The Lockdown

19

"So Cammie..." the youngster punched Andy on his shoulder. "Only Sarah is allowed to call me Cammie I am not twelve anymore." He was, once again, sitting in the middle seat of the pickup truck on the way to Maggie's house just because that allowed him to snuggle close to Andy all the way.

"Got it. Listen, we need to be a little bit more careful around my mother.... Don't look at me like that, I am going to tell her, maybe even today, I just have to find out what's going on with her first."

"OK, so no repeat business then." Andy looked at the boy shocked. "Just kidding. You tell her whatever you want to tell her, whenever you want to tell her. I am sorry I outed you to Billy."

"You can out me to anybody. Just let me tell my mom first." They pulled into her drive way, Andy parked the car behind the garage and Cam immediately scooted to the other seat. "No, I want a kiss first." The boy climbed into his lap and attacked his mouth for a minute. "Thank you, I needed that. Let me talk to my mom and you can wait here or use the swing if you like."

"Swing." Cam climbed over Andy and let himself out on the driver's side. Before Andy could even get out of the car, he already ran around the side of the house and disappeared. Andy walked up to the front door, it opened before he could even knock.

"Happy birthday, honey. I saw the swing moving from the kitchen, I figured you arrived." Her mom greeted him. "Please, come in."

"You know I can't, mom," Andy protested.

"I haven't been outside this house for three weeks; you have also been locked in with your roommate I presume. You can keep your mask on and if it makes you feel better I will put one on myself and we can keep our distance."

"We went shopping a few times and we just met a couple of friends."

"And I'm sure you took precautions all the time. I am not going to talk to you about this through a screen door, so come on in." Andy gave in and followed his mom to the kitchen. She put on a mask. There was a big cheesecake in the middle of the kitchen island. "I made this for you, but I guess you can't eat it now, just take it home for later. You will get your present shortly but I thought I would tell you why I asked you to come talk to me first." They sat down at opposite ends of the isle. Maggie was examining her son and she was relieved to see that he looked contented; she suspected the reason and although she had no idea how he would take her news she hoped for the best.

"You are letting your hair grow out."

"Not really by choice. I forgot to go to a salon before the lockdown started and for some reason it just keeps growing," he joked lamely.

"It hasn't been this long since high school. I could give you a haircut, but I kind of like it, it suits you."

"Thank you, mom. You are making me nervous."

"No need, honey." Maggie stopped stalling and started to explain the reasons behind her invite. "You know that thanks to your father I am more than comfortable financially." Andy's parents ran a very successful real estate agency together for twenty-five years. After his death, she didn't feel like continuing alone, neither of her children were interested in real estate, so she sold it for a ton of money.

"You built that firm together."

"That may be, but I didn't want to run it by myself that's why I had to sell it. You also know that I haven't been very happy in this big house for the past three years."

"I am so sorry, mom, I promise I will come by more often in the future and you have your friends and all your memories are here."

"A lot of my friends retired and moved away, and memories are not tied to a place."