Lauren was sitting on the couch, her legs tucked beneath her, absentmindedly scrolling through her phone while ignoring the muted TV.
Sophie had gone to bed after an evening of endless questions about Christmas decorations and stories about her friends at school.
She sighed and tossed her phone onto the coffee table. She couldn’t stop worrying about Larry.
Over the past week, his health had been so up and down that she’d started checking on him every couple of hours. He’d insisted he was fine—“just a bug,” he’d called it—but she wasn’t convinced.
Between Larry’s sickness and Sophie’s occasional teary moments, Lauren had barely had time to think straight.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the kitchen, breaking the silence. Lauren jumped to her feet, her heart pounding.
"Larry?" she
