That One Second

Chapter 7

Emma wondered how it was possible that even after her change in contract, Regina still managed to be home much later than promised. She still spent quite some nights with Robin and Emma wished she didn't. She wished she and the children were worth travelling for, just like the law firm was worth travelling for.

It'd been a month since Christmas. Emma had known beforehand that Regina wasn't going to make it on New Year's Eve, so she'd accepted the fact that she had to plan everything to give the children another memorable night. Though she wanted to forget that night herself.

Without Regina, things just weren't nearly as fun. The worst part was that she kept hoping. She kept hoping somehow things would get better. She'd kept wondering if Regina maybe would show up at New Year's Eve, even though she'd had to prepare everything for another trial that started January 1st. Part of her had hoped that things would change drastically after Christmas and their lives would go back to the way they were.

But nothing had changed.

And Emma wondered how long she was going to accept that.

The reason Regina didn't come home early was because she didn't want to work from home. She didn't get anything done and Emma couldn't blame her for that. The children would constantly need her attention and it was hard to focus. So, Emma secretly hoped that someday Regina wouldn't take on as many cases.

Fortunately, she could take a little break this afternoon. Cora had promised to look after the children and if Emma wanted to, she could let Henry and Hope stay the night and have Cora take them to school the next day.

So, Emma tried to clear her mind by spending hours wandering in Storybrooke's bookstore. The bookstore was the only reason people from outside the town would go to Storybrooke, because it was really big. It had several floors and all kinds of genres and languages.

"Emma?" Emma turned around and found Lily near the French books. The woman smiled and Emma was surprised to feel she was genuinely happy to see her.

Lily had always been kind to her and understood her situation. She had long, straight, brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a dark blue dress with some white pattern on it and Emma found she couldn't look more like a teacher than she did.

"How are you?" Lily opened her arms and Emma hugged her awkwardly. She kept smiling, though, and looked at the books in Lily's basket. They were all children's books, so she figured Lily was shopping for her class.

She was carrying a few children's books for Henry and Hope as well and she saw Lily checking them out. "I'm doing great," Emma lied and forced a smile through her gritted teeth.

"I know you're not," Lily said softly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I always go shopping for books when I'm feeling upset and it always helps, so I hope it's going to help you, too."

Emma laughed softly and looked at the few books she was planning on buying. "I love reading," she said. "Regina and I used to read the same book and see who could read it faster. She always won. Afterwards, we'd discuss it together. It was really fun."

"Why'd you stop?"

Emma shrugged. "We didn't, really. I'm just.. still waiting for her to finish The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so I guess I won this round."

"I've heard a lot about that book. Is it any good?" Lily asked as they walked over to the next section together. Emma looked sideways at the teacher and wondered just how much she was to share her enthusiasm on the story. She'd absolutely adored it, but she didn't know whether the woman could handle her excitement. Regina always told her how much she loved seeing Emma joyful over a story.