Hunker Down with the McKallisters: A Cake Series Novella Read online

  Hunker Down with the McKallisters

  A Cake Series Book

  J. Bengtsson

  Copyright © 2020 by J. Bengtsson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is dedicated to the year 2020.

  You know what you’ve done.

  Contents

  McKallister Family Tree

  Prologue: Jake McKallister

  1. Jake

  Quarantine – Day 3

  2. Finn

  Lockdown – Day 6

  3. Emma

  Lockdown – Day 6

  4. Kyle

  Quarantine – Day 7

  5. Finn

  Lockdown – Day 9

  6. Scott

  Lockdown – Day 10

  7. Michelle

  Lockdown – Day 10

  8. Quinn

  Lockdown – Day 10

  9. Grace

  Lockdown – Day 10

  10. Jake

  Quarantine – Day 12

  11. Finn

  Lockdown – Day 17

  12. Jake

  Quarantine – Day 30

  13. Kenzie

  Lockdown – Day 30

  14. Casey

  Lockdown – Day 30

  Epilogue: Keith

  Bonus Material

  Casey

  Jake

  Kenzie

  Kyle

  Emma

  Finn

  Keith

  Samantha (Sam)

  Quinn

  Grace

  Scott

  Michelle

  Excerpt: Like the Wind

  The Cake Series

  About the Author

  Also by J. Bengtsson

  Award Nominated Audiobooks by J. Bengtsson

  McKallister Family Tree

  Scott McKallister (Patriarch)

  married to

  Michelle McKallister (Matriarch)

  Children

  Son Keith McKallister (Married to Samantha Anderson)

  Wyatt and Thomas

  Daughter Emma McKallister (Married to Finn Perry)

  Indiana, Kimi, and Paige

  Son Jake McKallister (Married to Casey Caldwell)

  Miles, Slater, and Lily

  Son Kyle McKallister (Married to Kenzie Williams)

  Arlo and Axel

  Son Quinn McKallister

  Daughter Grace McKallister

  Mitch McKallister (Married to Kate Mullens)- Scott’s son

  from previous relationship

  *For additional Cake series family trees (including the in-laws) go to my website > jbengtssonbooks.com

  Family Trees courtesy of Shanelle Bridgeforth

  Prologue: Jake McKallister

  Instagram Video

  I know there’s a lot of information circulating about the coronavirus. I was away for a few weeks in an area later designated as a hotspot, and upon my return to Los Angeles went into quarantine and was tested for the virus. The results came back this morning, and I tested positive. My symptoms are mild, and I’m being virtually monitored from my family’s home. My brother Kyle was with me during the time I was away and has also tested positive, so we’re riding this out together.

  Since returning home, neither of us has had any physical contact with our wives or kids. Our main priority is to keep from passing this virus on to anyone else, so we’ll be following the rules and guidelines laid out for us by the CDC. We’ll post periodically to let you know how we’re doing. In the meantime, please be careful out there.

  Jake

  Quarantine – Day 3

  The video shut off, and I swatted Kyle’s finger away from my ear.

  “My god, Kyle. Did you really just give me a wet willy during a public service announcement about the coronavirus? Where the whole point is we’re not supposed to be sharing bodily fluids?”

  “What does it matter now?” He shrugged. “We’re already both infected.”

  “It matters to me… and to my millions of followers.”

  “Okay, yeah.” Kyle rolled his eyes, putting his hands up to placate me. “I forgot how super important you are. I’ll try to keep my respiratory droplets in check from now on.”

  Kyle and I had been stuck in the guesthouse at my parents’ place since arriving back in the States and, although it had only been three days, he was already getting on my very last nerve.

  “I need you over in that corner,” I protested, pointing to the furthest away spot in the living room. “Away from me.”

  Openly defying my order, Kyle plopped himself down on the couch and crossed his feet on the coffee table. “There are no rules in quarantine.”

  “That’s literally the definition of quarantine, Kyle.” My voice rose to an unmanly pitch. “Lots and lots of rules to follow.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like number one – your saliva has to remain in your body. Number two – when I’m in the bathroom, do not pass notes under the door. I can hear just fine. Number three – we both have to agree on a show before bingeing the series. I refuse to get sucked into one more season of Frankie and Grace.”

  “Hold up,” Kyle interrupted. “Do I get to add to these rules?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because, Kyle, birth order applies to quarantines, which makes me your boss.”

  “Well, then if we apply the same theory, that makes me the bratty kid brother… and your worst nightmare.”

  Finn

  Lockdown – Day 6

  “You ready for this?” I asked, glancing over at Emma.

