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

At the main entrance, he said hello to the attendant as she pointed a thermometer at his forehead, and he proceeded to the stairs. He’d promised Michael he wouldn’t take the elevator, even though the narrow and often crowded stairwell provided little room for distancing. It made no difference how he got to the third floor, but a promise was a promise, and it seemed to give Michael comfort. Besides, there was nothing wrong with a little exercise.


At his cubical, now tented with plastic sheeting, he wished he had stopped for a coffee. It was late though, time to start. He logged in. A graph tracked his workflow, pending and completed. It spiked. A clerk stopped by his desk with a pile of documents, through which he sorted for missing information.


Chapter 6