Page 89 of Only You

“Molly,” he said, “this is how it has to be. If you want me to eat…”

“Fine,” I grumbled. I opened the door, placed the plate and bowl inside, then closed it.

“You aren’t going to wait until I open my door,” he said slowly, “and then try to jump through, are you?”

“No…”

“I don’t believe you.”

I went over to the bed and sat down. “Hear those springs? Squeak squeak squeak?”

“Do they squeak that much when we’re having sex?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I’m usually distracted.”

I heard the dividing door open, then close a second later. I got off the bed and sat next to the door.

“How are you feeling?”

I heard a slurp of soup. “I’m still really tired. My nose is congested.”

“That’s good! Maybe it’s just a cold or something.”

“Wow, these crackersarefancy.”

“Only the best for my quarantine boyfriend,” I replied.

“Quarantine boyfriend. I like that.”

I listened to him eat for awhile.

“When was the last time you took your temperature?”

“Before you got back.” Another slurp. “Thirty-seven Celsius. Totally normal.”

“And still no dry cough?”

“Nope.”

I nodded to myself. “See? This is just a cold, nothing to worry about.”

“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself, not me.”

“Maybe I am.” I rested my head against the partition door. “We’ll laugh about this when it’s all over. How you got a cold during the pandemic and we panicked over nothing.”

“You’re bored without me, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Oh my God,so bored. I was tempted to take another inventory of all the food in the kitchen.”

“Wow, you’ve got it bad. You don’t have any work you can do for your store? Accounting or something?”

“The store has been closed because of the lockdown,” I said. “There’s nothing for me to do but accounting work, and I donotwant to look at the sales numbers.”

“Better than my situation. I don’t have a job to go home to.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea.” I pulled out my phone. “I can help you look for a job. I still have the jobs app on my phone from when Andrea and I hired a new restocking girl. Let’s see. Boston and the surrounding area, twenty-mile radius because I don’t want you to have to commute very far, restaurant services…”

I trailed off when I saw the results on the screen.

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