COVID-19, killing my new love
Dating Jack, whom I met at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, continued briefly, to be: romantic, genuine, sweet. He organised a Zoom dinner date that wowed my friends, arriving outside my door with a heavy black tote bag. Our hands didn’t touch.
I ran upstairs and unpacked it on the coffee table. Inside: the ingredients for an undisclosed recipe, all thoughtfully prepared in an array of appropriately sized Tupperware containers. There was even a small dessert in tin foil — homemade apple crumble. I laid it all out, heart very full, and snapped a photo.
“He’s teaching you how to cook on video chat? That’s literally the cutest thing anyone has ever done,” my best friend texted. Another agreed: “marry him!”
Expectations were high, and the online dinner date was as sweet as it was awkward. The Wifi connection was temperamental, the boiling kettle was too loud. Jack froze, mid smile, in front of his fry pan of cherry tomatoes. In the next room, my housemate sat watching television and listening, like we were filming episode of The Bachelor and housemate was part of the production crew. After dinner, Jack and I settled in for ‘Netflix party’ and apple crumble in our…
