GEM

“I feel like I have too much time on my hands now that Bethany is in school again.”

“Too many quiet hours without her around?”

“I’m in desperate need of a night out already. This semester is going to be the worst.”

“Is it feeling that long and stressful already?”

“You know the only thing I dislike about this season is the fact this is when all the germs come out.” Joan said out loud even though she didn’t really mean too. “I catch everything this time of the year, no matter how hard I try not to catch it.”

“Yeah. It’s really not a good season to have an even slightly weak immune system.”

She was in the park again. It was a little easier to get out right now and she wasn’t going to take it for granted. She had a milkshake in one hand and she was looking at her phone, trying to stop her thoughts from swirling. She was trying to reflect on what had happened lately and figure everything out but she felt a bit lost at doing so. She sighed, looking up and just watching the people around the park while her dog ran back and forth, when she took off suddenly and jumped at someone. “Lolly!” Imogen jumped up and ran after her, clipping her lead back on and tugging her down. “Sorry about that…”

Gemma had left her car at home that day, opting instead to walk to and from work. The fresh air and time to not really need to be paying attention to anything felt nice and it made her feel almost like she was better at engaging with the world than she actually seemed to be. It was probably both the most out of her head and simultanesouly distracted she got, so much so the latter that she wasn’t even really aware of anyone else being around until the dog was jumping towards her. “Oh. Hello, girl.” She said with a smile, petting the dog’s head as Imogen caught up to her. “Um -- it’s fine. I don’t mind.”