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

“What’s wrong with that? It’s closer than Brooklyn. I saw a want ad with my name written all over it and opportunity to advance. Rent’s cheap there, I hear. They do have vegans in Vegas. Don’t they?”


He doubted it too. He had to admit. “But at least it’s closer.”


“Joe, I’m so lonely, and my sister is driving me crazy. I can’t live in this house anymore. It takes two busses to get to work, and forever, even without the traffic. I can’t do this.”


“Then come back to Brooklyn if you want to, and we’ll figure something out. We can starve here as well as anywhere else. I’m making more money than you are, and I have my own apartment, at least for now.” Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, but it was true. His lease was running out in a couple months, and he’d fallen behind in the rent since Michael left.


“Oh, Joe. I’m so unhappy. What am I going to do?”


Chapter 7