"I thought you were supposed to be working today, Miss Bennett" Regina asked as she came to stand beside the blonde who was staring at her son tending to a horse at the far end of the stables.
"Yeah, I was, but Jack wanted to come so badly and I couldn't let him come alone" Sarah responded frankly.
Regina felt a pang of anger and sadness hit her at the blonde's words, but then she recalled how different the circumstances were and so she calmed herself down.
"He's such a wonderful boy" Regina said, trying to ease the tension.
"My pride and joy" Sarah smiled.
Regina smiled back as her attention went back to the boy. He looked incredibly happy and she couldn't help but smile again.
"Do you have kids?" Sarah asked suddenly, making Regina tense where she stood.
After a few silent seconds, Regina looked up at Sarah and said, "Umm... no I don't"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked such a personal question" the blonde said, feeling like a jerk for prying into the woman's life.
"Its okay, dear. I don't mind" Regina responded, taking out her phone to ask for her car to be brought around.
"So...you're done here?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, " Regina smiled
"Jack," the two women said at the same time.
They turned to look at each other and then something felt so comfortable and right about this moment to Sarah and her brain flashed red.
"We're leaving already?" the boy asked as he approached them.
"Yeah" Regina replied sadly, "but we will come back some other time while I'm still in town, if your mom allows, how is that?"
"Okay..." the boy replied.
The ride back to the apartment was quiet and uncomfortable for the two women except for the few light moments where Jack kept talking about how amazing the stables and all the horses were. Thankfully that broke some of the tension and soon they were standing outside the apartment as Jack embraced the brunette tightly with multiple "thank you's" running from his mouth. Regina returned the embrace whole heartedly and wished she wouldn't have to let go, but she did and then she gave the boy her widest smile.
After a while, Sarah spoke words she hadn't said to anyone in as long as she could remember, "would you like to come in, Regina?"
The brunette tensed at the question and she wanted more than anything to go in and spend the rest of the day with the duo but she couldn't, not yet anyway. Her feelings for the blonde were intensifying with every second she was spending with her and as much as she wanted to take her right where she stood, she couldn't. She wanted to do things right. She wanted to give them a chance to know each other well.
"No, thank you Sarah, I still have a long day of engagements ahead of me but thank you. I appreciate your and Jack's company this morning" she smiled, "take care sweetheart. Goodbye Sarah" she said as she slid in on the back seat of her car and soon, they drove off.
Sarah laid in bed that night, her thoughts consumed by none other Regina Smith. The woman was a mystery and underneath all that supreme look, that smirk and smart assness, was a woman with stories to tell and from what she'd seen of her reaction to her question earlier, maybe some pain too. She couldn't help but wonder what Regina was all about and as she drifted off to sleep, she found herself hoping to figure out what those stories were.