Chapter Text
Quiet – a sensation strange to him, because even though he could hear the hum of the microwave, the ticking of the farmhouse clock, and the animal’s chattering to each other outside, his mind was finally quiet. It had taken a while to get used to ‘quiet’. Calm hadn’t been something that ever came naturally to him, and it still didn’t.
It’d been months since the cliffside fiasco. Jas hadn’t really left his side since Harvey let him return home. Marnie had been a mix of faces over the following weeks–weeping one moment, smiling the next, only to succumb to tears again.
He’d stayed home and kept to himself, only venturing out to take the bus into the city for sessions with a therapist Harvey recommended. At first he worried about what the bill would be without benefits, but came back one day to a severance package from Jojamart. Turns out corporate shut down the Stardew Valley’s underperforming Joja Mart during his hospital stay, and since his incident report had remained unreported before then, he had got a nice parting bonus from the shitty place.
The first time he went to therapy, he’d left early to catch Paige before her farmwork began. It had been an apology, of sorts, and a promise, kinda. After that, he avoided her for a good month before she began stopping by. The chats started with Marnie and usually ended with him before eventually it was a quick wave at the cash register to Marnie. Sometimes they’d talk for an hour, sometimes just sit in comfortable silence.
He rapped his knuckle against the table and grabbed his jacket from the back of the seat. The bus left in another hour, but he’d rather wait there. Double checking that the baseball tickets were still indeed in his wallet, Shane gave his reflection in the mirror by the door a quick smirk.