The few clouds that hung in the sky cast shadows over the land around the Dale household and provided the rolling hills with a patchwork of light and dark. The quarantine had come into effect for the Dale family some weeks ago. The family had self-isolated when they became concerned that they had been infected with the virus that was sweeping over the world. It had been a lucky escape for the family as the parents and two sisters experienced mild forms of the virus and then gradually recovered. They had each taken turns to catch, suffer, care, and recuperate but they were recovering into a world that was still disconnected. The Dale family had arrived on the other side of the danger isolated, but otherwise healthy.
They lived in a rural area so they were used to a certain separation from people yet with all of them bar the youngest sister commuting to the city to work, shop, and visit friends and family, the disconnect was still extreme. Still, they counted their blessings that they had all experienced varying degrees of continuity with earnings. Their employers furloughing them and continuing to pay a majority of their expected income. They were also all grateful it had come at a time after Ivy had graduated. Having their youngest away from home in a far off city would have devastated the close knit family, especially Holly, the elder of the pair.
The two sisters had always been close and that bond had only grown greater in the more recent years. Holly seemed to have missed her sister immensely. Mr and Mrs Dale noted many times that the sisters seemed to be closer than ever and taking every opportunity to spend time together and make up for lost time.
Shopping together, taking trips together, hanging out in each other's rooms. The pair were almost inseparable, even before the lockdown had limited access to alternative company. Ivy had even managed to encourage Holly to join her in her newfound appreciation for the gym, much to the exhaustion, but athletic betterment of the elder sibling. In general, university seemed to have suited Ivy and granted her an independence she had previously lacked. Her cooking had certainly improved and she now relished in the opportunity to cook for the family.
The Dale family often joked about how Holly's present from the previous Christmas, a detailed but decidedly "accessible" cookbook, had been the impetus for Ivy trying a lot harder to improve her skills. Ivy in return joked that she was simply happy to feed her adoring and supportive sister, as long as she continued to eat what she presented for her. Indeed, Holly herself helped out Ivy in the kitchen and Mr and Mrs Dale were exceedingly grateful that they had to cook fewer nights of the week, even if that meant to adhering to Ivy's policy of never entering the kitchen while the two were cooking.
Near paralysed by shyness about her skills and worrying about it ending in disaster, she preferred for only Holly to see her cooking progress. It was her way of alleviating the fear of judgement. The necessity of this became apparent during the early stages of their cooking together when it was discovered that they had tried and failed to hide certain cooking catastrophes. The fact that they had been forced to restart several meals because of accidentally burning them due to negligence, was highly embarrassing to Ivy. To their credit, they had improved that part of cooking and now managed to not get distracted in the kitchen, at least not to the detriment of the meal.
The family was more than content with this new arrangement and the ever-increasing closeness of the two girls. Mrs Dale had always been secretly worried, although she would never tell the girls, that the two of them would have a falling out and never reconnect like what had occurred with her sister. But with their bond stronger than ever, even when tensions were high and all the family was trapped together, her fears about her daughters were availed.
Seeing them rush out of their bedroom that morning to devour the cooked breakfast their father had made, their happy flushed faces, dishevelled but colourful pyjamas and messy but somehow naturally beautiful bed hair, Mrs Dale couldn't be happier. They laughed, joked, and teased while eating dinner and when they rushed upstairs giggling after they'd finished, Mrs Dale was proud of just how close her children had become.
