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chapter twenty nine , The Girl Who Cried
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"This is...this is weird, right?"
Tom walks up the stairs and sits at the table with station 118. "I mean, she's never late."
"Well, she was late one time." Chimney speaks up. "But that's only because she had to stop by the bank."
Tom keeps his eyes on the plate in front of him. "Do you think she's at the bank right now?"
"I think that Emerson is an grown woman and can handle herself." Hen speaks, she stabs her fork into her food. Tom tenses from the annoyed tone in Hen's voice.
"I was just saying—"
"You were siding with her."
Tom holds up hands, "I'm not picking sides!"
Bobby chuckles, he pats Tom's shoulder. "Hen, he's just worried about her."
"Emerson can take care of herself." Hen huffs. "And her being late is on her."
"All right, look, we get that she's not your favorite person in the world right now..." Eddie starts. "...but you have to admit, it's weird she's not here on time, right?"
Hen bunches her shoulders. "Not my problem." She goes back to eating. Of course it's weird that Emery wasn't here. She always got here before anyone, even before Captain. It was to the point, Bobby wasn't the first person to show up on shift anymore. So, when Emery wasn't there sweeping the floors this morning; Bobby was caught off guard.
"Come on, Hen. At the end of the day, she's your friend—"
"No. We're not friends. She made that very clear." Hen lets out a bitter chuckle.
Chimney pulls his brows together, seeing the pain across Hen's face. He knew from the look across his best friend's face that this wasn't just about applying for Lieutenant.
"Did something else happen?"
Hen raises her brows, "You could say that..."
No one but Buck knew what Emery said to Hen. It's been a week since he ended things with Emery. He could still vividly remember the conversation between Emery and Hen. Never in his entire years of knowing the two women, would he think that they would've argued liked that. And Emery using Hen's biggest regret against her. The decision that almost ruined her marriage and family. Emery knew that would hurt Hen and she said it anyway, without hesitation. That wasn't the same Emerson Sharpe Buck grew feelings for. That's not the Emerson Sharpe that wanted to make Buck a better person.
