It took Emma just over an hour to walk back to her apartment from Sheep Meadow. She took her time enjoying the scenery of the park and it was just after five when she got into the building. She quickly checked to see if there was any mail before going up to August's apartment. She would probably need to start looking for her own place once August got back home. She found a few bills and an official-looking letter from a book publishing company addressed to Refael Halpern. Who the hell is Refael Halpern? Emma thought as she closed the post box back up. She had seen a few open letters addressed to this Refael guy on August's desk in his makeshift office and it looked like his poems were being published. She had even read a few of them.
Just then, Graham appeared. He stopped to check his own post box on his way out.
"Hey, Graham. Did you ever hear of Refael Halpern?"
"No, who is he?"
"I don't know, but he writes poems about growing up
Jewish in Brooklyn. Was he staying with August recently?"
"Not that I know of. Of course, I've been out of town a lot. Hey, are we still on for drinks on Saturday?"
"Oh, what time again?"
"Well, the best time to go is probably eleven."
"Eleven!? That's late! I'll be ready for my bed at that time." Emma was feeling old now.
"What are you? Sixty? Even my Granny stays out later than you!"
"Why don't you ask Zelena? I heard she's a friend of yours...with benefits?" Emma winked at Graham and quickly made her way to the lift which had just opened when someone came out of it. She turned around to press number eight and caught Graham's shocked expression with his mouth open. Emma silently thanked Regina for that little bit of information as she smiled all the way up to her floor.
Emma went for a long hot shower and then had leftovers from last night's dinner before making her way back out for another session with Regina. She couldn't understand how Regina could work so late and was going to ask her about it. She'd hate to be responsible for keeping Regina from seeing her son before he goes to bed at night.
Just as she was about to leave for her appointment, her phone rang. She checked the caller id before answering and saw It was Regina.
"Hey, Doc. I was just about to head over to your office."
"I'm glad I caught you then. Would you mind coming over to my apartment please? I came home early today as my office air conditioner has broken down and to be honest, I just couldn't stand being there a moment longer than necessary. I do have a home office we could use for privacy."
"Oh, sure, okay. Are you sure you want me to come over, though? You sound exhausted."
"Yes, please come. We still have a lot of ground to cover. I've brought August's file home with me."
"Okay, I was just going to drive over. Is there parking near your apartment? I'd rather not get an Uber again." Emma shivered at the thought of the guy that drove her home from Regina's on Saturday night. He seemed to know Regina lived there and the things he said were inappropriate to say the least. Seems like he was crushing hard on her, which Emma couldn't blame him for. Regina is a beautiful woman, after all. But something about this middle-aged man rubbed her the wrong way. Something else she should speak to Regina about.
"Oh, yes, there's parking reserved for you in front of the entrance. I'll text you my GPS details."
"Okay, thanks. I'll see you in about 30 minutes. Bye, Doc."
"Goodbye, Miss Swan."
Regina was exhausted after she had seen her last patient. It had been a long day for her. She had been to see August that morning and he was still in his catatonic state. She was feeling helpless and felt Emma's stories and support were very important in his recovery. She had been told by one of the nurses that after every one of Emma's visits, he seemed to show more brain activity after she had been reading his own poems to him, as well as a collection of his short stories, hoping something from the poems or stories would trigger a memory of some sort or just snap him out of it. So yes, Emma was important. Then that afternoon, after lunch, she had seen four patients almost back to back - each one with their own set of problems. The last patient she saw left her office a bit more positive about their future, at least. Then, as she was typing some notes down into her laptop, she heard strange whirring sounds coming from the air conditioning box. It sounded like something was banging it from the inside and then there was a bang - which literally made her jump from her seat. Then there was nothing. She went to inspect it, pressing all the buttons, but nothing happened. It was quite stuffy in her office and even with the windows wide open - which she wouldn't want anyway because she was on the first floor - it was still unbearable. She wondered about just calling it a day and going home, but after hearing about August's response to Emma visiting him, talking to him and reading to him; she wanted Emma to know that she is helping. She could just phone Emma, when she got home, and ask her to come to the apartment instead. Yes, she'd do that.
She booked an Uber which arrived to pick her up just as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Unfortunately, it was Mr Glass in the driver's seat. With Uber, you cannot request a specific driver. She wished she had called Mr Colter directly like he had requested, but she was desperate to get home so she got in.
