Illusions

Chapter Four

Five long days. Five long days of mundane, day to day routine that only consisted of Emma spending her time at the library with Belle, learning absolutely nothing that could be of use to her case, before slumming it at Granny's diner with Ruby in the evenings. Besides every detail of the flirtatious waitress's life, Emma, again, came up empty with vital information. As much as all of this was annoying her, the thing that ticked her off the most, was how the little boy next door suddenly became vacant from her life.

She searched, waited, practically stalked that little shit, ready to confront him for breaking into her home and snooping around, knowing he didn't steal a thing, but he was gone. At one point during those five days, she actually considered that the kid was a figment of her imagination due to stress, but then she remembered Ruby had an interaction with this, Henry, so she knows she's not suffering from some psychotic breakdown.

"My son's actually coming to visit this weekend," Belle informs Emma while she continues setting up all the children's books near the front of the library.

Emma stops dead in her tracks from packing up her laptop, her jaw coming unhinged for a brief moment before she collects herself and smiles. "Really? Where is he living now, again?" She innocently investigates, refocusing her attention on stuffing her laptop into her bag.

"He attends college at NYU," Belle proudly announces, her grin spreading painfully into her cheeks at her son's accomplishments.

"Wow, that's amazing." She slings her bag over her shoulder and saunters closer to the older woman. "Does he usually come back to visit?"

"Actually," the brunette seems lost as she stares aimlessly at the cover of a Harry Potter book, "no, we haven't seen him in quite some time. He's been very busy with school."

"Oh, yeah? What's he studying?" She softly inquires, ducking down to meet the sorrowful baby blues avoiding her gaze.

"Business management." The woman smiles again and this time it actually reaches her eyes. "Just like his father."

"Well, I cannot wait to meet him," she kindly says, gently squeezing Belle's shoulder before she hitches her bag higher and offers a small wave.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I don't know how you aren't sick of me already," she laughs and nods her confirmation before trekking toward the door. "Have a nice evening, Belle."

"You as well, Allison."

Emma's smile wavers as she pushes the heavy door open and the warm afternoon air tickles her cheeks. For a split second, she feels a pain of remorse for fooling the kind, older woman, even Ruby, and it's all because of how welcoming and sticky sweet they both are. Except, as soon as the feeling plucks at her broken heart, she shoves those thoughts aside and decides on walking to Granny's this evening to take advantage of the warm weather.

And of course....she's replaying that damn night over and over again in her mind...

She was sleeping so peacefully...soundly, upon her naked chest and Emma honestly didn't have the heart to wake her. That prominent cheekbone was comfortably resting snuggly between her two heavy breasts, slowly rising and falling with every breath Emma took. Her long fingers were gently massaging her scalp, granting her the serenity she needed while the rest of the woman's body was dead weight on top of her.

She was the proud owner of a stupid, giddy grin that invaded her entire face and for the first time in her life, she didn't want to run. Except, her phone was buzzing obnoxiously, over and over again, no matter how many times she forced the calls to voicemail. Finally, with her free hand, she reached over to her nightstand and blindly retrieved it.