Page 29 of Locked Down In Watch Hill
Oh, how nice it would be to see people again. With masks on, of course, but at least I’d be out in the sunshine. Mixing.
But for now, I was only going to see one person—Kyle.
I smiled at myself in the large mirror hanging above my bathroom vanity as I finished the final powdering of my nose. How nice it was to put on a full face of makeup again. I’d probably done that less than twenty times since the pandemic began. I liked how the power, foundation, and lacquer made my skin appear fresher and my eyes brighter.
Things were looking up. For the first time in a while, I had reason for more than just a glimmer of hope.
A few minutes later, Kyle was outside my door, a pizza box in his hand and a smile on his face. “Sorry I’m later than I hoped. We had another good night and the time really did get away from me.”
“That’s okay.” I stepped away from the door so he would come inside. “I’m just glad you wanted to come over.”
“After all those text messages we exchanged today, I definitely did.”
“That was only the beginning,” I promised, not even bothering to hide what we knew was coming next. In the last day, I’d become enamored with the man in front of me. Despite being busy, we’d texted on and off all day. His dry wit had me chuckling constantly. I’d never felt so connected to someone so quickly, and I’m sure it was because of the intensity of this whole moment in our lives. While I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, I was excited. “By the way, I managed to get that social media plan down for you company. I think you’ll like it a lot.”
“I’m sure I will,” he said as he placed the pizza on the table.
“Guess what?”
“What?”
“I called the health department and they cleared me. Looking at the days... the woman on the phone said it was okay for me to end the quarantine today.” I felt some tension leave my shoulders. “Especially since I never had any symptoms.”
“That’s wonderful.” He leaned forward and kissed me. It was firm and made me feel warm and adored. “Fantastic” His voice sounded a little brighter. “Let’s eat.”
We ate together, talking about our day for a while, and I enjoyed the familiarity that came from having Kyle in my life and in my apartment. He was so simple and easy to talk to, and he was so darn nice. Before this pandemic, I would have called my dating life a total disaster as I floated from one stupid, sad excuse for a relationship to the next.
But this, this was different.
“So... what are you thinking now?” I glanced at the clock above my oven. It was almost eleven, and I tiredness washed over me. It had been a long day. “I mean... would you like to stay?”
He studied me. “I’d love to.”
I grinned.
***
KYLE
For the second morning in a row, I woke up in Ashley’s bed.
The first time, she’d been awake when I opened my eyes, but this time, I was the first one to get up. I looked at my watch—5:00. Early for everyone, especially me, and I figured that the fact that I wasn’t in my own place must have been what had kept me from getting a decent night’s sleep. Still, I hated insomnia, so I did the one thing that people shouldn’t do when they couldn’t get rest.
I located my phone on the floor by her bed, still in the back pocket of my pants.
Two messages awaited me. Both from Tyler, and both sent late at night. Curious, I unlocked the device and opened the texting app. The first message hit my phone at 2:34 a.m.
Tyler: Hey, I’m sorry but if you do have a chance to get this, call me.
The second message popped up at 4:15.
Tyler: Listen, I got home tonight and my roommate told me his parents tested positive for COVID today. We had them over for dinner last week, didn’t think there would be a problem because they had no symptoms. Dude, I am so sorry. I feel like a jerk for telling you this, but I also know I MUST tell you.
I stared at the phone long enough for the message to blur.Oh, man. Oh, no.I’d managed to avoid it until now, but I guessed that it was only a matter of time before the virus struck. Plenty of restaurants around the region had rolling closures because of the pandemic and more than a few had shut down completely because of the constant threat and all the effort required to stay compliant. A few times earlier on, I considered doing that myself—it would have been simpler to close permanently and try again when the pandemic subsided.
But whenever I’d really considered it, I had always decided to fight back. To bite down. To keep the faith that there would be better days ahead.
Now this.
