Page 28 of Locked Down In Watch Hill
“Are you okay?” I asked when he walked back into the kitchen.
“I’m fine. Fine.” Tyler strode over to the large sink in the corner and scrubbed his hands. “Sometimes I have allergies and they act up this time of year. It’ll be over it in a couple of days, just annoying.”
He was probably right, and most people that I knew in the area had respiratory allergies, part of life in this section of the Ohio River Valley. But I was still on alert.
“Are you sure you don’t need—”
“To get tested?” Tyler finished washing his hands and dried them with a paper towel. “I seriously doubt I have it. Besides, aren’t the symptoms supposed to be more pronounced? I mean, anything can make you cough.”
He threw the dirty towel in the nearby trashcan, put on new gloves and mask, and returned to his workstation, right in front of orders that needed to be made, orders we didn’t want to risk being late, now that we had a larger following, and a growing word-of-mouth buzz.
I stared at him for a few seconds, considering my options. I knew I could order him to get a test, or advise he go home, and that might be the right call. I could also ignore it. This pandemic had made all of us jumpy and upset. More than once I’d wondered about the conditions we’d started living in, and the way we’d all become scared of the simple things.
I’d also been so careful to follow the CDC protocols with gloves and masks, and daily thorough cleaning of the pizzeria. Cleaning companies were certainly another in-demand company now. “I’m sure you don’t have it,” I said.Positive thinking, Ross. Positive thinking.
He threw the dirty towel in the nearby trashcan and returned to his workstation, right in front of orders that needed to be made, orders we didn’t want to risk being late on now that we had a larger following, and a growing word-of-mouth buzz.
I stared at him for a few seconds, considering my options. I could order him to get a test, or advise he go home, and that might be the right call. I could also ignore it. This pandemic had made all of us jumpy and upset. More than once I’d wondered about the conditions we’d started living in, and the way we’d all become scared of the simple things.
Enough. Enough now.
“I’m sure you don’t have it,” I said. “We’ll be fine. Just get those pizzas out as fast as you can.”
Tyler looked over at me and smiled. “Roger that, captain.”
ELEVEN
ASHLEY
Iwas excited.
Thrilled, even. Filled with anticipation. Giddy with what might happen next.
“I think you’re fine,” the woman from the health department had said on the phone. Feeing bad about the night before, I called after lunch.What exactly did the CDC mean by ten days? How should I calculate it?“You said you never tested positive or had any symptoms. You should be fine.”
I hung up the phone, feeling true hope for the first time in a while. And it was nice.Sonice. I’d done my ten days of isolation, and now I could get back to some sort of living. I’d be able to shop in the grocery store, browse the racks of my favorite boutiques, and see people again.
