@ijemmaokafor; stables
Alex’s time in Redwood had been... a lot. It had been less than two months, yet he’d managed to fit in what felt like an entire year's (at minimum) worth of shenanigans into those weeks. He was far from being the decently happy self he had been before Nathan’s death, much less before the outbreak. In all likelihood he never would be that way again. But he was okay. He was getting to know more people, talking to others around Redwood, getting the hang of how things went in town. He felt like he and Cass were doing a lot better than they had been at the beginning. Things seemed to be on the up and up.
Jemma, bless her heart, had done her best to try and welcome him and be someone he could open up to. It had been harder to do so with her than Maya or even Ally mostly because they didn’t have as much in common as he did with the other two women. He respected and liked her, but it was more difficult to talk to someone who felt so integrated into the community already. Still, he had opened up to her beyond his usual politeness, and he felt he could consider her a tentative friend.
He found her in the stables right after her lesson with Cass, flashing her a friendly grin as he walked up to her. “Hey. How’d today’s lesson go?” he asked, not wanting to go right into his main question. He was genuinely invested in her progress, too. Alex wasn’t expecting her to become some major horse-lover by any matter of means, but he wanted her to enjoy learning how to ride. “I, uh, wanted to congratulate you on the new council position, too. I’m glad Salem was able to reunite with Lily, of course, but it’s good to know that you’re the one taking over his position. He’s a good man.” By now the only council member he didn’t have a personal relationship with was Ermano, which felt a bit odd to think about. At least he and Jemma didn’t have any shared trauma.