“And if you can’t, then what?” In spite of her promise to keep the kids from hearing, Imani found her voice rising. “The bank takes the house, kicks us all out, and all we’ll have gained from bringing in another family is additional exposure to a deadly virus. It’s not like we can tell a grown woman who she can and cannot see and how cautious she should be outside our home. What do you really know about her and who’s in her bubble, huh? Does she have a boyfriend? What job does he have? Does Layla see her father multiple times a week? Are we actually exposing ourselves to two families? To three?”

Philip pointed to the ceiling, indicating their new tenants’ quarters and, perhaps, reminding her to keep her voice down. “Tonya’s not going to take any risks with her health or her kid’s well-being. I’m sure she’s more afraid of contracting the virus than we are. She’s the one who won’t have health insurance soon. One of the reasons she took us up on this deal is because she’s grateful not to be living in a hotel with a bunch of COVID patients.”

Imani turned her attention to the window. She needed to both calm down and come up with another way of framing her objections that wouldn’t seem cruel. Of course, she didn’t want a single mother and her young kid renting a room in some hotel booked with infected folks who were recuperating away from healthy loved ones. But Philip’s employees shouldn’t be her problem. She had enough on her plate working to keep food on the table and make a dent in Philip’s massive loan while trying to find her missing best friend. She couldn’t add Airbnb host to all her other responsibilities.

A snowy film coated the windowpane and potted trees in their strip of backyard. Imani had once found such frost beautiful, a glitter coating on the gray city. The sight now made her feel withered. It resembled dust, she thought. They were all rotting away inside while the world went unused.

Warm hands landed on her shoulders. Before she could turn around, Philip enveloped her in his arms. His chin lowered to the top of her head. “Please give it a chance. She’ll pay rent, and I’ll renegotiate.”

A sob stopped his words. Imani separated from him to see his face. The fire was out of Philip’s typically intense blue eyes, finally doused by real tears.

“Babe.” His voice was pained. “I want to do something good. I’ve been firing and furloughing people who have dedicated so much to my restaurant, taking away live—” He coughed, fighting the emotion that had reddened his fair skin. “Livelihoods. Upending lives. I need to do something good.”