Can you find love during the outbreak of a pandemic?
Maggie is a brilliant, upcoming, and socially awkward scientist. After being recruited for a research team that is developing a COVID-19 vaccine, she unexpectedly finds love at the worst possible...
Within two hours, NHS came out to Gram's house, tested her, and took her to the Kent hospital. While it would take three days for the results, as a precaution they'd placed her into the isolation ward. We weren't able to visit her but the NHS nurse who had come to her house gave us her patient id and a call number for status updates. I saw an uncertain look in her eyes and thanked her.
Distraught didn't describe his family's reaction at the turn of events. Noah tried to reassure them that everything was just a precaution, but I don't think he believed his own words. I'd just met her and already felt a pit of shock and sadness inside at the idea of how an almost entirely socially distance and amazingly sweet woman could have caught it. So generally speaking, I couldn't imagine how they felt.
"I don't understand," Noah's mom said for the fourteenth time as she buried her head in her hands. "She's been in isolation for three months."
"Does she come in contact with anyone? Mail carrier?" Noah's dad shook his head. "Her mail comes here. Only visitor is the grocery delivery..."
"It's very contagious, but she's at the right place," I mumbled in a low voice.
"All we can do is hope and pray for the best." His mom said through tears. Noah however, didn't budge. I laced my fingers in his and squeezed his hand softly.
It's going to be a long three days.
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We tried to stay busy for three days. I stepped into Noah's schedule, except during the time he spent on his coursework I received cooking lessons in the kitchen from his mother. She had taken particular offense to my opinion that cooking was purely mathematical, although that was the approach I took, followed directions exactly, and no one was able to tell the difference in anything taste-wise.
We also held a prom in the garage one evening. To Christian's delight, Olivia did in fact sneak over and wore a handed down dress from one of her older sisters. Not to have them feel awkward, we decorated the garage in Christmas lights, and Noah and I dressed up too. Well, I was as dressy as my blue sweater dress was. We spent hours dancing with his parents while Connor pretended none of us existed.
"She can't have it," Noah finally spoke up the next day. We were four miles into a run that I'd suggested we take to get out of the house to clear his head.
"She probably doesn't." I rubbed his arm lightly. "I just wanted to be careful."
"You say that, and I want to believe it, but that's not what the look on your face said," he admitted in a low voice. "Same look you shared with the NHS nurse."
"Noah -" I started, before I realized there weren't many words I could say.
So instead, I kept my gaze down. Ordinarily this would have been an amazing run through the town and surrounding countryside, but my only concern was just being next to him. We ran for another mile before he turned around and reversed his direction. Three miles later, I immediately identified that he attempted to run out his pain. The rasp appeared in his breath about a mile away from his house, so we slowed to a walk. I held his hand as we walked silently home for that last mile.
