The Heart That Beats For Her

Chapter Ten

Two weeks. That's fourteen days gone in the blink of an eye and not one has left without Regina Mills' presence. Every day Emma and Regina spend their hours constantly texting one another. And yes, Emma has sat back and wondered how this became such a frequent thing because really, she doesn't even text Ruby this much. It's just that her conversations with Regina flow so easily and most days, the topics dribble into the next day. It's not like they are texting each other good night every evening...okay, maybe on occasion that happens. And maybe they do say good morning every day, but it's proper etiquette.

That's what Emma keeps telling herself at least.

Anyways, two weeks of nonsense babbles, discussing their routine days and Emma sending lots of gifs while Regina sends lots of the same emoji rolling their eyes. And Emma loves every minute of it. Her cheeks are now getting a better workout than the rest of her body from smiling so damn hard.

They are now approaching May and Emma is ecstatic to jump back into work. Even if it is only one shoot with Regina's niece, she's hoping this will open up the doors to some new clientele. According to Regina, Robin and her wife, Alice, own their own cupcake shop in SoHo that sees a lot of traffic. So, hopefully Emma's name will spread by word of mouth.

She prefers to take her pictures outside right after the sun rises, she knows that's the best lighting, but she couldn't ask the couple with their baby to meet at six in the morning. So, she told them to meet her at seven, so she had to be up extra early this morning. Earlier than she has been up in a very long time to make the drive to New Jersey on time.

And the entire drive, her stomach was parading around with a swarm of overly energetic butterflies that wouldn't quit. She really hasn't met the couple besides bumping into Robin for all of one whole minute and she just needs this shoot to be perfect. She needs her name out there again. She even came up with a cute idea to tie in with their business and hopefully those pictures will one day be decorating the shop's walls as an advertisement for Emma's business.

It's quarter to seven when her GPS informs her that she has arrived at her destination. "What?" She mumbles to herself, her brows pinching together as she leans across her center console and peers out the window. "This can't be right," she mutters, quickly fumbling for her phone and checking her address again, because she has found herself in front of a wine vineyard.

She opens the email she received from Robin and checks the address three times to make sure she didn't accidentally type something in wrong. She definitely didn't. Her eyes snap back up to assess the immaculate green grass that travels on for miles, surrounding a rustic building dressed with breathtaking vibrant flowers and shrubbery. And sure enough, she reads a sign that says, Mills Vineyard.

"A little heads up would have been nice, Mills," she mumbles under her breath.

Very slowly, she pulls her bug into a parking spot and tries not to dwell on the fact that these people clearly are wealthy and can make or break her career. She immediately shakes that thought away, steels her nerves and exits her car with all the confidence she can possibly muster up.

She takes a moment when she steps out into the crisp morning air, allowing her eyes to soak up the scenery that belongs in a painting. She smiles to herself, because she knows today is going to be a beautiful day by the deep color of blue sweeping across the sky. There's a sweet aroma lingering in the air, maybe from all the flowers that look like their pedals were painted with neon colors for how vibrant they are, or maybe it's the massive expanse of grapes dangling from the vines, or maybe it's the enormous apple tree in front of a stunning log cabin to the left, that's actually a mansion. Either way, Emma breathes it all in and reminds herself how wonderful it is to be alive.