Page 24 of Locked Down In Watch Hill
“One more left.” She sighed. “I can do this.”
“Yep.”
“It’s funny, back at my old job, I would have died for a three-day weekend with no commitments and nothing to do. It would have been so nice to have that kind of endless time. Now, I would give anything to have a full schedule again, and to have a reason to get out of the house, to do something. Anything.”
“We always want what we don’t have. It’s human nature.” I looked at the coffee carrier and the drinks only growing colder by the minute. “I was at Already Perked this morning and I picked up something for you. Thought I’d drop it by.” I pulled one of the coffees out and handed it to her. “Here you go.”
She opened the door a little more and took the drink from me. “Thank you.”
I grabbed the bag of breakfast food. “And here is a pastry to go with it. A different one from the other night, though I think it’s the same except for the filling.”
“This was really nice of you.” She took the croissant bag from me and smiled. “Already Perked twice in two days. Almost seems normal. I used to go there all the time when I had my old job. Three or four times a week, probably.”
“I never saw you there in the morning.”
“We must have been going at different times.”
“Must have.”
Ashley opened the door wider and placed the bag on the small table near the doorway. For the first time, I got a look at her long blue silk robe and the small, corded tie wrapped round her waist. Her hair tumbled down her back, and the fabric gaped open slightly wider than it probably should.
Damn, she is so gorgeous.It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed, of course, but seeing her rumpled in the morning was something I hadn’t given much thought to before now. And I liked it. I liked her.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked.
“Y-yes,” I said instantly, then thought better of myself. I’d taken my mask off on the stroll to her apartment, and she didn’t have one on either. Plus, we weren’t supposed to spend this kind of time together—authorities had urged people for months to limit the amount of time they mixed. Ashley was so close to finishing her quarantine and so near the point of being able to return to some semblance of whatever counted as a normal life.We can’t mess that up.
“But we can’t. We don’t have on masks. We’re not supposed to—”
“Kyle?”
“Yes?” “
“It’s just one more day. I was thinking about it, and .. . I mean, technically, if I count the day that I got the email about exposure as the first day, and not the following morning ... it ends today.”
“I’m not sure.” I wasn’t.
“So, I mean, we’re talking about a matter of hours here, right?” She shrugged, waving the takeaway mug of coffee in her hand. Exasperation, frustration, and something else—loneliness—coated her next words. “It occurred to me last night how preposterous all this is. How stupid, how ... I don’t want to get into it right now.”
“It’s okay. I’m frustrated too. This hasn’t been easy on anyone.”
Ashley moved away from the door. “Come in if you want to. I don’t have any symptoms. I’m not sick. I would probably have it by now if I really were. And even if I am ... isn’t risk part of life?”
I glanced at the street and the other part of the building. There was no one around. No one would know. No one at all.Just one day...
“Okay,” I replied. “It’s only breakfast, right?”
“It’s only breakfast.”
Ashley spread her hand. She was interesting, and I liked her. I wanted more of her company.
Neededmore.
“Let’s eat,” I said.
She led me to the small dining table just off the kitchen and we settled into two of the minimalist chairs that surrounded the mahogany wood. “Thank you for the coffee. I know I can make my own, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone else make it.”
“Exactly.” I took my own cup from the recyclable tray and drank a large sip. Already Perked worked hard to find the best beans for their product, and it showed in the full-bodied flavor. “One of the things I used to take for granted and never will again.”
