Love In the time of covid

Chapter 30

**3 Weeks Later**

"Hi mom. It's me." Giselle said to her unconscious mother that was still lying quietly in the hospital bed. 2 weeks ago, the doctors had decided to move her from oxygen to a ventilator. When Giselle first started coming to see her, Vivian was in and out. Even though she struggled to breathe, her mother would wake up periodically long enough to hold a 5-minute conversation and then would go back under.

Giselle had decided to take time off from her job with Trina. Her friend was happy to give her the time and had made it a priority to check on her friend every few days.

Chris was away again. He didn't want to leave but he had signed a contract for a movie filming in Europe. He pushed it off as long as he could but when he was threatened at losing the part; Giselle convinced him to go, and she would be fine.

Giselle was not fine. She would tell everyone she was fine, but her anxiety was off the charts. She wasn't sleeping much or eating. When she did, she couldn't manage more than a couple of hours or a few bites before she felt like she wanted to throw up from the stress.

Giselle had to suck up her pride and ask Malcom to take Jeremy temporarily. She made sure to call Jeremy in the morning before he went to school and every night before he went to bed.

On the days that she didn't have to go into the restaurant, she spent as much time at the hospital as she was allowed which was 1 hour a day. She now worked at the restaurant every day from the time she left the hospital to the time she went home at night. After reviewing the bookkeeping, she realized how badly her mother was in debt from trying to keep the restaurant open. Her mother was 3 months behind on rent, the food inventory was hard to get because of supply shortages so she was buying what she needed from the grocery store at marked up prices and there were only three employees from the original staff that were still on payroll. Trying to keep her mother's dream afloat became yet another thing she took on.

"I brought you more flowers. I can't leave them here, but I thought they might brighten up the room a little." Giselle stated as she held the bouquet of daffodils, lilies, and roses in her arms. "Jeremy misses you. He asks me every time we talk when he can see you again. And Mike and Jillian say hello."

Giselle continued to catch her mother up on the positive things that had been happening. There weren't many but she tried to think as many as possible. She told her mother about moving in with Chris. The two had decided to hold off until he got back from filming, she had enough on her plate and packing up her apartment wouldn't help.

"Ms. Gibson." Doctor O'Malley interrupted her from her ramblings.

Giselle turned her head and saw the middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair slowly walking closer. "Is there any update on how she's doing?" she asked as she stood up from the chair and crossing her arms against her chest.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We've been closely monitoring her and we're continuing to see a decrease in her oxygen levels."

"What does that mean? Will she get better?" Giselle asked with her stomach turning in knot.

The doctor broke eye contact to avoid her worried stare. He wrung his hands together before his eyes snapped back up to hers. "With the steady decrease in how much she can breathe on her own, we're not optimistic."

Giselle felt herself waver on her feet and took her spot again in the chair. She dropped her head in her hands and rested her elbows on her knees as the doctor continued to explain what was happening.