A/N: Another fabulous cover by rock-aya!
After a long day of travel, the excitement of Ryker's TED talk, and the shock of having strangers snap pictures of her, Emmie was ready for a day off. But the breakfast crowd at Iola's awaited and so she dragged herself up, grateful at least that the days had begun to lengthen. The morning's walk to work was sunny, if still chilly. By the time she left work, she expected it to be pleasant. The weather raised her spirits, a welcome distraction from the dread that had plagued her on the trip back from Seattle yesterday evening.
She had been so foolish. As soon as those reporters showed up, she should have excused herself and rushed off. But it had all happened so fast. One minute it was just the three of them, the next, Ryker was beaming for the camera. She'd been in some of the shots, she was sure of it.
All the while she and Trisha were watching fish being tossed at the Market, she'd worried. While riding the Seattle Great Wheel up to its pinnacle, the breathtaking panorama of the Puget Sound laid out before them, with its jigsaw puzzle of forested lands nestled below the Olympic Mountains, she'd fretted. Once home, she spent the entire night trying to talk herself off a ledge. Just because the reporters took the images didn't mean they were going to use any of them, or at least not one with her in it. She wasn't the reason they were there, after all. And they'd ended up interviewing both Ryker and Trisha. Surely if they were going to print any picture, it would be of the siblings, not of some random pregnant woman no one had ever heard of.
Arriving at Iola's, Emmie jumped into her routine, grateful for the rush of people with their simple demands for coffee and eggs and waffles. Trisha, who'd had the same long exhausting day as she had, minus the photo scare, minded the restaurant floor with dark circles under her eyes. She made frequent trips to the coffee station. "Remind me never again to try to fit a trip to Seattle in in one day when I have to be at work the next. There is not enough coffee on the planet..."
Fresh steaming cup in hand, she wandered off to seat a new customer while Emmie bussed a table and took another order. When Trisha had an opportunity, she circled back to Emmie, who by then was making a new batch of coffee in a large urn. "I should have told you to take the morning off, Emmie. I know yesterday wasn't the easiest. You were pretty quiet on the way home."
Emmie nodded. "Yes, but there's no use in worrying about it. And I did enjoy seeing Seattle, and Ryker's talk of course. It was amazing, actually!"
"Yes it was, but... are you sure you're okay?"
"I don't even know what okay means anymore. But, yeah... I'm just exhausted."
"I can call Becca and see if she can cover the rest of your shift."
"No, don't bother. I'm fine. Really."
Sighing, Trisha took a rag and absentmindedly wiped off the surface surrounding the coffee urn. "Don't be a hero, Emmie. If you need to go home, just let me know, okay? I don't want you collapsing on the job. Our insurance rates will skyrocket."
Emmie spent the rest of the morning in robotic mode, doing the tasks she needed to do in the order they were to be done in. Perhaps someday an UMA robot would be able to perform her job just as well as or better than she could. Maybe by the time her life ended, robots would be running the show. She shuddered at the thought, but the idea of having an UMA to cook and clean for her in her old age did have its appeal.
As if thoughts of robots had conjured him, Ryker slid through Iola's door just before noon. Trisha was beside herself. "The prodigal brother returns. My stars, it's been so long, I barely recognize you."
"You just saw me yesterday, Trish."
"That was off the clock Trish. I'm working-mode Trish and working-mode Trish hasn't seen you in nearly three months."
"Whatever." He gave her a peck on the cheek and she hurried off to give the kitchen his order. He nodded at Emmie. "As promised, I'm here."
"Yes, you are." She led him to his favorite booth. "Coffee?"
She headed for the pot before he could answer her. When she returned, a perplexed frown had chiseled its way onto his handsome face. "You already seem like you'd prefer I hadn't shown up. I thought we... I thought we'd made progress. Was I wrong?"
"Yes. No, I mean you aren't wrong. We're good. Yesterday was just, exhausting and I— "
"The photographers freaked you out and you can't tell me why and I'm going to be a good boy and not nag you about it. I get that Emmie. I'm sorry that happened but it will be okay."
