Chapter 1
The day was too beautiful to be shopping for mirrors.
Who does that?
Emma thought to herself as she drove her little yellow car into the downtown traffic. She stopped at the light and lowered her window.
It was a beautiful spring afternoon. The slightly wet roads bore hints of rain shower from the previous night. Puddles here and there- water had gathered by the sidewalks, within cracks of the pavement. Joggers were out and so were the dog walkers. Her favourite park was right across the street.
Emma looked longingly towards the park. A few kids were running around on the playground, going up on the monkey bars, slipping down the slides-moms' rushing to aid the wailing ones with scraped knees. A few couples hanging about, enjoying the afternoon and the soft sun. There were a few empty benches scattered around the park.
That's where she wanted to be that moment. She wanted to be sitting on one of the empty benches, with a book and her music player. She could be reading or simply lying on the bench, staring at the sky, watching the clouds as afternoon rolled by. It was her day off-after all, running a tutoring program did get tiring. Often boring.
It was her mom's idea. After retiring as an elementary teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard decided to found the East Side Community Young Learners' Program. Whenever Emma was home visiting her family from college, her mom would get her to help out with the program. She didn't mind the kids, she quite enjoyed helping them out with their homeworks-she just didn't like the routine. Emma wished her spring breaks, Thanksgivings or summer vacations would bring something new rather than new students to teach.
She wished she had something different, something to look forward to, and something that'd make her keep coming back to this part of town.
Emma drove for another block before she found the shop.
Mirrors. That was the name of the shop. One word, no cheesy catch phrase, no logo-nothing.
Huh. Well it gets the message across.
A little bell jingled as Emma walked in.
Regina Mills looked up from her newspaper. Annoyed.
The blonde was arguing with her father.
"Sir, you don't understand. My mother wants that mirror- the one with the vines, and leaves and all those design-y stuff. She told me she arranged it with you previously and you promised you'll save the last one for her."
"I told I'll hold it until the 14th, which is today, the order came in this morning and I sold it."
"But you said you'd hold it until five, it's only past three!"
"Ah." Her father looked worried; he was scratching his bald head. Sign of anxiety. Regina knew when he was stressed.
"My apologies dear…" he mumbled "We do have an excellent collection, would you care to take a look? Perhaps another mirror that is similar?"
"Well…alright I guess…" the blonde looked unconvinced, looking towards the door and back. Probably considering if she should go to a different store…
Time to step in before father costs us the business
Regina got up from her stool behind the counter. As though on cue the front bell rang once again and her father motioned for her to take care of the blonde.
"Ah. Another customer. I'm afraid I'll have to leave you with my daughter. She's an expert with mirrors; you'll be in good hands."
He stepped towards the gentleman in an ugly trench coat as the blonde nodded.
Regina walked up to the blonde and gave her a once over.
Tall, lean, bad taste in clothes…who the hell wears red leather with a satin shirt… good hair, pretty face, probably going to be a pain in my-
"I'm Regina, how may I help you? Ms…"
"Umm…just Emma" The blonde muttered "I'd like to see your collection?"
Regina smiled, like she did for her every customer, "Well right this way, Emma"
The blonde followed her towards the back of the store.
Emma was staring at mirrors. Rows and shelves and walls-all with mirrors. Mirrors everywhere.
Tall, short, wide, narrow, small, big- there were way too many designs to look through, to choose from.
"er…"
She didn't know what to say. She smiled awkwardly at the gorgeous salesgirl.
"It is a bit overwhelming. We do have a huge collection- a wide range of mirrors, from all parts of the world and our own specialties. Maybe you could tell me what you're looking for?"
"Ummm apples and vines"
The sales girl nodded and went about looking. Emma stood watching her.
Regina. It was a nice name.
Emma thought as her eyes following the woman now checking the labels on different boxes, looking for her mirror. She was wearing a dark blue shirt with ruffles on the front, black dress pants and heels. Her skin was rich brown and her arms-which were now moving swiftly from one box to another- were toned. Her short, dark brown waves fell close to her shirt's collar.
mmm….sexy….
The woman had a sort of dark intensity about her. The hair, the makeup, the way she walked about doing her business- it was all very attractive.
"Aha!"
Emma looked towards where the brunette was bent over a few cartons.
Damn she's got one nice-
"Emma., if you'd just take a look at these. They're all from the Fairytale Land collection."
Emma walked over to where the woman was standing. The labels on the boxes had the serial number and the picture of the mirror in a domestic setting.
"Here, this one has a theme based on Snow White" Regina opened one of the boxes and pulled out the mirror. Setting it out on the cement floor. Emma sat beside her.
"Snow White?"
Regina nodded, "That's right. Look here, it's going to be a long elliptical mirror, and on top you have the apple and on either side are the leaves and vines. All designed in steel, of course. Is this what you had in mind?"
Emma was busy watching Regina's long fingers trace along the carvings, over the vines and back…
"How much?"
"Well the original price was 75 dollars, but…since we gave away the mirror your mother asked for, I could give you a little discount….65?" Regina smiled sweetly.
Damn girl you didn't need to give me that smile, I was already sold…
"Sold!" Emma smiled brightly. Regina nodded.
Emma walked out of the store ten minutes later, carrying the brown package under her arm and stepped towards her car.
A smile spread across Emma's face as she started her car, giving the little shop a last look before she pulled away.
She's going to need some new mirrors very soon.
