Lucie didn't leave his room. She perched on Shane's bed as he cried to himself, hugging his knees.
Slowly, the crying ebbed and he turned to look at Lucie, his eyes still swimming.
"Why are you still here?" He sniffed aggressively, swiping at his face furiously. "Don't you have better things to do?"
"Yes." Lucie answered simply. "But you need someone to tell you to get your shit together and go to work."
"Work?" Shane laughed coldly. There was no amusement in his laughter, only a derision that cut Lucie like a knife. "You think that's what I need?"
"No, dumbass," Lucie snapped. "what you need is beyond me, but losing your job will make you feel like shit. And then you'll drink to numb the pain, and then you will die." Her lip trembled on the final word. Lucie took a shaky breath and steadied herself. "The prospect of which just sent Jas running from the room in tears, so imagine how ruined she'd be if you actually did die."
Lucie was being harsh, she knew it. But she also knew how to get a drunk up and moving again, as Shane stood, holding her cold gaze.
"Has anyone told you that you're kinda mean?" Shane asked, yanking open the drawers and pulling out a t shirt. For the first time, Lucie noticed that he was shirtless and suddenly snapped her eyes back to his face. The tiniest of smirks from Shane caused her heart to crack, and she cursed herself for being noticed noticing his chest. And more importantly, his abs.
For a drunk, he was surprisingly ripped. And he was passable handsome, if you liked that rugged, sharp jawline and stubble thing. Which she did - especially on him.
"They never stop. Get dressed, I'll wait outside for you." She didn't wait for his response as she strode out of his room, shutting the door firmly behind her.
The t shirt still hung limply in Shane's hand. He stared at the closed door as though he could see through, see the woman leaning heavily against it. Briefly, he smiled to himself. Who'd have thought catching her glancing at his chest, catching the faintest of pinks flush her cheeks would have improved his mood this much. His head still pounded, but now he could think through it. And he could feel the guilt rush through him a fraction of a second later as he remembered Jas' crestfallen face last time she'd seen him wasted, and now today.
He pulled the t shirt on roughly, dressing quickly, trying to rub the image of Jas running out the room from his mind. Focusing on dressing, Shane hummed to himself to distract the thoughts into a different rabbit hole.
Then, he wrenched open the door and caught Lucie's eye. She held out the thermos to him, making deliberately heavy eye contact.
"Come on, then." Lucie whirled on her heel and walked out the door. Shane followed, closing the door softly behind him, ignoring the small smile that Marnie gave him.
Marnie had moved back into the kitchen once Jas had stopped hyperventilating so much. Comforting Jas would be of no use until she had calmed herself a little, Marnie knew her well enough to know that, but how to assure her that Shane wasn't going anywhere? She had gotten to know the girl fairly well over the months that they'd been here, but Jas was still a bit of a mystery to her. She was so quiet, so delicate. Marnie wanted to hold her tight some days and never let go, to cry into the young girl's hair and apologise for the world. For someone so young, she'd suffered so much already and she didn't deserve to lose Shane too.
And Shane. Her heart swelled for her nephew too, filling up her chest so that she couldn't breathe any more. He had never been the family type, but he did his best. When Jas' parents, his closest friends, had died, he had done his best. He had turned up at her door, eyes red, a young girl in his arms and begged for her help. He'd gotten a more reliable job at the JoJo Mart. He'd tried. But he was drowning in his grief, anyone could see that. The JoJo Mart didn't exactly help things either - he was there to make enough for his and Jas's rent, and no other reason. Marnie could see it clawing away at him every day.
When Lucie had shown up, and Shane had actually noticed her, Marnie could help but to hope for the two of them.
She sat at the kitchen table when Shane had reappeared. He had stood slightly straighter than he had before. He'd even tried to brush his hair quickly, that much was obvious. Marnie dared to hope for a moment, hope for this moment of effort to continue, and had smiled at him. It was a sad smile still, filled with pity and sympathy, but for once, she felt like he might not need her small smiles.
They walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the end of Marnie's ranch.
"Why are you being nice to me?" The words burst out of Shane with a life of their own. Lucie had jumped at the sudden question, then frowned at Shane.
"Because you obviously needed a friend?" She answered hesitantly. "And it's not like I had any either."
"There are plenty of other people in this town that you could have chosen to be your friend. Alex, for one." Okay, now he was taunting her. Lucie rolled her eyes and stopped walking. She placed a hand on her hip and looked reproachfully at Shane.
"Ha, ha," she drawled. "Don't make me regret being nice to you."
Shane held up a hand in defeat. Lucie raised an eyebrow at him, paused a moment longer, then continued walking. Her footsteps beat out a rhythm on the soft mud, a melody that Shane felt echoed in his heart.
"You want the real reason?" Lucie spoke without looking at him, staring towards the town. "There isn't one. I have no idea why I decided to be nice, but I did and now I'm sticking to it."
She felt the lie stick in her throat slightly. She knew why she was being nice to him, and she felt the embarrassment of that knowledge flush her cheeks once more.
Shane glanced side long at her, and raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't turn around to look at him, but kept walking in that same pedantic rhythm.
"Stubborn, aren't you?" He muttered finally. Lucie cleared her throat in response and smiled to the ground. Her grandfather's laughter as he called her his stubborn little mule seemed to echo in the spring morning. Shane didn't miss the small smile that warmed the grass beneath her feet. "Why did you even come to Stardew Valley? That farm sat empty for years from what Marnie's said." Shane continued, the question a barely concealed excuse to keep talking.
Lucie bit the inside of her lip as she considered the question. It had been a question she'd tried not to ask herself too deeply, a question she'd been worried she wouldn't know how to answer.
"I…I was miserable." Her answer surprised her at how true it was. "I hated my job, I hated my pokey little flat, I hated the constant movement of the city and every time I thought back to when I was genuinely happy I thought of here. That farm. The town."
Lucie swallowed difficultly. The emotions filled her throat in a way that she'd never expected, the ache in her heart growing with each word she had spoken.
Shane quickly drank from the thermos flask, finding any excuse to avoid answering her. How could you respond to that? Her face was slightly pained and he fought the urge to grasp her by the hand and tell her he knew exactly how she felt. He felt the need to comfort her, but couldn't bring himself to cross the chasm between them.
"If we're asking questions I have one. How is Jas related to you? I know Marnie's your aunt, but you and Jas don't look like siblings?" Lucie asked thickly, glancing half heartedly at Shane as they moved through the town square.
Shane hesitated.
"She's my god-daughter." He finally revealed, the answer simple but raising so many more questions. Lucie waited, hoping for him to fill the silence.
But he didn't. They arrived at the JoJo Mart in silence, said some awkward, half hearted goodbyes, then Shane walked into the hellish building, leaving Lucie outside. And alone once more.
