Honestly, that was what Alex meant by her leaving him. The never knowing. The letting his family and hers hate him. Making Charlie poisoned against him. All of the friends and relationships and the person he had been before were gone because Coralee couldn't send him a message that way like she had to the studio. That was what made Alex angriest about the situation, because she had to know what her disappearance was costing him and had cost him.

But she hated that he asked her to leave it alone. "Richard," she sighed his name softly, leaning forward not to kiss him but to rest her forehead against his own. "I can get infected anywhere. I'm not going to go into the hospital or anything, I promise. But I'm not just going to lock myself in here the entire time this thing is going on. It could be months. And I mean come on, do you really want an unwalked seventy pound dog locked in here?"