"Good evening, Mr Glass, how do you do?" she asked as she clipped in her seatbelt. Regina was nothing if not well mannered, nervous or not.
"Much better for seeing you, now, Dr Mills," he replied. "And yourself?" He smiled brightly at her through the rearview mirror.
"Fine, thank you." And she ended the conversation. The less she had to speak to him, the better. She couldn't remember ever telling him her title. Had he looked her up? She did notice him watching her through the rearview mirror again, everytime he stopped at a set of traffic lights. She thought back to her conversation with Mr Colter about rating drivers. She would definitely be giving him a 1 at the very most. She didn't plan on being another crazy middle-aged serial killer's statistic.
As the Uber arrived at her apartment building, Mr Glass casually mentioned picking up her friend from her apartment building last Saturday evening and commented on how unpleasant she was, which appalled Regina. She couldn't believe how inappropriate this idiot was being. By his expression, he seemed to think she was appalled at her friend's behaviour towards him. Regina just bid him goodbye and got out as fast as she could, slamming the door shut behind her. She didn't even look back, otherwise she would have noticed that Mr Glass had waited until she was inside the building, watching her closely until she was out of view.
Regina was fuming all the way up to her apartment. She entered hastily, almost slamming the door behind her and then lent back against it, panting slightly. She wondered what Emma could have done or said to the man to make him find her unpleasant. Either way, he probably deserved it. She knew Emma long enough, now, to know that she didn't take crap from anyone. If Mr Glass was creepily staring at Emma in the same manner he did at her, she's sure Emma would probably have called him out on it. She could all too easily imagine Mr Glass not liking to be told off. She was relieved that Emma would at least be able to defend herself, having a black belt in two forms of martial arts and all.
She pushed herself off the door, as her breathing got back to normal, and locked the door. Just in case. She placed her keys and files on the entrance hallway table, removed her shoes and went to find her son and dad. It was after 6 already, and Emma was meant to be seeing her at 7:30 at her office. She'd need to call her soon, to ask her to come to her apartment instead of her office, but she needed to see the two most important people in her life first. And a glass of her dad's cold apple cider would be great now, too.
"Cariño!", her dad exclaimed. "We weren't expecting you until later. Everything okay?"
He sounded worried, so she definitely wasn't going to tell him about the creepy Uber driver unless she had to.
"Hey, mom." Henry smiled, happy to see her home early for a change.
"Hello, boys," she smiled and flopped down onto the sofa between them. "My office's air conditioning broke down on me so I just decided to call it a day and come home. I still have an appointment with Emma, though, so I need to call her and ask her to come here instead."
"Cool!", her son shouted excitedly.
"Oh, how was your first lesson, sweetheart?" Regina had completely forgotten that was happening today, but by the sounds of Henry's excitement, she knows it went well.
"It was great! She's so cool, mom. And really good at teaching. Check this out," he got up quickly and demonstrated some moves. He fumbled a bit, but was pretty good after only one lesson. "Cool, huh? I'm going to be the next karate kid!"
"Calm down, darling," Regina said, though she couldn't help chuckling at her son's enthusiasm. "That was very impressive," she smiled warmly at him. "Were you watching them, Papi?", she turned to ask her dad.
"Yes, and I agree that she is very "cool" as my nieto says." Henry winked at his grandson. "Emma seems to be an excellent teacher, Regina. She taught him a good lesson and explained everything about karate to Henry in a very professional manner. She has a good head on her shoulders, that girl." Her dad seemed smitten with Emma. She definitely had the two Henrys charmed.
"Good, I'm glad it went well. Have you arranged another lesson, then?", she asked them both?
"Emma suggested Saturday, but said she'd speak to you about it when she sees you this evening," her son said, smiling.
"Okay," Regina got up off the sofa, "I'll go call her to come here for her appointment." Regina left them to their devices as she left the living room to go make her call, stopping by the kitchen first, to pour herself a glass of the apple cider.
After she hung up on Emma, she wondered if she would have enough time to have a quick shower before Emma arrived. Emma said she'd be here in half an hour. Regina then downed the rest of the cider before letting the boys know that Emma would be here by seven and to please let her in: she was going for a shower. They just nodded as they concentrated on their telenovela.