Shared Pain

Chapter 4

Emma hurried to the Spa, hoping that her boss wouldn't be too angry with her. Her hair was a complete mess and as she was running, she tried to make a ponytail.

She opened the door quickly and straightened her clothes. Luckily, she was already dressed in working clothes.

Her boss was talking to Ruby the receptionist, who now gestured her head at Emma. The few people that were waiting to be called in looked bewildered at Emma.

"My office. Now," Mrs. Belfrey said sternly and glanced penetrating at Emma, who nodded briefly and followed the older brunette to her office.

"Emma, this is the third time in two weeks that you are late. I can't have this," the woman said once they both sat down opposite each other.

Emma nodded curtly. "Sorry, it was my daughter, she's got a concussion. She fell this morning and I had to take her to the doctor."

Mrs. Belfrey nodded curtly. "Couldn't your husband do it? Emma, I need employees I can count on."

"My husband was busy too, he needed to go to work as well. I know you're in advantage to fire me, but I promise I'll do better in the future," Emma vowed.

Her boss straightened her posture and sighed softly. "The customers love you. You are absolutely one of the best people I have, but I don't want this anymore, Emma. I need you to be on time otherwise I can't run this business. I need my employees to be here."

They both kept quiet. Emma fearing her job and Mrs. Belfrey overthinking everything once more.

"I'll give you one more chance Emma. But don't let this happen again!" She warned and Emma sighed relieved.

She nodded confirming and plastered a smile on her lips. "I won't. Thank you," she replied and stood up.

"Now, go to work. There's a Mills waiting for you."

Emma turned to the brunette and swallowed. "Mills?" She asked, hoping that she hadn't heard it right.

The woman nodded. "Any complaints?" Mrs. Belfrey asked and even though it didn't sound like a threat, Emma didn't want to complain in front of her boss after getting to keep her job.

"Nope, none at all," she said but groaned softly as she left the room. Mrs. Belfrey chuckled softly and shook her head. She liked Emma. Emma was one of her favorite employees and the woman always managed to make her smile.

Emma walked reluctantly to the room where she knew Regina was waiting to get her nails done.

The blonde smiled politely at Regina who looked confused at Emma. Emma closed the door and sat down by Regina, to do her nails.

"I didn't know you work here," Regina said, attempting to start a conversation. Emma grabbed Regina's hand and started filing her nails.

"Oh," she curtly replied.

"I know you blame me," Regina said softly and looked at the focused blonde. Emma didn't reply and concentrated on Regina's nails.

"Emma," Regina tried again, but Emma didn't respond.

"Em," she tried again and Emma stopped filing and looked up at the brunette.

"I don't blame you," she muttered and sighed softly before she continued filing the nails. The brunette inhaled deeply.

Somehow, it seemed impossible to her to communicate with Emma. The blonde was very closed off, but all she wanted was talk to Emma and explain what happened.

"At least let me explain," the woman said, but Emma shook her head.

"Why? Why do you so desperately want to explain yourself. It was like eighteen years ago, why do you have to defend yourself, why is it so important that I hear your version to the story?!" Emma said, raising her voice. She'd released Regina's hand again, afraid that she would ruin the nails.

Regina clenched her teeth and swallowed. "Because I can see you don't like me and that you're angry with me."

"Why is it so important to you that everyone likes you? There are plenty of people who don't like me and look, I'm still alive. I don't blame you."

Regina shook her head, knowing very well that the blonde did blame her and that the blonde was angry with her, which she couldn't stand. She didn't want people to be angry with her, especially when she hadn't tried everything yet to make it better.

"Oh, I know you blame me. I've had to hear that from plenty of people at the funeral. A funeral, to which you didn't even attend."

Emma stiffened, but didn't respond. "Why weren't you there if he meant that much to you?" Regina inquired as Emma continued her nails.

"You wanted short nails, right?"

Regina nodded curtly.

"It's important to look nice for a job interview," Emma casually stated and she looked up at Regina, just to see that the brunette had been staring at her as well.

"I didn't know until yesterday that that was your husband. And I didn't know who you were until yesterday either. I assume you found the picture on my room given your strange behavior ever since you'd been in my bedroom."

Emma swallowed and nodded. Regina cleared her throat and relaxed in the chair.

"I really want to have a proper conversation with you. Perhaps now is not the best time, but I do want to talk to you," Regina said softly and looked at Emma, who was almost finished filing her nails.

The blonde gazed up, to meet with Regina's eyes, but quickly averted her eyes back to the nails.

"Alright, when?" Emma asked and grabbed a box filled with different colors of nail polish. "Do you have a preference for color?"

"The darkest red," Regina curtly replied. "Dinner tonight?"

Emma chuckled softly. "Well, I can ask if my husband is willing to have dinner with the kids, but I wouldn't count on it. I'll let you know."

Regina hummed satisfied and smiled. "What are the names of your kids?" She inquired kindly.

Emma applied some nail polish, careful not to ruin it. She didn't want to reply. Mostly because she wanted Regina to stay away from her family as far as possible, but it seemed as though that would be an impossible task.

"Preparing for when you're stepmom?" Emma snapped, before her mind could register and Regina raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The brunette asked sternly.

"Nothing. Good luck at your job interview," Emma muttered, knowing that that would be enough of a hint for Regina.

"Oh, my God.." the brunette sighed and closed her eyes. "I can't do anything right with you, can I? You're so biased on everything you've let yourself believe about me that you're not even willing to look past everything."

"Everything I've let myself believe about you?" Emma repeated as she finished polishing Regina's pinky finger. "You slept with my boyfriend. If you hadn't done that, he still would have lived."

"So, you do blame me," Regina said, mostly for herself.

Emma inhaled deeply and looked Regina in the eye. "I was there that night," she muttered and Regina gasped softly.

"What?"

"I didn't know it was you, but I saw you two. I saw you walking away from him after slapping my boyfriend in the face and about a half hour later, when he wanted to walk away as well.."

Emma stopped talking. She didn't want to talk to the brunette. She despised the woman. The blonde continued with the fingernails and grabbed a machine that would dry the nails quicker.

"He never told me he had a girlfriend," Regina confessed as Emma grabbed her hand. "I found out that day, that's why I hit him. I couldn't believe I'd jeopardized someone's relationship like that. Emma, I didn't know it, I swear."

Emma sighed deeply. "But really, does it change anything?"