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“Hello, I’m Dr. Nina, you must be Emilie.” said the towering blond beauty in the doorway.
“Hi, Dr. Nina. Yes, I am, and this is Gen.”
“Hello, Gen,” Dr. Nina said, bending down closer to her level.
Gen covered her eyes and turned away; no doubt spooked by the mask Dr. Nina was wearing.
“It’s okay, honey.”
I gently turned her around and held her still so Dr. Nina could do the rapid COVID test on her. Gen fussed, but was pacified pretty quickly when Dr. Nina offered her a sparkling sticker.
That done, she also ran the test for me, and it was just a matter of waiting it for the results.
“Okay, looks like you’re both clear. Make sure to wear masks if you have to leave the house. Ms. White will send a car later today to take you out to the co-op house.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know who we were paired with, would you?”
“Sorry, nope, just that they would have had tests too, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
It wasn’t, at least not until she’d said it right then. My primary concern was exactly what I’d asked. I just wanted to make sure we’d be compatible before moving in together.
Kate had been my hope, but she didn’t have any kids, and would be put on paid vacation. Ann White could be nice, I’d never had a problem with her before, but it seemed unlikely that associates would be sharing with partners. Things just didn’t work that way. Another associate was most likely, perhaps a junior partner if I was lucky.
At least there were some of them I really liked. Not that I was averse to the other associates. It was just I didn’t know many of them very well, despite working on the same floor of the firm almost every day. I was never what could be called a social butterfly. Mostly I spent my time just trying to get through the day without a catastrophe befalling. I’d been doing pretty well to that point. Aside from a few hiccups along the way.
The car came like Dr. Nina had said, a polite horn honk alerting us to the arrival. Just as I was sitting on the last suitcase to better zip it up. There was no way to know how long we would be gone, so I tried to prepare for every eventuality.
“Packing for Armageddon?” the driver asked as he hauled up the first two suitcase, his hands protected by lambskin gloves.
Like Dr. Nina the driver was wearing a mask, making it difficult to tell if he’d been kidding or not. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Gen pulled at her own mask, making a very unhappy sound.
“No, baby,” I said, picking her up, “we need to wear them, okay? Just for a little while.”
She nodded and we went to the limo parked out front, taking one of the lighter suitcases as well.
I panicked for a moment, thinking I’d have to go back and retrieve the car seat, but when I opened the back door, I was surprised to see one already waiting and secured in place. The Whites really had thought of everything. Though I figured it was mostly down to Ann, who had kids of her own.
“Oooooh,” Gen marveled, as the city fell away behind us, giving way to mostly open spaces.
Drives always seemed longer the first time, anticipation stretching out the sense of time and space. According to the clock, it took just over an hour to get to our destination, but it felt interminable. As the limo rolled up to the entrance gate to what looked very much as a beach read off, all other thoughts were driven from my mind. Gen seemed similarly impressed. Particularly as the gates started to move and separate, seemingly of their own accord.
I put our masks back on and helped the driver as much as I could, while still carrying Gen. I was determined to get the luggage in as quickly as possible, so we could start enjoying our new, temporary home.
We were there first, seemingly by a while, so we got the first pick of the bedrooms. Not that it seemed to matter all that much. As every inch of the house was absolutely beautiful. The main floor was naturally lit by large and surrounding windows, giving the space more the feeling of a solarium.
“Ooooh,” Gen cooed again, thoroughly impressed.
I couldn’t agree more. Even if the nagging question as to who we would be roomed with remained open. Whoever it was, we would just have to make the best of it. For a view like that I’d put up with just about anyone as a roommate.
Chapter Eight - Niles
Ann had insisted. As with Lily, like Cora before her, I knew it was pointless to argue once she’d made a decision. Free will might have been in the Bible, but even Holy Writ was negotiable when it came to the book of my life.
