Regina V
Regina spent several days pacing around the house, biting her cuticles and nails, something she hadn't done in over a decade. The brunette was far more distracted in her thoughts than she was before spending Thanksgiving with Emma and her family in Casper. She considered how her heart thumped whenever she was near Emma. How her heart flipped when she saw the woman smile. The feelings that warmed her from head to toe being at Bluebird with the foreman's family. Suddenly, Regina stopped pacing, her deepest thoughts vanquished, her hand on her hip as she lifted her head in a eureka moment. She required external validation and input from a third party.
Regina picked up the phone and speed dialed her number one contact and oldest friend, Kathryn. She made plans to meet with her closest female friend the next day for lunch at the best French restaurant in town: the Wyoming Culinary Institute. Regina frequented the restaurant located on the Sheridan College campus as it offered the only French cuisine in town.
The CEO impatiently waited for Kathryn to arrive. Although, in all actuality, it was Regina who was far too early. She picked at her already jagged cuticles as she waited. After an agonizingly long fifteen minutes, she spotted Kathryn as the sandy-blonde made her way toward Regina. They embraced and sat down.
"Okay, Regina, I'm early, and you're already here. That's usually the other way around; you're always so busy and run late to our lunches," Kathryn observed with a note of concern in her tone. She set her purse down and stared directly at Regina. "So, what's going on? Are you okay?"
At these words, Regina felt the need to stop picking at her cuticles. She became increasingly aware that her long-dormant anxious habit had once more reared its ugly head as Kathryn narrowed her eyes at Regina's self-damaged hands splayed out on the table. The brunette figured, no use in sugar coating or hiding it any longer. Out with the truth, "I have developed feelings that go beyond an employer/employee relationship."
Kathryn leaned forward and whispered, slightly excited that it bothered Regina, "Who is it?"
Regina sighed, thinking of the subject of her feelings, "Miss Swan, my foreman."
"I have to see what she looks like," Kathryn said a little too gleefully for the CEO's liking.
"Why does that matter?" Regina bristled, perturbed by her friend's interest in what Emma looked like. She watched as her friend pulled out her phone and began surfing the net.
Kathryn continued to scroll through Regina's photos to find the new head ranch hand at Morningstar Ranch. "It doesn't; it just makes it easier to picture the situation," Kathryn shrugged. Regina knew the moment Kathryn hit pay dirt, her fingers zoomed in, and a smile spread on her face. "She's beautiful. No wonder you're developing feelings for her," Kathryn commented. She'd found a photo Regina tagged with 'Emma Swan' at the camping location. Regina tensed a little at the compliment, not that she didn't agree. It had been a long time since Regina felt anything close to jealousy, but she was pretty sure the feeling landed somewhere around possessiveness, and she tried to shake it off. Miss Swan is not yours; she reminded herself.
"It's far more than that," Regina almost groaned. Kathryn raised an eyebrow in question. Regina began to list off Emma's most attractive qualities. "She's determined, a hard worker, beautifully loving toward her son, intelligent, talented. Humble but confident. Gentle and understanding. And strong. She's got a heart of gold. She's literally a walking ray of sunshine, just radiating warmth and kindness," the brunette sighed. If she were a balloon, she was sure she would have swollen up to bursting with the flutters in her heart and butterflies in her stomach as she spoke of Emma Swan.
Kathryn leaned back, assessing Regina with discerning eyes. "Does she feel anything for you?" she inquired in a neutral tone.
Whether Emma shared in, or would reciprocate, the feelings were part of what Regina had been deciphering for the past few days. "I would say 'yes,' not with one-hundred percent certainty, more on the order of sixty:forty that she does reciprocate the feelings."
Kathryn heaved a great sigh. Then stated firmly, "Absolutely not. You cannot. You know why, right?"
Regina looked at her nails, refusing to meet Kathryn's eyes, and saw the damage she had done since her bed sharing with the blonde. She spread her fingers out to look at her once perfect manicure ruined by reddened, torn bits of flesh at the nail beds and chips at the tips. Resolving herself to look at Kathryn, finally, Regina replied, "I know."