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?"

"Because I care. Your captain even agreed since he expressed how distracted you've been during these past shifts." Athena argued. "Look, you said it yourself that you need clarity and to sort things out. Besides, tonight is a full moon- you have enough on your plate rather than working on the field of chaos."

She let out a scoff when Athena left like any teenage girl being dismissed by their mother. Except, Athena wasn't her mom- well, became a second mom to her. She harshly cut a slice of pancake drenched in syrup. Meanwhile, Michael amusingly looked at the brunette before landing a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Athena always looks out for your best interest, Josie." He stated. "You should take some time for yourself because we both know it's hurting you inside. As a man who recently came out of the closet after my entire life, suppressing those feelings isn't easy."

"I don't know if I'll be screaming or saying to Bryan's face. I've lost my best friend and the love of my life in one night." Josephine raked her fingers into her hair.

Michael nodded, "At the end of the day, remember you'll be okay. This journey will be hard but you'll survive. Take this day to be selfish. And, when you see him- I'm sure whatever you'll say will be from the heart."

"You won't ever break my heart, huh?" Josephine sat on the living room floor of Vanessa and Calvin's home with her nephew propped on her lap, gripping onto the crayon to color in one of the pages in the book with him. Vanessa went out to a doctor's appointment as she was thankful for her younger sister's day off to watch her son.

The three-year-old nodded while he carelessly scribbled his blue crayon into the page. She smiled brightly for the first time in the last few days. "Good, because I don't know what to do if you'll break my heart." She pouted then blew a raspberry into his cheek causing him to squeal in delight.

In the midst of attacking her nephew with the tickle monster and kisses, the front door burst open with Vanessa emerging. Josephine pressed one last kiss onto Diego's cheek before rising from the floor to greet her sister. "Hey Vanessa, how was the appointment?" She questioned.

Vanessa weakly smiled, "Went well, I need a drink." She rushed off to the kitchen, earning an eyebrow raise from her sister.

"Why don't you finish this page for me? I'm going to talk to your mommy." Josephine told Diego, lifting him from her lap and pressing a sweet kiss onto his temple.

Walking into the kitchen, Josephine saw her older sister taking a deep breath with both hands gripping onto the counter. By the wary expression spread upon her face, concerned the younger Santiago sibling.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on or..."

Vanessa perked up, blurting out. "I'm pregnant."

Josephine parted her lips in shock of the news, though elicited into a wide smile. "Oh my god, that's amazing news, Vanessa." She charged around the counter to engulf her older sister, suddenly fulfilled with joy.

"Is it, Josie? Calvin and I planned to have another baby when Diego turned five." Vanessa reminded as the sisters pulled away. "Diego is three. I-I can't grasp the idea of handling two kids under five."

"Well, it's better than under two." Josephine hummed out. "Heard that's worse, and on the plus side, Diego surpassed his terrible twos."

Vanessa scoffed, folding her arms. "Barely."

"Look, you were scared around the first time. Three years later, you've become the best mom to Diego. He completely adores you like this new baby will. I'm sure Calvin will be ecstatic considering how cautious and attentive he was during your pregnancy." She amused at the times he smothered her sister for those nine months. Surely, handled those atrocious mood swings when she assumed Vanessa as a bridezilla was worse. "Raising two kids might be a challenge but you got this. Plus, I'll be here to smother these babies whenever you need a break." She happily obliged.

Her older sister coolly breathed out, "You're right. Everything will be alright. But I'm holding you on to that offer." She pointedly stared at Josephine causing her sister to laugh. "Now there's a lot to look forward to, this baby and your wedding. By the way, everything is alright between you and Bryan now?"

Josephine pressed her lips together, nodding. "We cleared everything up. We're fine." She lied. She didn't want to damper Vanessa's news nor felt ready to come out about the downfall of her relationship with Bryan.

Later that evening, Josephine returned to the Grant residence accompanying Harry and May with Michael and Athena out. She sat at the dining room table helping the youngest Grant member with his math homework. After excelling through the assignment, she let Harry run off to his games while plopping next to May watching a movie.

May instantly handed the bowl of popcorn, feeling the brunette resting her head upon her shoulder. "You called in for pizza already, right?" Josephine asked.

"Yeah, should be here in less than 20 minutes." May answered then narrowed at the brunette, immersing into the conversation. "How's your day off so far?"

Josephine lifted her head, "Not bad. Even though I disliked that your mom treated me like a child, calling in for me at work. Taking time for myself kind of helped find some clarity in this mess of my life." She prickled a piece of popcorn into her mouth. "On a brighter note, Vanessa found out she's pregnant again."

"That's some good news at least."

"It is." Josephine nodded in agreement until her phone vibrated inside her pocket. After reading the text message, she glanced up at the teenage girl. "I'll be right back." She snatched up her wallet on the way out to the front door.

Closing the door, Josephine took a deep breath before facing the figure approaching in the driveway. She traveled to meet him halfway as she gnawed the inside of her cheek out of the nerves crawling under her skin.

"Thank you for coming by." Josephine tucked her arms into her body, breaking the ice of tension between them.

