Joe is alone in his Brooklyn apartment, which he can't afford now. The pandemic complicates his plan to get a roommate. If only Michael could have stayed. Joe would join him on the west coast but he likes his job in NYC, in medical billing and coding. He does it online at home, at least for a while, but now he has to go back to the office and work in a plastic tent.<br><br>Vegan chef Michael detests meat, cooking it as well as eating it. Due to the restaurant where he works closing, he has to take a job cross country, leaving Joe behind. This happens before the pandemic, so his new job, cooking vegan takeout, becomes all the more necessary to keep. He lives with his sister in LA until he gets on his feet.<br><br>Joe and Michael find ways to stay connected over the phone, but it isn't the same. Should they try to make it work, or just give up now that they're so far apart? Joe's friend Cindy shares with him the romance stories she reads, but it takes a real-life love story in the hospital to help him decide.

To the Ends of the Earth

He put down the phone and wiped up the mess. Then he put on his shorts and looked to see if Michael was back. Something moved on the blank screen like the shadow of a ceiling fan. He lay down and watched the rotation while he waited.


Michael returned with a smile on his face. He had such a pretty smile. They usually didn’t say much afterward, just looked at each other, and Michael smiled at him with that pretty smile and those lips he’d kissed some months ago now. Like yesterday, but it wasn’t.


“Oh, I almost forgot.” He had almost forgotten. “I’m going back to working in the office.”


“Why?” Michael wasn’t smiling anymore.


“I thought you worked on the computer?” Michael said.


“I do, but there’s a form sometimes, or a handwritten note.”


“Then what did you do about that before?” Michael’s pitch rose. “You worked at home.”


“I told you. We can’t take papers off site anymore.”


Michael’s pitch peaked. “Why not?”


Chapter 4