We said goodbye to her, and I could feel Seb’s eyes on me. My breath quickened with awareness. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get back into the dating world, but being around Seb, especially after the other night when he gave me the best gift I could have asked for in the most epic fashion, made it clear I had needs that currently were not being met.
I had no interest in being one of his good-time girls though.I had been through enough in the last eighteen months; I didn’t need to add reckless heartache to the list. It was a good reminder to keep my distance, both emotionally and physically.
His next client was already waiting for him, so while Seb went about cleaning and sanitizing his equipment and station, I took my chance to make a quick getaway. It was capitalizing on an opportunity. It wasn’t cowardly behavior. Not at all.
* * *
Over the next few days, I worked on all three of Lisa’s sessions. Her strength and personality shined through in the photographs. In so many of the pictures, Lisa was smiling and laughing. There were some great shots of Seb, clearly in his element as he worked and chatted. The timelapse-style stills were super cool when I pieced them all together. It was like a flipbook of art in the making. A foreign surge of pride rippled through me. I hadn’t felt like that in almost a year.
I loved working on all of Seb’s content, but the poignancy I felt with this project was on another level. It wasn’t just the photographs or the videos that I captured that hit home. It was pride in Seb. His artistic vision, his talent in making it a reality, the ease about him that instantly made Lisa feel more comfortable. It was pride in Lisa too. She held her own in that chair and knew her own limits. She never felt like she needed to be someone else for us. Lisa showed up exactly as she was, who she was, with absolute joy.
After I downloaded the images onto a new storage stick, Iselected a few (dozen) that I had printed as well. I pulled up to a large colonial-style home with the newly printed images and got out with my backpack over my shoulder.
“Hi, is Lisa home?” I asked to the gray-haired man who opened the door. He looked to be in his sixties, with a slight potbelly and reddened apple cheeks. The lines in his face creased when he smiled, like all of his facial muscles participated in the act, not just his mouth.
“Yes. You must be Lydia from the tattoo shop. She’s been anxiously awaiting you,” he said, moving aside to let me pass.
“Oh, I thought we agreed on 4:00 p.m. I would have come sooner if I knew she was waiting.”
“Oh, don’t listen to him.” Lisa got up from her chair as we entered the living room from the foyer. She squeezed me in a quick, tight hug. I didn’t remember ever getting so many hugs in one week since I was a child. “You are right on time. He’s just teasing me because I may have mentioned you would be by this afternoon a couple of times.”
“Six. She’s told me six times.”
The mean look she shot her husband was entirely devoid of heat, and I had to laugh.
“Sit. Sit.” She gestured to the dated blue couch. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?”
“Oh, no. I won’t put you out, but thank you.”
“You’re not putting me out at all. Jerry will get it.” She grinned at him, which had him rolling his eyes.
“Well, in that case…” I laughed.
“Just grab us some iced tea and those cookies that I like,” she told him. “Do you like iced tea?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Thank you, Jerry,” she shouted to his back. Jerry shook hishead, and I would bet any money he had a smile on his face.
“I have a flash drive with everything on it, but I also took the liberty of printing some of them out for you. These are just some of my favorites, but there were a lot of pictures to choose from. I may have gone a little overboard with the photography.” My nose crinkled.
Lisa clapped her hands together in one loud clap. “Let’s do this. I’m a little nervous. Isn’t that strange? I see the tattoo every day. It isn’t like I’m going to be surprised.”
“Here. We can start with these,” I chuckled and handed her the envelope with the printed photos and got my laptop set up on my lap to go over all of them.
She pulled out the stack and immediately got misty-eyed. Jerry came back with the drinks and crackers and set them on the table in front of us. He sat on the arm of the chair she was sitting in and put his arm around her. After all of the treatments and sickness, the hair loss and surgery, he was still by her side supporting her when she needed a shoulder to lean on. It was heartwarming to see their relationship.
My brothers had all found love recently too, along with my father. But they were all still new and shiny in love. Life hadn’t thrown them enough curveballs yet to test their bonds—although I had to admit, they all seemed so solidly in love. Still, Lisa and Jerry’s quiet support was pulling at my not-so-dead heart.
Lisa flipped through the pictures slowly, documenting not only the tattoo’s different phases but also her journey through it. Some of the pictures showed Lisa’s face, some were isolated to just the artwork, while others were framed to see more of the process, including Seb. In the beginning, Lisa was visibly more nervous and hesitant. By the second session, she wassmiling more, her body more relaxed in the chair.
Her eyes lit up at a particular spot, and a wide smile broke across her face. She held the picture up for me to see.
“I absolutely love this one,” she said.
This image was from her last session. It was taken from further back. Seb’s tattooed neck and arms were on display, and industrial-looking black gloves hid his hands, which held the tattoo machine, a tube of black ink attached to it. Through all of that, Seb’s radiant smile and sparkling eyes captivated the viewer. Lisa was laughing at something he said, her joy bursting off the photo.
“That’s one of my favorites too,” I told her honestly. “I also have a few videos I edited together from some of the other clips and still images.”
