Ruby helps out in the front desk to record the booking we have daily. Today was slow as usual. Only ten people stopped by to stay in. I spent most of my time organizing in the supply room. Working as a maid really made me paranoid to keep things so tidy and clean. If I ever see a row of folded towels stacked taller than the other ones, I put them all down to make it all right. Ruby always commented I was crazy, claiming I have "Maid-Madness-Fever". Perhaps, she's right, it makes my skin crawl to not have a consistent working pattern.

I call Henry two times on every workday. One before lunchtime while I'm still here in the bed and breakfast, and the other one for my quick break at nighttime in the diner.

As a baby, I had him in a room next to the front desk here. Granny would always watch over him as she does her business in there by her office desk. I remember I had him patched up in a baby sling while I go room to room to take care of the mess. It was such hard times. Granny had to face complaints about his constant crying and needs to be carried. I take a bullet for that good woman to stand up to those people and risked losing customers. But by the time Henry was about three years old, he matured quite fast to the point he understood when to wait and to keep quiet as his mother works.

It was close to lunchtime now. Three o'clock.

I headed downstairs and ran quickly to the front desk before anyone gets to the phone first. Fortunately it was empty when I got there. I picked up the phone and dialed the home phone number. I held it close to my ear and waited to hear my son's voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?"

"It was good. I asked my teacher about when is open house and she said it's going to be next Monday at five. Is that ok with you?"

I smiled. "Yes, I'll make the time. I gotta meet this teacher to make sure you're not lying."

"Hey, mom, you know I could never lie to you. You're too good at catching me anyway."

"Well, it has its advantages to be the human lying detector."

I could already tell he's rolling his eyes.

"Did you eat, kiddo?"

"I did. Just a sandwich and some chips. Are you going to eat something?"

"I'm going to. Don't worry I wont skip this time."

"You better not, mom. Now go and eat. I'm doing okay. Don't worry about me."

I bit my lower lip, fighting back another smile. "You trying being a parent one day, kiddo, it's impossible not to worry. I'll go. I'm gonna call you again in a few hours so answer the phone, young man."

"Yes'm. Bye, mom…I love you."

I broke the urge to smile and let it free after hearing that. I could never grow tired of experiencing these moments when he says that to me.

"I love you too, kiddo. Bye."


~ Lunch was leftovers from last night. The cold turkey in the fridge gave Granny the idea to make sandwiches for us. Whenever lunch is made out of convenience, I push myself to spend my lunchtime wisely by feeding my stomach and the brain.

I wrapped my sandwich with a napkin and kissed Granny's rosy cheek goodbye before heading out.

Whether it was daytime or nightfall, danger is always here in New York. Walking out in the street without my purse lifts a little weight off my shoulders. A quick trip to the bookstore is by far my favorite errand where I can go empty handed without remembering to.

From across three blocks, I reached to the bookstore. The name of it was so ironic. Once Upon a Time was the name. It was in business ever since Henry was two years old. I remember walking passed that bookstore hundreds of times with Henry in my arms. It gave me warning signs that there will come a time when my son will be hungry for answers about life and feel discouraged to finish his education. Fresh out of high school, I was scared straight and immediately scheduled my free time to read any book I could get my hands on.

Unlike me, Henry turned out to be a better student than I was as a child. But I still helped him here and there when it was necessary. It gave me an excuse to read books that fascinated me other than the dull educational books I used to study on before Henry was able to walk on two feet.

I entered the bookstore. My eyes closed for a moment from the fresh smell of books and dried paper. The silence inside was almost unfamiliar to my ears. Noise was the music here in New York. Here, the closest to noise you could hear is the flipping of a page.

No one was inside but Belle. Two tall mountains of books stood by her feet. By the health category, she picked two books at a time to organize them on a shelf. She smiled when she saw me walk over to her.

"Hey, Belle."

"Hello. Is that your lunch?"

I took a bite of my sandwich and shrugged my shoulders. She arched a brow after a quick look at the contents contained in the sandwich. She wrinkled her little nose at the sight of it.

"Leftovers again?"

"It's still good. I'm not complaining. Did you eat?"

"Yes, a little while ago. I'm stuck here for another hour. Thanks for taking care of my shift by the way."

"No problem. But I don't think Granny will take this lightly for long, you should talk to her when things like this happen again."

Belle bit her lower lip with that smile gone. "Yeah..I know. This is all only temporary so I'll discuss with her soon. I just hope she doesn't hate me."

"Granny is not that kind of person. She'll understand. Believe me, I know her long enough to know that."

"Well, if you came here for books, go ahead. Mr. Brooks won't be a here for awhile so you can finish your lunch here. Just try not to make a mess. You know how he is. He'd hate to see a mess on his clean floor."

I gave her a wink. "Deal."


~ I sat on the floor between the mystery and teen fantasy categories. I like to pick books that are thin and light that way I can finish it faster. Today choice was the same as yesterday: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo.

A shepherd going on a journey in search of the greatest treasure in the world.

A reflection to my life in one simple sentence: a mother living in a cycle of work and mothering in search of time to age her until she's too old to care for anyone else.

Henry will have to take care of the legacy to find that "treasure" with his children. My goal will be to live as long as I could until he reaches to that point.

The door opened. Belle greeted the customer from behind the cashier machine. I paid little attention that my freedom to have this bookstore almost all to myself was taken away.

