children became more important than anything else, and work became more important to my husband.

When Sally turned ten, nobody came to her birthday party, and it broke her sweet little heart. I worked as an office manager with Halmstad Accounting, where Josh still worked. It became clear that the children needed me at home more than they needed to spend all of their time with a sitter. I felt like I could help Sally’s social life, ensure that Zach had friends, and prevent them from feeling sad about themselves ever again. Of course, I had been entirely delusional, but we didn’t need the money I made. Between the two of us, Josh and I had a comfortable six-figure income, and I still had quite a bit of money in my savings account from my pre-marriage inheritance.

Josh was all for me becoming a stay-at-home mom, and I excelled at it. I enrolled Sally in several evening programs, put Zach into music lessons, and spent my nights transporting them to and from different activities. During the day, I planned activities, shopped, and managed the entire household. Within a year, both kids had many friends and trendy birthday parties. Over the years, Josh had grown more distant, accusing me of over-focusing on the children and micro-managing their lives.

Maybe he was right, but I was certainly not going to tell him that. My entire life revolved around keeping the kids on their schedules, making sure they made it to their lessons and groups, and nobody was ever mean to them. My goal was for them to have as many positive experiences as possible. As such, they had become a little bit spoiled.

I flicked off the tv and got dressed in my walk-in California closet. The presence of two of these closets in the primary bedroom suite on either side of the corner bathroom was one of the main reasons I purchased this house. It was expensive, but my parents left me a large inheritance. I justified the large purchase at the time by observing that since I would never get to see my parents again, at least I would always have a comfortable home.

My parent’s estate home, which was part of my inheritance, was sold to the highest bidder after their death, and the money was added to my inheritance account. I would never live in that house again, not with the memories of my father haunting every room. Instead, I bought a five-bedroom house in an up-and-coming high-end subdivision because, at the time, I planned to get married and have lots of children eventually. I even had future renovations planned out to accommodate more kids. I wanted a safe neighborhood that wouldn’t bury me in HOA rules and regulations, and I wanted a place where the army of children I wanted could play without being bothered.   

Two children were all I got—the first sore spot in our otherwise storybook marriage. Until Zach was six months old, the