"Do you think you'll be able to eat anything now?"

Post Josie's visit, I stuck my head in to see how Tom was doing. Not that much improved. When I handed him the thermometer, his temperature had come down, and he hadn't vomited again. But the cough was still there, and his breathing laboured.

"No thanks. The soup you made me earlier? I couldn't taste it."

Another symptom of the virus was losing your sense of taste and smell.

"To be fair," I sat on the bed next to him. "Anything I make is flavourless, according to my family. I'm not sure it provides a benchmark."

The weak joke made him smile—the corners of his mouth moving upwards before another cough started up.

"This is how I imagine drowning feels like," he said, hand gripping mine. I propped up the pillows behind him so he could sit upright. The words alarmed me. A sensation of drowning made it sound as if Tom was getting pneumonia, which was a big risk for coronavirus patients. I leant forward, intending to leave the room and phone Cal. Tom tightened his grip.

"Stay, please. I'm-I'm frightened."

Chatter—light, frivolous. A TV show on in the background. Episodes of Friends—the one where Ross told Chandler how to fall asleep cuddled up to someone and gently roll away when the person falls asleep, resulting in Monica tumbling out of the bed.

Tom slept propped up. I sneaked out. In the kitchen, I unpacked the shopping Josie had dropped off. She'd bought everything I'd asked for and added items I hadn't. Shiitake mushrooms, peach juice, kale, spirulina powder. The packets boasted immune boosting qualities.

The spirulina mixed in with peach juice made me heave. Only a drink those who'd developed anosmia were able to stomach. I gave up half-way through, thoughts returning to Josie's words.

An accusation of another violent crime. The man never answered for it. Impossible to reconcile the image of Tom now with that of someone smacking a baseball bat off one hand as he advanced on another man cowering before him.

Tom's explanation about his sister. Me oldest sister was raped as a teenager and... the courts threw it out. She runs a refuge for domestic abuse victims in Dublin.

A man with a secret. A woman with one thatoutdid it by miles.