"Will it?" What was he going to do, track down all the reporters present and insist none of them print the picture?
"I found out who all of the reporters were and asked them to print only the pictures without you in them."
"Oh! Did you really?" She could hug him. She could seriously hug him. "I can't believe you did that!"
"Believe it! A Seattle Times article already came out. They didn't even use a picture from backstage. They wanted one of me up front with UMA. Actually, it's basically a photo of UMA with me kind of blurry off to the side."
Emmie spied a customer waving her hand several booths away. "Hold on, I've got work to do. I'll be back. Thank you so much, Ryker. You have no idea how much this means to me!"
It had been Mrs. Fielding doing the hand waving, motioning Emmie over to top off her coffee one last time before she left. While she was there, Emmie placed it her check on the table. "Whenever you're ready."
Mrs. Fielding brought her hand down over Emmie's and situated herself so her face was as close as it could be to Emmie's. "I didn't know you two were a couple! You are a sly one!"
Emmie's hand froze under the older woman's. "What? I... I'm not a couple with anyone."
The woman patted her hand and then released her. "Whatever you need to tell yourself, dear, but it sure doesn't seem like that's the case."
"I don't need to tell myself anything."
Mrs. Fielding handed her the check back along with a twenty. "Well, I don't mean to pry, but of course it's not exactly a secret anymore, is it?"
For a second, Emmie imagined she was speaking of her Chicago past, that perhaps somehow, her secret had been revealed. But of course, this wasn't what Mrs. Fielding meant at all. Bewildered, she stumbled back to Ryker. Trisha stood next to the table where she'd just plopped Ryker's sandwich down in front of him.
"What have you been telling people," Emmie hissed.
Ryker looked up from his BLT. "Um... can you give me some context? I tell lots of people lots of things."
"About us, you idiot!" She swatted his shoulder. "Mrs. Fielding thinks we're a couple."
"Okay, I have no idea why she would draw that conclusion. Honestly, Emmie. I've never talked to anyone about our relationship except for Trish and Dan. And UMA."
"You told your robot about me?" She shook her head. "Never mind, that's not important. What's important is that she's under the impression that we've been together for a while in secret, but now, for some reason, it's no longer a secret. Like we had some big reveal which never could have happened because we aren't together in the first place!"
Trisha put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. She probably just saw you talking to Ryker and drew her own conclusions. She's old and bored. Turning you into a couple was just a way to entertain herself."
"Mrs. Fielding may be old, but she's not bored. She volunteers at the animal shelter, the children's hospital, and for Meals on Wheels. And she's no gossip."
"Whoa." Trisha's eyes widened. "Here comes Gran." Iola charged through the door and headed straight towards them. "She looks like she's on a mission."
"Well?" Iola threw a tabloid magazine called Coastal Stars down on the table in front of all of them.
Emmie gasped. On the cover was a picture from backstage at the Ted Talk. From the angle the picture was taken, it looked as though Emmie was pressed right up against Ryker even though in reality, they'd been standing a few inches apart. She picked up the magazine and gripped it in her hands. The headline read "Oregon's Hottest Billionaire Off the Market and On the Daddy Train?!?"
"No, no, no, no...." She closed her eyes, hoping that Trisha's statement about her collapsing wasn't a premonition. "I am so, so screwed."
A/N: Above: The Seattle Great Wheel (aka the Eye of Seattle). I haven't been on it yet. One of these days...
Despite Ryker's best attempts, it looks like one of the Emmie images found its way into a celebrity magazine. Eek! How do you think this happened? What will the fallout be?
Votes today will go to buy every copy of the Coastal Star Magazine as well as to hire a hacker who can shut down their webpage until the picture can be removed. Drastic action is needed! Aaahhhh!
Today's dedication is for cupcakemoji because her comments are fun and emoji heavy, and that is how I roll.