Page 32 of Locked Down In Watch Hill
“Well, yes,” I replied, pulling the car up two lengths as the line pushed forward. This mobile testing site was in the parking lot of a church, and in the distance a few healthcare workers gathered under a tent, offering tests to people still sitting in their cars. After talking the test, I’d get the results in a few days. “We broke quarantine, and we shouldn’t have done that.”
“Maybe not.” My sister paused. “But do you think you can both recover from this? Give the relationship another shot?”
I thought about Kyle’s smile, how good it felt to have him in apartment, how comforting it was to lie next to him, and how much I’d missed regular human contact since the pandemic began. “Yes, I do. Even though it’s only been a short time of knowing him, I felt the connection over a year ago at that party. We just ... work.”
“Then let’s just see what happens next. And promise me you’ll stop freaking out.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll stop freaking out.”
I pulled the car forward again, my time in line growing shorter by the moment. Not long now.
***
KYLE
Hell.
This was a version of hell.
The rigmarole of it all was terrible. Never ending. A cycle of fear wrapped in cynicism and fried with a side of regulation. First, I needed to notify everyone of Tyler’s bad news. Then, I felt an obligation to set up their COVID tests for them. Tired, I had to close the restaurant and inform customers of what had happened. Thankfully, Tyler hadn’t delivered any food to anyone, as during his time of exposure, he’d worked in the kitchen and wore a mask and gloves the whole time, and that also limited the potential exposure. Then, I needed deep clean the restaurant, and leave it sterilized. Finally, I had to get my own test.
Exhausting.
I was trying my best. I wanted to do what I could. I wanted to be responsible, but I couldn’t shake the fact that things felt like they had been ripped out from underneath me. I just wanted things to go back to the way they were before—before this blasted virus had torn up everything and made life feel like we were living in an alternate reality.
Still thinking about that, I pulled my car forward in the for the mobile testing. It was late in the day and I was the last one, but at last I’d managed to get to a site before they closed. I had to drive twenty-five minutes to get to it, but I made it. Soon enough, I’d have test results back and know what my next steps would be.
Please be a negative test,I prayed as I drove the final feet to the testing area.Please be a negative result for me and everyone else working with me.
It was all I wanted. Five negative tests and I’d be happy. With a deep breath, I settled my nerves and opened the window. “I’m Kyle Ross,” I told the attendant decked out in white medical gear, gloves, a mask, and a plexiglass visor. “I’m here for my test.”
THIRTEEN
ASHLEY
The message hit myhealth app two days after I took the test.
