Nebulous || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter nine

in the aftermath of a heartbreak

Josephine's eyes fluttered open in the early morning, looking up at the high ceiling upon hearing voices in the other room. She sat up on the couch where she's been sleeping on since the night she dropped on Athena's doorstep. The thought of that nightmare became reoccurring every time she woke up. Bryan had been cheating on her. For how long? She didn't know considering her first priority after receiving the truth was to escape. It's what she felt to be best at- running away from her problems. Her eyes landed on her shaky hand as the engagement ring remained. The sight of that ring drawn her back to the day he proposed, a day where he promised to be hers in the long run.

Nobody knew about Bryan's affair except Athena, Michael, and the exceptional of May and Harry. The Grant kids were too smart to fool or conjure an excuse of Josephine's presence in the household.

Well, Harry directly asked if Bryan and Josephine broke up at the dinner table.

She saw the two kids scrambling as their morning rides to school arrived. They were escorted by both parents not without bidding their goodbyes to Josephine.

Her shift wouldn't begin until the afternoon, supposedly tonight's shift would be a full moon. Full moon shifts isn't something to joke about nor uttering the "q" word in the firehouse. The myth of the full moon does align from the past shifts she has experienced. However, Bobby disagrees of the full moon myth.

After brushing her teeth, Josephine checked any new messages or calls. A couple of them came from Vanessa or the wedding planner, Alexis, Buck, and Bryan. Despite lending her the space she declared to him, he's been trying to get in contact with her. And, in these couple of days, Josephine had no idea what to do nor feel to move forward.

Of course, working through these shifts have been a great distraction, however, rough in masking all of the bottled up emotions she has yet to overcome.

"Thanks for letting me stay here again." Josephine announced to Athena and Michael, entering the dining room.

Michael erupted a chuckle at the counter. "You don't have to keep telling us every morning, Josie."

"One thing I can agree with him." Athena chimed in, looking up from the sink. "You'll always be part of this family."

"Well, I'll be out of your hair soon." Josephine drummed her fingers against the back of her phone, biting the inside of her cheek. "Once I sort my entire life out." She spoke in a drastic tone.

Athena came around the counter to serve her plate of breakfast. "No need to rush out of here. Take your time, a bombshell like this can be a lot to process. With that, I called your captain that you're taking a day off."

Josephine furrowed, glancing up at her. "Wait what? Athena, I'm fine. You didn't need to do that." As thoughtful as it sound, Josephine gets irritated when feeling too coddled or unequipped. "What made you think it was your decision to do that?"