Love Under Quarantine

“You okay?” he asks, voice concerned.

“Yeah,” I say, choked up for some reason. “We should hurry up.”

“You can always flirt with me later,” he offers sweetly.

I grab a couple of boxes of Oreos off the shelf and try for a smile. Even if he can’t see it, he’ll know somehow. I know he will.

“It’s a date, Evan.”CHAPTER 6

QUARANTINE: DAY 6

SADIEMY CELL GOES OFF AT some ungodly hour of the morning. I gaze blearily at the time. Seven-thirty. How uncivilized. I didn’t stop writing until well after midnight and was counting on sleeping in to recharge my body and brain.

“Hello?” I rasp, my voice thick from sleep.

“Sadie?” The sound of Sean’s voice on the other end of the call is as unwelcome as fuck. “Is that you?”

“No, Sean. It’s an alien pretending to be me, wearing me as a skin suit. How are you?”

He sniffs. “There’s no need to be like that. I just wanted to check you were okay.”

I slump back on the bed and stare up at the ceiling. Rain is coming down hard, rattling the window. My linens are happy shades of blue and I’m surrounded by about three billion pretty decorative pillows. It’s the Disney princess in me. Beauty and the Beast was my favorite growing up. I always wanted the library and the huge dramatic bed. So now, books line a whole wall of my living room and my bed is an extravagant California King. It’s a lovely sight. But not even my beloved bedroom can make this phone call a happy one.

“Sorry,” I lie. And I don’t even put much effort into the fib because he just doesn’t deserve it. “You know I’m not a morning person.”

Another sniff.

“Are you sick? What’s with all of the sniffing?” Shit. Does he have the virus?

“I am not sick,” he snaps. Good Lord, this conversation is off to a great start.

“It would be okay if you were, Sean. It’s not actually a moral failing. Germs happen, you know?”

“I’m not sick.” I can almost hear him grinding his teeth. “I’m in perfect health.”

“Okay. Great. Well…I’m fine too.”

“Good.”

Silence.

“Was that all you wanted?” I ask, on the verge of death from lack of caffeine. If I’m awake, then the coffee should be flowing. It’s the law.

“Work has been busy, though we’ve all relocated to our home offices along with the rest of the city. The initial upset was challenging, but we’ve all settled back into the flow of things now.” Of course, he wants to talk about that. He always wants to talk about work in the most patronizing and supercilious tone possible.

“Yeah? My writing is going well too.”

“A lot of clients are taking the opportunity to catch up on things while the market goes through this lull. Shore up their defenses and evaluate their finances to better weather the upcoming storm.”

“The words have just been pouring out of me.” Since he completely ignores my contribution to this conversation, I ignore his. Childish maybe, and yet, I don’t care in the slightest.

“I seem to go from one online meeting to another lately. Some of it’s just hand-holding, but almost all of our clients are seeing a sharp downturn due to current events. You can’t blame them for being concerned. And if they’re willing to pay my hourly rate then I’m happy to listen to them worry and whine.”

“And my characters are coming along great. Thank you for asking.” I yawn overly loudly in the hopes that he’ll get the hint.

Nope. He continues undaunted.

“I trust you’ve made plans to ensure your finances will survive a possible recession?”

Here it is. The big reason he called. Probably wants me to invest with him. Been there. Done that. Threw away the frickin’ T-shirt, thank you very much. “I’m not going to discuss money with you, Sean. You know that. That’s a hard boundary.”

“A sensible person would make use of help when it’s offered by an expert.”

We’ve only had this argument a thousand or so times. It’s as old as Moses so I keep my trap shut.

He sniffs again. “Anyway, things have been quite shaken up by all of this. It set back our trials of a new accounting program which is disappointing.”

“I’m thinking my hero and heroine will bang soon.”

Insert dramatic pause here. “I’m well aware of what you write. There’s no need to be crude, Sadie.”

Every time we speak, I swear to God I should get down on my knees and give thanks that I dropped this loser. “You know, Sean, as I recall, we fucked a time or two. More even. Most people do. It’s an important part of relationships and how couples communicate physically. For sure, it’s the only thing that kept us together so long. But go ahead, dismiss me and my interests and life, talk at me some more about you and your work. You do you.”