Serena was cooking a bigos, a traditional stew dish of meat and vegetables from her native Poland. Anything to take her mind off things. It was best just to ignore the crisis, at least for now. The constant worry and fear was too much. Better to do something she loved, even if she was the only one who was going to get to eat it.
Then she heard the buzzing sound of her phone. Thinking that it was probably someone from work looking to talk about the pub being closed, she didn’t check the caller id.
“Yes, Serena here.”
“Eh, this is Sean. I live next door to you. You called a few weeks ago.”
For a moment Serena wasn’t sure who it was. But then she realized.
“Oh yes Sean, how is everything? Do you need my help with anything?”
“Well, you see my PA is not able to come and she usually gets my groceries. And well, I’m not really supposed to leave the house and -“
“You want me to shop for you?”
“Eh yeah, please. That would be great.”
“Okay, I will call over in an hour. You can give me the list and money.”
“Grand, see you then.”
Serena put down the phone.
After her meal was cooked and eaten, she wondered if she should go and put on some make-up. She went to the mirror and was less than impressed with what she saw. Her hair was unkempt and her eyes looked dull. She hadn’t worried much about her appearance when she was meeting “the couple” but somehow this felt different. Maybe cause he was a man and much closer to her own age. He actually sounded quite sexy on the phone and anyway it was important to look good. So that was that, her decision was made. If she didn’t hurry though, she would be late and it’s not like she could blame the traffic.
Finally, when she felt presentable and walked out the front door. It was wet and breezy, probably undoing much of her good work getting ready.
Within seconds she was knocking at his front door, feeling an unexpected tinge of excitement.
Sean opened the door more fully this time. Even though a mask covered half of his face, she could tell he was handsome and found herself gazing into his piercing brown eyes He was wearing a denim short and trousers. Now that she could see him better she reckoned he was in his early thirties just like herself.
“Here is the list and thirty euro should cover it.”
He reached out and handed it to her.
“Right, I will come back with your groceries and change once I’m done.”
With that, they gave each other a little wave goodbye.
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