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When I dropped the phone from my ear, I continued to watch Carolina do the rest of her sit-ups.
“Who was that?” she asked as she switched to side planks.
“That was my dad,” I admitted.
“Everything okay?” she wondered, her face sheened with a thin layer of sweat.
“Yeah, he’s fine,” I lied.
“Good,” she grumbled as she fell to the floor in an exhausted heap. “I swear to Christ, I’m so ready to get out of here.” She looked over to me. “No offense, it’s not your company or anything, but I’m bored as hell. I want to go back to work.”
There was a knock at our door, causing us both to stand.
We didn’t go to the door, but I did call out, “Yes?”
The door opened and Jace appeared.
Jace wasn’t wearing any protective clothing, however.
We both frowned at him.
“We’ve been informed that the patient that we thought had Ebola instead has an autoimmune disease,” Jace said. “You are now free to leave.”
My mouth all but fell open.
“I’m sorry, but what?” Carolina asked, sounding pissed.
“Autoimmune. Not Ebola,” Jace repeated.
I had heard him correctly.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I admitted. “I spent twelve days locked up because y’all didn’t do your job?”
Jace winced. “We did our job. This is proper protocol for a situation such as this. I’m sorry that it was necessary, but the discomfort of a few is better than the pandemic death of thousands.”
He had a point. But still.
“We just get to leave? Just like that?” Carolina asked as she started to walk toward him.
“Just like that,” Jace confirmed. “We’ll have all of your things packed up and waiting downstairs for you if you don’t want to take it now.”
I gestured at Carolina. “I’ll come get it later and take it to her.”
Carolina looked at me.
Her smile was beautiful.
But the tightness in my gut from my father’s phone call wouldn’t go away.
• • •CAROLINAQuarantine- Day Twelve“Would you…” I stopped and shook off the weirdness.
What Saint and I had wasn’t weird. It was great.
It was… perfect.
“Would you like to come over?” I asked quietly.
He hesitated at the doorway.
“I should probably go home first,” he admitted. “The cats haven’t seen me in weeks, and I need to check on Smoke. We haven’t been apart this long since I got him six months ago.”
I moved until my hand was nestled inside of his.
“Meet me there then?” I said softly. “When you’re done?”
Or you could invite me to come with you. I’d totally come in a heartbeat.
“I’ll come as soon as I’m done,” he agreed a little too quickly. “Can I bring Smoke?”
I obviously agreed without hesitation.
I didn’t have any pets of my own, but not because I didn’t want them. Because the last dog that I had passed away a few years ago, and I hadn’t gotten another one. I was still traumatized from my Golden Retriever’s passing all this time later.
Our next couple of minutes as we rode home in the back of an Uber was silent. But I didn’t feel any tension. I wasn’t worried in the back of my mind anymore about catching Ebola.
I was now free. Free to be with Saint.
We turned down my street, and I started to get excited.
The thought of having all of my stuff was downright exciting.
My eyes came to rest on my house as we pulled up to the curb.
Together we stared at the van parked outside of my house.
“Chimney sweepers?” I asked curiously.
“You’re asking me?” he chuckled. “It’s not like I have any control over who’s at your house.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know. I’m just thinking that it’s kind of weird when… Oh, never mind. That’s my mom.”
I saw her coming out of the house with her hands on her hips as she stared up at the chimney sweepers that were on my roof.
One of them was actively going down my roof.
“I didn’t think that they actually sent people down them anymore,” he murmured.
I had no clue, to be honest.
I’d never had my chimney swept before.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much I don’t know about this home upkeep stuff,” I admitted. “When I started renovating this old house, it was in great need of some fresh—everything. I’m slowly getting it fixed up, but I would’ve never thought to check the chimney.”
He chuckled softly as he patted my knee.
“As much as I would like to meet your mother.” He watched as one of the men came out of the chimney and hefted himself up using the brick. “I really do need to go. My dad’s been calling me for the last half hour, and if I don’t call him back, he’s going to storm Kilgore, Texas and shit’s gonna hit the fan.”
I looked at him then, seeing him staring at me and not the spectacle in my front yard.
“Are you ever going to tell me about your family?” I asked curiously.
