Emma had yet to figure out if Ruby was to blame or to thank for the events that had happened. The brunette was affectionate and a people pleaser on her own, but when she was drunk she could be all over you. Which was what had happened to Regina when she had stopped by Granny's for a meatloaf sandwich. The mayor hadn't expected to be engulfed in the arms of the werewolf, who then proceeded to rub noses with her and tell her how much she loved her. Maybe it had been jealousy. Emma would own up to it if it was. Maybe it was a small rush of courage that had finally come to her after a year and a half. Or maybe it was just the opening she had been waiting for. Whatever it was, Emma acted. When Regina had relayed the story, Emma thought about it. She thought long and hard, and she at first wasn't even going to do it. Finally, though, she took her phone, stared once more at the text and replied.
'Crazy. I guess Ruby beat me to the punch.'
Emma winced as soon as she pressed the button that would send those words across Storybrooke and to the woman she harbored feelings for. In the mean time she told herself she would be fine with any reply she would have gotten, be it anything from 'I'm flattered' to even 'lol'. She assumed realistically, the mayor would respond with 'I don't get it', which means she would have to actually break it down for the older woman. Did her courage extend that far? She would have to find out. Until then, she waited in her bug, the heat and radio going while the rain hit the windshield. She sighed as she watched Archie take Pongo out for a walk dutifully, and as the dog made muddy prints on Leroy as they passed him. Emma thought about all the encounters she'd ever had with Regina, staring with the initial shy 'Hi' to all of the arguments over whose son Henry was. She would periodically look down at her phone as her heart thud in her chest and as her mind churned over more and more possibilities of responses Regina would have for her, each one more and more cruel. But hadn't they gotten somewhat past that by now? Had Emma read everything wrong, so wrong?
Emma looked at the clock on the radio. It had been over an hour by now since her text had been sent.
Her cellphone remained silent.