Bryan had his hands stuffed in his pockets while staring in remorse. All he saw in his fiancé's eyes was hurt and betrayal caused by his selfish acts. Meanwhile, Josephine disliked the regretful expression formed on his face. She averted from his gaze, shaking her head until he responded.

"Of course." He quipped then exhausted a sigh. "Josie-"

She raised her hand up as she dreaded for this conversation. "Please, I'm going to make this quick because I can't stand looking at you. Besides, if Athena were to come back from her shift she'll kick your ass out of here. Not that I'm unable to do that myself." She amused, proceeding to entail where their relationship lies. "I've done a lot of thinking. We're going to wait until after my grandparents' 50th anniversary party to break the news that our wedding is off."

"Josie-"

"No, you listen to me." She cut him off, once again. "This party should be about them. I don't want any of my relatives hovering me about this, okay? At least save us a couple more weeks until dealing with the repercussions from our folks."

Bryan pursed his lip then shortly nodded along. "I agree." He cleared his throat, "I'll move out-"

Josephine licked her lips as she immediately declined his idea. "No. My grandparents own other properties, so, I'll be moving out instead. You can wallow in that penthouse alone like I did when finding out about the affair." She swiftly pivoted to the front door feeling small weight lifting off her chest. This is her first step to take control during this heartbreak. Surely, this proud moment made her believe she'll survive through this storm soon enough.

Athena sighed in relief with the sight of a glass of wine poured for her once returning home. She stepped into the room where Josephine waited at the table, already drinking the glass she made herself. "Thought you would've needed one from tonight's full moon shift." She emphasized the full moon part.

"Bless your heart, Josie." Athena expressed her gratitude to the brunette, settling into her seat after slipping out of her jacket. "How were the kids?"

"Angels per usual. Helped Harry with his homework, watched a movie with May, and ate pizza for dinner." Josephine took another sip from her glass in spite of Bryan's visit, the Grant siblings uplifted her internal anxiousness for the rest of the night. She lightly tapped her fingers onto the glass, "Also, Bryan came by tonight."

Seeing the alert on Athena's face at the mention of the man, Josephine waved her off. "I asked him to talk. Discuss a few things such as my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party coming up in a few weeks. Instead of dropping this bombshell to overshadow it, we mutually agreed to fake it till we make it." She shared a tight smile that would only exchanged into a frown at the idea.

"Aren't we all?" Athena mused out before clinking her glass with Josephine's. "I'm glad you were able to talk to him. Nothing about this is easy, and it's quite rough." She truthfully spoke.

Her words laced into Josephine's ears as she stared out to the transparent windows into the dark backyard. "Yet, I still love him." She pressed her lips together, trying to prevent any tears pooling in her eyes.

"I know, baby. You'll get through this." Athena reached her hand for Josephine's on the table, bracing a warm smile.

After diverting into another topic of conversation and finishing their glasses of wine, Athena decided to turn in for the night from the full moon shift. Josephine cleaned the dishes and went to slide underneath the blankets on the couch. Settling in for the rest of the night, an incoming call popped up on her screen. Josephine went to pick up her phone where her thumb hovered to accept the call.

"Evan Buckley." She answered in a playful tone.

The corners of his mouth tugged upward at the sound of her voice as he sat in his Jeep. "Josephine Santiago, missed you on the full moon shift." He drummed his fingers onto the steering wheel. "Bobby said you were sick, so I thought to check up on you."

She pouted her lips, "So, you missed me? That's very sweet of you, Evan." She began teasing him.

"Don't flatter yourself, Josephine. Anyways, how are you feeling now?"

Josephine released a sigh, "A little better. How was your spontaneous full moon shift? Is Bobby still not a believer?" As she worked with Bobby on previous full moon shifts, she grown to understand that the older man had no belief in it. Knowing Buck, she pictured how he would've been talking their captain's ear off to convince him.

"Between the wave of pregnant women going into labor in a yoga class to pulling out a tapeworm out of a guy's ass, not so much. I tried." He replied, sounding defeated.

She couldn't help but giggle at his attempt. "Can't make everyone a believer. Sounds like an eventful night though. But you survived on your first shift back."

Buck clicked his tongue, "Yeah, are you sure you're okay?" He had this belief that Josephine didn't come in due to being under the weather- with the uneasiness in her relationship that she confided in him previously. More so, Bryan had returned from his business trip in New York to discuss about a significant topic that could impact their relationship one way or another.

"I promise you that I'm fine. You don't have to worry when you'll see my pretty face 'cause I'll be there next shift." She forced out a lively tone in her voice.

He chuckled out, believing her. "Thank you, that's what I needed to hear, Josephine."

"Good night, Evan." Josephine whispered out before hanging up on the phone and finding herself staring at the high ceiling in the dark alone.

-Not my best written chapter. Thought to end this chapter on somewhat a sweet note with Josie and Buck hahaha. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think! Don't forget to vote and comment! Stay tuned!-

WRITTEN: 5/30/21

PUBLISHED: 6/2/21