  Our eyes met, and for the quickest second, fear cycled through hers. I’d been seeing that look a lot lately, and not just when she left for work. I saw it when she backed away from a hug or as she watched the girls sleep. This was Emma’s worst nightmare; her reason for not wanting children in the first place. She couldn’t protect those she loved from the virus. But damned if she didn’t try.

  “I’m ready,” she confirmed with a brave nod.

  And she was. Covered head to toe in protective gear, Emma was taking no chances. An ER nurse, she’d been on the front lines since the whole pandemic started and had an appreciation for the destruction it waged. A germaphobe her whole life, Emma seemed uniquely attuned to the challenges of battling an unseen enemy.

  “Put your gloves and mask on,” she instructed.

  “I don’t need all that.” I waved off the protection.

  “Yes, you do, because if you accidentally bring something home to the girls, I’ll castrate you.”

  “And I’m putting on the mask and gloves.”

  A nervous laugh passed between us as I slipped the mask over my face and squeezed around the nose to make a seal.

  “I feel like I’m about to exorcise demons.”

  “Appropriate,” Emma chuckled. “Because this is my definition of hell.”

  She wasn’t that far off, I thought, as I pulled my car through the gates of Perryland.

  Kids ran ten deep alongside my car as we made our way down the long driveway. The ‘six feet apart’ rule apparently did not apply in this rural section of the world.

  “I’d ask where their parents are in a pandemic, but…”

  “Well, technically, Emma, they are adhering to the stay-at-home order.”

  “This is true.”

  We got a spot a few rows back in the make
shift parking lot, which had grown substantially since the lockdown forced my relatives off the streets. Shelby came out of the house wearing only a t-shirt that reached to her knees and a pair of fluffy red slippers. She waved her arms in the air like she was being freed in a hostage exchange.

  Emma and I glanced at one another.

  “Is Shelby surrendering or something?” she asked.

  “If she is, am I required to accept it?”

  Emma exited the car, and I was right behind her.

  Shelby took a step back. “Oh wow,” she said. “Were you two vacationing in Chernobyl?”

  “In this day and age,” Emma patiently explained, “you can never be too careful.”

  “Well, yes, I agree if you’re shoveling radioactive waste, but I hardly think a hazmat suit is necessary when visiting the in-laws.”

  I didn’t even need to look at Emma to know what she was thinking. A nuclear meltdown had nothing on the Perrys.

  My brother Rocky appeared in the doorway, his body leaning against the frame. With his signature lazy drawl, he fashion-shamed our mother. “Mom, go put some pants on. Jesus.”

  “If I don’t have anyone to impress,” Shelby sassed back. “What’s the point?”

  “The point is I feel like shit, and seeing you half-naked is only making the nausea worse.”

  He stopped talking as he got a closer look at Emma and me. “You two look like a condom commercial.”

  “Rocky,” Emma admonished. “I told you to go to a room and isolate yourself until I got here.”

  “Right, but what you might have overlooked was the fact that half the county’s population lives in this house. There’s no self-isolating. Besides, thanks to Finn, I’ve spent the last week with these people, so I’m hardly the epicenter of this outbreak.”

  My brother glared at me like I was to blame for his current predicament. Hey, I’d never asked Rocky to stay. That had been his decision alone. Yes, I’d requested him to look in on Shelby and Gigi after it became clear that neither one of them was capable of surviving this outbreak on their own, but that was a far cry from asking him to book a one-way ticket to crazy town.

  And, besides, it wasn’t like I’d just abandoned him. I mean, now that my filming schedule had been canceled until further notice, I’d have done the job myself, but with Emma working all the time, my dance card was filled with a different type of difficult female – daughters.

  I fought back. “Rocky, I believe your exact words were, ‘I might as well move in until this all blows over, so the kids and me aren’t stuck in a small apartment for a month.’”

  “And, Finn, I believe your exact words were, ‘Please, I’m such a whiny-ass bitch, I need help.’”

  Emma broke up the festivities by guiding Rocky back into the house. He’d never been one to follow direction, but with Emma, it was different. He respected her like I hadn’t seen him respect anyone else. Of course, that had everything to do with the fact that after he was released from prison, she’d been right there by his side helping him get his life back together. Not only did we get Rocky settled into an apartment with his two kids, but I also hooked him up with my agent, who immediately started booking him in television and movie roles calling for buff and gruff bikers or Viking dudes.

  “I’m fine, Emma,” he protested. “Just a little trouble catching my breath is all. Shelby shouldn’t have called you.”

  “Yes, she should have,” Emma said, pointing him to the couch. “You’re family.”

  I caught the barely-there smile that tipped his upper lip and knew what that meant to him. Rocky and I had survived on our own nearly our entire childhood, so I could imagine having a support system was not only comforting to him but also a welcome relief.

  While Emma examined Rocky, I got a pinch in the ass from my granny’s grabber arm.