Footsteps started from the line of sci-fi and historical drama and continued down to the mystery category. My eyes were low to page fifteen. I bit my lower lip hard when a shadow covered me.

I didn't want to look up to this person. I stared at the person's legs instead. A man was what he was. His legs looked to be tall and covered in beige trousers. His shoes were leather and impeccable. I could almost see a reflection of the line of books above my head.

The shadow remained. He remained.

I puffed a sigh and slammed my book shut. "Do you have a problem, mister?"

"Stubborn as always. Same old Emma Swan."

The voice was so familiar, like a song I heard from many years ago. I quickly left the book on the floor and rose to my feet. With a smile, I wrapped my arms around the man and pulled him in. He responded whole-heartedly. Squeezing me tight in his arms and even lifting me off the ground.

Jimmy Samuels. He was my childhood friend since middle school. We never spoke since he moved away to Boston during our junior year of high school.

I let him go but kept my hands on his shoulders. I looked at him from foot to head. He grew taller and looked more of a man for once in his life than that little wimp I rescued thousands of times from bullies. It was scary how the vision I had of him growing up was right before my eyes.

When I hugged him like this a decade back, he'd blush as hard as the color of his ginger hair and looked twice as small. Instead, I see a confident man who can take an embrace from a woman.

"Jesus Christ, Jimmy. It's been a long time. How have you been?"

"Very good. You?"

"Not exactly as I planned when I was that determined fifteen year old, but I'm getting somewhere right now."

He arched a brow. "Oh. What is preoccupying you in this adult life, Emmy?"

That nickname again. I feel ten years younger hearing that. No one called me that since high school.

"Can you picture this? Single mom with one kid. Juggle two jobs every Monday to Saturday."

His face softened. The dark lines on his forehead deepened as his face fell to a slight discomfort with a question that I can tell he was uncomfortable to ask. I licked my lips. I already knew what he wanted to ask.

"I was never married, Jimmy. He just walked out and never came back when the baby was two."

"That bastard. I knew him very very well, Emmy. I never imagined him to walk out like that."

Neal Gold was Henry's father. I loved him to the day that love faded to hate. We were high school sweethearts since we were sixteen. The one thing we had most in common was living with dysfunctional families. Neal's parents were close to divorce at the time and argued and fought violently against each other for years. There were many occasions I'd sneak up to his room and just hold him while we both miserably heard the ruckus his parents made.

My foster parents were no different. Mr. Henderson was a good and kind man. He was always good to Neal and me. I considered him as a father but his wife hated it when she witnessed how good he was to me. I remember the times she snatched the small allowance he'd occasionally give me, ignore my birthday, keep me locked in my room when I come home, and never let me enter the kitchen. One word I describe that woman was a bitch.

Together, we left our homes and lived together. Neal was there for the good times and the bad times. The worst time for the first years of us living together was the death of my good father. Of course that bitch took everything under his name, leaving me with nothing. But I didn't care about money. I visited his grave for every one of his birthdays that passed and raised my son to remember him as his grandfather.

Then I fell pregnant one summer. Neal was so supportive during my pregnancy and the aftermath of the process. I felt disgusting and exhausted of this horrid body that one baby caused. But he was there to keep me up my feet and helped me feel like a human being again.

He was gone two years later. I never saw him since. Never.

Jimmy squeezed my arms and pulled me in his arms. "So a kid? Damn, I never thought you'd get a kid before me, Emmy. A boy or a girl?"

"Henry. My twelve year old son."

"Is he a handful?"

I snorted. "I'm more of the handful to him. He's a big boy. I sometimes envy that he's too mature than me."

"I ought to meet this boy. I rarely come by boys like that."

I lifted my head and met his eyes. "It's New York, Jimmy. What do you expect? Inspired geniuses like you?"

"Does a psychologist fall under the category of inspired geniuses?"

"I knew you would be something far bigger like others expected you to be. I'm impressed. But just one question, what is a guy like you doing here? From what you're wearing, I'm surprised you didn't get mugged."

I felt the weight of one of his hands leave my arm. With a bite of his lower lip, he scratched his head awkwardly.

"I know it wasn't the smartest decision for me to come here like this. But it was last minute. One of my regular clients invited me to come here. He has a..Uh, well, has an aesthetic appeal to art. He's in a studio right now, looking through new materials for his new clothing line."

"It seems a little personal that you came all this way for just a client."

"He's also a good friend. I'm supposed to meet him at the park but I just happen to have a little more time to kill."

Belle stepped in. Her hands were folded together. From the way she took quiet steps, I knew she didn't want to come out rude. Her brown curls fell to one shoulder as she tilted her head back to meet my eyes.

"Emma, I don't mean to interrupt this warm reunion. However, your lunch hour is almost finished."

Jimmy let me go after hearing that. He secured his jacket properly and smoothed the wrinkles on the front of his trousers. I went to Belle's side and wrapped my arm around one of hers.

"Jimmy, this is a friend of mine. Belle."

He politely extended his hand out and Belle took it for a shake. "Pleasure to meet you."

"We should really catch things up. I'll be sad to wait another ten years to see you again."

Jimmy chuckled and nodded to the idea. "Very well. Since you're day off is Sunday, we can meet here at ten in the morning. I'll buy coffee for us."

I smiled. "Sounds good."