Page 59 of Stuck with You

I hadn’t been to the town center since I’d moved in with Aiden, and I was surprised by how empty it was. The place was usually buzzing with people, but today, there was hardly anyone to be seen.

The lack of people wasn’t the only difference, and many of the shops we passed were closed. The blinds were drawn at my favorite coffee shop, and the small clothes and home goods shops that dotted the road all had their lights off and their front doors closed. There were no kids at the playground, and instead, the area was cordoned off by red tape. If it weren’t for the dozens of cars in the supermarket parking lot, I might have believed the whole town had been abandoned.

Once Aiden parked the truck, I pulled two face masks out of my handbag along with a small container of hand sanitizer. “Better safe than sorry,” I said as I passed Aiden one of the masks.

He let out a relieved breath as he took it. “Lucky you were thinking. I completely forgot to bring one.”

I wasn’t surprised. He’d been distracted the whole way here. We both generously applied the gel to our hands before putting our masks on. They weren’t the cutest accessories, but they were a very necessary one.

Aiden turned once his mask was on, and his eyes lit with amusement when he saw me. “You need to make sure it’s covering your nose properly,” he said. “Here, I’ll help you.” He reached over to adjust the mask on my face. His fingers were gentle as they brushed against my skin, and I was glad for the mask covering my cheeks, or he might have seen me blush.

“There,” he murmured before sitting back. With a mask covering his nose and mouth, I couldn’t help but be drawn to Aiden’s eyes. His lashes were unfairly thick for a boy, and I had no idea how he managed to make a piece of protective wear look so good.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him though he couldn’t see it.

“Just don’t forget to make sure you’re not touching your face or the mask in there. It kind of makes wearing one pointless if you constantly touch it.”

“Okay.” As his mom was a doctor, Aiden had probably been very thoroughly educated on the issue. For all my desire to do the right thing during the pandemic, I had to admit I had no idea there was a right and wrong way to wear a mask.

We made our way into the store, and I paused in the entrance as surprise took hold of me. Apparently, the rest of town was completely empty because everyone was in here. The store was crazy busy, and I couldn’t understand why they’d allowed so many people inside.

Aiden turned to me, his gaze turning serious. “We’ll make this quick,” he said, and I nodded in agreement. The sooner we could get out of the supermarket, the better.

We made our way down the aisles, doing our best to avoid people where we could. You were supposed to keep six feet from others, but that was nearly impossible to do in here. Every time we neared someone, a small tendril of fear shot through me. It was strange to feel so distinctly uncomfortable in the presence of other people. Anyone here could have the virus, and not for one moment did I forget it.

I stayed close to Aiden, and we moved quickly to gather the things we needed. It was lucky his mom hadn’t asked for toilet paper because the aisle was completely bare. Even basics like rice and pasta were in short supply. I’d been thinking of making another pasta dish tonight, but I saw I was going to have to settle for the next best thing—lasagna. Thankfully, there were still some boxes of lasagna sheets on the shelves.

The more time I spent in the supermarket, the more I realized there was an air of fear about the people around me. Carts rattled as they charged down the aisles, and everyone was eying each other with suspicion. I passed two people shouting at each other as they fought over a bottle of olive oil. The place was like a war zone.

When we reached the checkout, I was relieved to find there was a plastic partition separating us from the girl operating the register. I couldn’t imagine how worried she must be coming to work every day in such a hectic environment. I hadn’t been close to anyone outside Aiden’s household in a couple of weeks, and I had no idea how she faced this every day.

“I’m glad to see they’ve got these barriers here for you guys,” Aiden said to the girl, as she scanned our groceries.

Even with a mask on, Aiden had the girl blushing. “Yeah, they put them in last week,” she said before frowning slightly. “Doesn’t stop people from shouting at us when we’re out of things they need though.”

I blanched. “People do that?”

“Yeah,” she murmured. “I think everyone is a bit stressed.”

“That doesn’t mean they can treat you like that,” Aiden said. “It’s not your fault the shelves are empty.”

She shrugged. “People like someone to blame.”

I couldn’t understand why anyone felt they had the right to abuse someone who was only doing their job. This pandemic brought out the best and worst in people.

The girl finished scanning our groceries, and Aiden paid. He went to gather the bags but paused before we left. “Thanks.” His eyes dipped to the girl’s name tag. “Amelia. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate what you’re doing.”

She smiled and nodded, but the smile looked strained. She looked exhausted, and after getting just a small glimpse into her workday, I wasn’t surprised. If the virus was a battle, this girl was on the front lines, and I felt terrible she didn’t have the ability to stay at home. As much as I hated being stuck at home, I realized it was actually a luxury. I was so incredibly lucky I didn’t need to go out and work, and my heart broke that so many people did.

“That was crazy,” I said to Aiden as we put our groceries in the truck and climbed inside. “Did you know it was that bad?”

He shook his head as he started to pull out of the parking lot. “I mean, I’ve seen the news and figured people were doing crap like that in big cities. I didn’t think it would happen here.”

“Me neither,” I agreed.

Aiden drove us slightly farther down the main road before he parked once again. There was only one pharmacy in town, and it was nestled between a few other stores. It was the only one in the small strip with its lights on and front door open.

Aiden turned the ignition off and applied more hand sanitizer. “You stay here while I go in.”

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