  “Do you mind?” She aggressively shooed me out of her line of vision. “It’s the Showcase Showdown.”

  “Oh, sorry,” I said, stepping outside of her Price Is Right radius. As always, Grandma Gigi was perched in her armchair throne with a pile of treats by her side. “You look like you have everything you need to survive an apocalypse.”

  “Except Rocky won’t buy me my fruit snacks.”

  “They were out, Grandma,” he called to her from the couch. “What did you want me to do, raid the preschool down the street?”

  “Besides, Gigi,” I said. “Maybe this would be a good time to replace that processed food with the fresh fruits and vegetables that are still plentiful in the stores.”

  She sighed. “Indy, if I wanted your frou-frou Hollywood opinion, I’d have asked for it.”

  “Yeah, Indy,” Rocky laughed, but the wheezing that accompanied it worried me.

  I stood off in the corner mesmerized by the dipshit on the TV who bid a measly $14,000 for a trip to the Bahamas and a Chevrolet Blazer and then went on to be rewarded for his stupidity minutes later when the other contestant overbid on her living room package.

  “Finn,” Emma whispered, pulling me aside. She didn’t have to tell me; the look on her face said it all.

  “Oh, shit. Not Rocky?”

  She nodded. “He has all the symptoms. I’m going to take him to my hospital. You need to seal this place up tight. No one can go in or out.”

  “How do you propose I do that – with the National Guard?”

  “Do whatever you have to do, Finn. Perryland is now closed.”

  Emma

  Lockdown – Day 6

  “Maybe we should call an ambulance,” Finn said. “I don’t want you to be exposed any more than you already have been.”

  “No,” I whispered. “They’ll take him to the nearest hospital – where no one can visit him. At least at my hospital, I can keep an eye on him. I’ll be fine. Look at me – I’m in full cootie cover. It’s you I’m worried about. And the girls.”

  “I’ll call Michelle and Scott and tell them what’s going on. The girls are fine with them.”

  And he was right. Finn had moved in over there, caring for Indiana, Kimi, and Paige at my parents’ place, where a big backyard and a team of cousins kept the ‘shelter in place’ orders manageable for everyone. And, with them safely away from me, I could focus on work and not have to worry about dragging something back to the people I loved most in the world.

  “Hey,” he said, squeezing my gloved hand. “We’ll get through this.”

  Yes, we would; but it was going to take a long and concerted effort from everyone involved, and that included Finn’s super-spreader next of kin, who were about to get the reality check of a lifetime.

  “How bad is this?” Rocky asked, the crack in his voice speaking to the strain he was under. We hadn’t spoken since finally getting him off the property and en route to the hospital. It had been an emotional few minutes, and I knew the toll it had taken on his heart to have to pry his sobbing little girl, Posy, off his leg and then task his stoic nine-year-old son, Nike, with looking after her. It was a predicament no parent would want to go through, but especially not a single parent with no backup plan.

  “Listen, you’re going to be okay,” I answered. “Jake and Kyle are both positive and only came down with mild symptoms. You’re young and healthy; no pre-existing conditions. Don’t worry.”

  Although I was worried. Neither of my brothers had presented with the reduced oxygen saturation level that Rocky was showing. The truth was, my brother-in-law was already too sick to check into Casa Coronavirus with Jake and Kyle. If his symptoms were as serious as I thought they were, I feared Finn’s brother was in for a rough few days ahead.

  “Well,” Rocky said, hesitating. “I might not be as healthy as you think.”

  I glanced over. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m a smoker.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since, oh, ten years ago. Off and on.”

  “Rocky. How did I not know this?”

  “Because I have to hide it from Finn. He’s into that whole healthy living
bullshit.”

  “It’s not bullshit, and I wish you’d told me. I could have helped you quit.”

  “I know.” He laid his head back on the seat. “It’s just you and Finn… you’re so perfect. It’s intimidating.”

  “You are intimidated by us?” I shook my head, remembering the first time I ever met Rocky and that feeling of being in the presence of a galactic warrior.

  “Don’t look so surprised, Emma. I’m an ex-con. Not exactly salt-of-the-earth material… not like my flawless brother.”

  “First, no one is perfect or flawless or whatever other adjectives you’ve attached to Finn and me. I’m a bundle of nerves. I can be a selfish bitch. And I judge people sight unseen. And Finn… he’s… I mean, he’s… no, you’re right, he’s pretty perfect.”

  “See?” Rocky said. “Exactly my point.”

  We laughed, but it was short-lived, as Rocky’s mood was a somber one. “You aren’t selfish, Emma. When I came out of prison, you had every reason to judge me. What you did for me, I’ll never forget that. And…” Rocky’s voice broke.