Excuse Me, Miss Mills?

Chapter Twenty Seven

"You know I can go out to meet you around your place sometimes," Kathryn offered as we pulled up to the diner.

"I know, but I love Storybrooke," I admitted. "This place has become my home even since I started working here."

"You don't have to totally abandon it," she said. "I just feel badly that you're always driving in to meet me here. It's not like you're in the area all the time and can just drop what you're doing to come meet me. You have to drive for close to half an hour."

"True," I said. "But if you're really that upset about how much I'm spending on gas, you can cover the bill today for lunch."

I grinned at her as she laughed.

"You know what?" she said. "I'm going to. As long as you're not planning on ordering for three. I don't know that I can afford that."

"I had a snack on the drive over to your place so I might be okay on that front," I admitted with a sheepish grin. She shot me a look and I could feel the teasing judgment. "What? I was hungry! I'm housing human life."

"Let's head in," she said with a shake of her head.

I double-checked my mirror to make sure no cars were coming before I opened the door. I met Kathryn around the car on the sidewalk and we headed into Granny's.

I couldn't deny half of the reason why I was so insistent that I visit Kathryn in Storybrooke was because it meant I'd be around the town to see Emma. I had never eaten at Granny's so frequently as I did when I knew Emma was working. She sent me her schedule so I'd be able to time it perfectly.

We'd been finding ways to flirt with each other in public in the month or so after she had graduated. I would find reasons to go into the town and putter around and she would "randomly" show up whenever she could. She even went as far as to ask me to go somewhere alone so she could show up and flirt, always making sure it would be somewhere that we'd be seen.

When we met up at the park she very openly flirted with me in front of a group of miners who were out relaxing for their lunch. Belle French worked summers in the local library and saw when Emma plopped down next to me and made a point to brush against me while she teased me as I pretended to try to read. She even found a way to run into me during my weekly shopping run so she could follow me around and comment loudly on how nice I looked even doing something as simple as shopping.

I couldn't deny I enjoyed the attention. I couldn't turn up to where she was as easily, but I did go to Granny's more often when I knew she was working and always requested to sit in her section. I started by being normal, but by the end of every meal there I did my fair share of flirting when she showed up so the various patrons would see it was reciprocated. Ruby's grandmother—the Granny behind the name—tended to scowl at me when I took up a lot of Emma's time by teasing her and going out of my way to touch her, but Ruby always gave us a sneaky thumbs up and redirected her grandmother's attention.

That day was yet another time we'd decided to "happen upon" one another.

We walked into the diner and I saw Emma's face light up as she spotted me. I'd told her when I was meeting up with Kathryn so it was obvious she'd kept an eye on the clock and had been waiting for me.

"Miss Mills," she said happily. "Miss Anderson. May I help you?"

"I've told you that you can call me Regina," I playfully reminded her. "Would it be too much to ask for my favorite table?"

"Not at all, Regina," she said. "Right this way."

The reasons it was my favorite was that it was consistently in Emma's section and I could watch her while she worked as it was in the corner—the chair I usually took faced the dining room, giving me a perfect view of everything.