Miles To Go

Chapter Sixty-Two

Emma twisted the cap off of her beer, her eyes lingering on Regina, watching as she sipped from her glass of merlot. Emma kept her distance, moving to lean against the counter near the stove, her eyes never straying away from her wife. Regina wasn't looking at her, instead she stared down at the glass she held with both hands and let out a heavy sigh.

She wanted to talk but Regina didn't and Emma wasn't sure if she could get through the night with Regina acting the way she was. She wanted to take Regina into her arms, to kiss her deeply, to make her feel anything else other than what she was feeling in that moment. She wanted to take her upstairs to their bed, to make love to her for hours on an end, to forget that it had been eight days since she had lost her wife to grievance.

"Where's Henry?" Emma asked and Regina didn't look up from her glass.

"Out with Nicholas. He should be home for dinner."

Emma looked around the kitchen, not a single sign that Regina was going to prepare dinner that night. "Uh, what are we having?"

"That is entirely up to you, dear. I ate before I came home."

Emma frowned, watching as Regina pushed off the island and strolled out of the kitchen, pausing only to grab the bottle of merlot on her way out. Emma shakily ran a hand through her hair, her fingers catching on a knot that had formed at the back of her head. She grumbled, detangling her fingers from her hair and picked up the phone, dialling the number of the pizza place and gave her order.

Henry would like that, pizza on a Tuesday night when they would normally save that for a weekend, if even that. She hung up and frowned again, glancing at the clock to check for the time. Forty minutes until the pizza would be delivered. She took a long swig of her beer, downing nearly half the bottle and she placed it hard down on the counter, her head falling forward, her hair curtaining over her face, hiding her tears as they fell.

She let out a soft gasp, lifting her head and she wiped away her tears. She shook her head, laughing bitterly before grabbing on to the bottle and downing the rest with ease. She grabbed another from the fridge, twisting the cap and placed it down on the island countertop. She fiddled with it against the granite, her thoughts a muddled mess just for a moment as she focused on the smoothness of the cap, the roughness of the edges, the coolness of it from being inside the cold fridge.

Her throat felt tight as the tears burned in her eyes, tears she wouldn't let fall again. She swallowed thickly when she heard the sound of Henry's voice coming from the front door, calling out for her or Regina. He was strolling into the kitchen just a minute later, hair a mess, his hands dirty and the knees of his jeans were covered in grass stains.

"Hey, Mom," he said brightly. "You'll never guess what happened after school today."

"What happened, kid?"

"We played soccer with some of the older guys and it was so much fun!"

"I can not only see that, but smell it too. Go take a shower, kid."

"Hey, Mom?" Henry asked, not moving from where he stood near her. "Is everything okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"With you and Regina?" He asked, his curious eyes studying her closely. "You two aren't fighting, are you?"

"No," Emma replied softly. "We're not fighting."

"But you're...not like you usually are," he said and he shook his head. "I know she didn't come home last night."

"Look, kid—"