Good to see you smile

“Mask, wallet, keys, phone,” Caroline muttered to herself as she checked the items in her purse.

“You’ve been saying that over and over all day. Just go get in your truck and drive to the diner,” Madison groaned from the kitchen.

“I still have half an hour until my date, and I’ll spend it however I please,” Caroline retorted as she dropped her purse down on the couch. Madison was right though, she was obsessing and it wasn’t going to help anything.

“Look, I get that this is your first date since the pandemic started, but you’re blowing things out of proportions it’s not like it’s that big of a deal. You’re both fully vaccinated now,” Madison said, walking into the living room with a pack of cookies in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.

“It’s also my first date since I recovered from Covid, and I know that this should be perfectly safe, but the anxious part of my brain just won’t shut off. What if it isn’t safe and I get sick again? What if this time it does me in?” Caroline’s heart sped up as her mind flashed back to laying in bed, as a shivering, feverish mess, and struggling to breathe between spasms of coughing. Meanwhile, Madison had become one with her recliner and dunked a cookie into a cool glass of milk.

“I get that. I got sick too if you’d remember. We both got better though and now, since we’re both still alive, I think it’s time we both get back in the saddle,” Madison replied before extracting the cookie from the milk and flinging it into her mouth before it could drip all over her shirt.

“If it’s time for both of us to get back in the saddle, why aren’t you going on a date?”

Madison looked contemplative as she crunched through a cookie. “I’m not going on a date, because the only attractive guy in this Podunk town asked you out already.”

“You don’t even like men!”

“You’re right… Let me rephrase that. If there were any ravishing and available lesbians around here I would also be going out tonight. Instead, I have a date with these cookies and maybe a nice hot bath afterward,” Madison replied as she dunked another cookie.

“Alright, fair enough.” Caroline looked through the contents of her purse again.

“You’re going to keep doing that until you’re late.” Madison flicked her hand and inadvertently flung milk everywhere.

“No, because it’s a five minute drive into town and I don’t have to be there for half an hour. You want me to crunch the numbers?”

Madison didn’t reply, opting instead to stuff another soggy cookie into her mouth and roll her eyes. Caroline checked her purse one last time before rushing off to the bathroom to triple check her makeup and hair. Everything was arranged properly and in its place, every shade, every tone, and every strand of hair. All that was left was to take a breath, and remember to drive with the windows up so all her hard work didn’t blow out into a tangled mess. She walked back through the living room and towards the front door, devoted entirely to the mission at hand. Madison did nothing but wave goodbye and give a soft, optimistic laugh as the front door slamming shut declared that the game was on.

In spite of being ten minutes early for her date, she could see Chet’s Jeep already sitting in the sparsely populated diner parking lot. One of the few perks of living in a town with a population of only a thousand was that you could identify the locals by their vehicles alone. She strained her eyes to see if he was inside his Jeep as she drove by, but the tint on his windows made it hard to tell.

She pulled her truck into a spot a few spaces down from his car, and sat in the driver’s seat, thinking of what greeting she should use as the sun set over the nearby mountains. Rehearsing her lines, she stared at her confident face in the tiny mirror that deployed from the sun visor and wondered if she’d do everything wrong the moment the spotlight was hers. The thought shook her, but with the practiced motion of a year’s worth of experience she reached into her purse and affixed her mask to her face. This was it, no backing out now.

She spotted Chet sitting at a corner booth as she entered the diner. He was still wearing one of his custom masks that he had ordered a few months into the pandemic. It was a print job of some cult horror movie, one that, ever since she’d seen the mask, she’d wanted to watch with him. A solitary waitress patrolled the entire diner, speaking to a table filled with local boys in the distinct accent of someone concealing a dwindling patience, but she still managed to look at Caroline, and nod in Chet’s direction encouragingly.

“Hi,” Chet said as she finished her approach, his voice slightly muffled by his mask.

“You know once you’re seated at a table, you can take that off, right?” Caroline said, with a smirk that she instantly realized nobody could see.

“I figured I would keep it on until you got here. I didn’t know if you would want to keep our masks on while we ordered or not,” Chet replied as Caroline sank into the seat opposite him and went through the quick machinations of depositing her purse, and making sure that her phone was on silent.

“Thank you. That’s probably not a bad idea, honestly.”

“You’re welcome. It also allows me to conceal my stupid expressions for a little longer,” Chet said with a soft laugh.

Before Caroline could assure him that Chet Tomlin would never make stupid expressions, the masked waitress manifested at the edge of the table and passed out disposable paper menus before briskly inquiring about what they would like to drink.

Chet motioned for Caroline to go first, so she took a quick glance at the menu and ordered a glass of Merlot. Chet followed suit and ordered the same for himself without a moment of hesitation.

They made idle conversation as they perused the menu and waited for their glasses. As Caroline slowly felt herself relaxing, the conversation became easier, and more naturally-paced. When the waitress finally came with the wine, she took their orders and zipped away to attend to another table.

“So I guess it’s time to take the masks off?” Chet asked.

“I suppose it is,” Caroline replied, sudden anxiety gripping her chest.

“You know, I just realized that despite working together, I haven’t seen your full face in a year,” Chet mused, as he unlooked his mask from his ears.

“Well then the mustache will be a surprise for you,” Caroline replied with a laugh, but a full year of wearing the mask in public made her feel that her face had become some private part of her body. Something that was meant to be shown only in intimacy and otherwise hidden, stowed away in the name of chastity. At last, however, she pulled off her mask and exposed her mustache-free face, grinning at her own joke with a slight blush.

“Oh, wow.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just good to see you smile.”