“Sorry.”
Reagan frowned at him. “What are you even doing out here?”
“Getting some air. Do you want me to put on a mask?”
She looked between them. They were at least twenty feet apart. And they were outdoors. “Yeah,” she said. “If you’re gonna keep talking to me.”
Mason fished a mask out of his pocket.
Reagan did the same thing. She wasn’t sure why she was bothering; she should just go back inside. “What are you out here avoiding?” she asked, sliding the elastic behind her ears.
“Who says I’m avoiding something?”
“Well, you’re standing outside in the middle of winter. And you’re not smoking a cigarette or waiting for a bus.”
Mason laughed. “I’m just taking a moment for myself.”
Reagan hummed. “Me, too.”
“Hey, I’m, um ... I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t expecting him to say that. “Thanks. I guess that’s what I’m out here avoiding.”
“Your loss?”
“Pretty much. I thought I was doing my grandpa good by making sure he could still have a Christmas, but I think I’m just reminding him that it’s Christmas and that she isn’t here.”
Mason didn’t reply to that. Why should he? He was a complete stranger.
“Sorry,” Reagan said. “I think I’ve forgotten how to talk to people.”
He laughed again. “Don’t worry about it. This is the first in-person conversation I’ve had with anyone other than my parents—and your grandpa and the UPS guy—in months.”
“Yeah? You pretty locked down?”
“Ohyeah.”
“I thought this was no-mask country,” she said.
“Maybe it is, I wouldn’t know. I don’t leave the house.”
Reagan smiled. He couldn’t see it. “You live there with your parents?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “I mean—I guess I don’t know how to answer that question.”
“O-kay ...”
“Technically, I live in DC. I have an apartment there. But I was going a little crazy after two months of isolation, and I was worried about my mom and dad ...”
“So you came back to Arnold?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“You’d rather quarantine in Arnold, Nebraska, than in Washington, DC?”
“I mean ...yeah.” He was smiling. She could sort of hear it. She could imagine his chin disappearing. “Honestly,” he said. “It’s been nice. I took my brother’s old room—it’s huge. It’s half the size of my apartment in DC. And I can be outside here without wearing a mask. You know, usually. And my parents are much less irritating than I remembered from high school. I watchM*A*S*Hevery night with my mom. It’s kindagreat.”
“So why are you out here getting some air?”
