‘If you’re trying to get me to say it again,’ I said softly, lowering my eyes to his mouth suggestively, ‘it’s not going to work.’
His lips parted and for a moment I thought he was actually going to kiss me this time. But then the next second, I almost got whiplash from how quickly he pulled away, sitting up straight in his chair and throwing up his hand.
‘Celia,’ he called out, waving his hand around.
She stopped talking about insurance and frowned at him. ‘Yes, Jack?’
‘Taylor and I have just hadthemost brilliant idea for a stall that will tie in perfectly with the art theme, make us stand out from the other towns and their festivals, and, I think, draw in quite a crowd.’
‘What are you doing?’ I hissed.
‘Give me a call tomorrow,’ she said dismissively. ‘We can discuss it then.’
He stood up. ‘Why can’t we discuss it now?’
‘I feel like we’ve held people up enough tonight already,’ she said, looking around the room for support.
‘I’d like to hear what their idea is,’ Megan said, turning in her seat to smile at me. I saw her eyes flicker over Jack, and she gave me a pointed look that clearly translated toOoh, he’s hot!
‘Yes, let’s hear this big idea,’ Ray said, and there was a chorus of agreement from a few others.
Celia visibly sighed, her emerald green, satin ruched-blouse catching the light. ‘Fine,’ she said tightly. ‘Go ahead, Jack.’
‘OK. I was thinking…’ He looked down at me. ‘Sorry,we,that is Taylor and I, were thinking, how about a tattoo stall?’
Celia’s nose crinkled up in distaste. ‘Oh, no I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
I’d been about to hiss at Jack to shut up, but as soon as I knew that Celia was against it, everything changed.
Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to have a stall at the festival. I needed to do it.Hadto do it. She’d never bothered to make it a secret that my choice of career was not to her liking. In her opinion, it wasn’t a career, rather a hobby, as she’d once said condescendingly. And a disgusting one at that. No matter how many awards I won, she was still too ashamed to tell people what I really did for a living. When I’d opened my own studio five years ago, she couldn’t even bring herself to congratulate me. Made some snide comment about how I was lucky Adam made enough money for me to indulge myself. Never mind the fact that in the last three years of our marriage, I’d made more money than him and now employed four people. In fact, when he’d first left me and the affair had come to light, she’d told me that it was probably because I made him feel emasculated. Ihadto do it, if for no other reason than to annoy her.
‘Why not?’ Jack said. ‘Think about it. We have, in our midst, one of this year’s one-hundred-most-influential tattoo artists, according toUnder the Needlemagazine. A woman with over two hundred thousand followers on Instagram, and whoInkspiremagazine named as one of their top-ten female artists who are changing the industry. Not to mention she’s also appeared on the TV show,NY Ink.’
‘Whoa, that is seriously impressive,’ said Megan, whistling. ‘Nice one, Taylor.’
I stopped gaping at Jack long enough to flash her a smile. How did he even know all that stuff? ‘Thanks.’
‘Yes, very impressive,’ Celia agreed reluctantly. ‘But I still don’t think it’s suitable for our festival.’
I stood up beside Jack, crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her defiantly. ‘And why not?’
‘Because it’s an art festival.’
‘Tattoosareart.’
‘I suppose so,’ she conceded. ‘But not the kind of art that we typically showcase here though.’
‘Then maybe it’s time for a change.’
We stared at each other, both aware that this was about more than the festival and tattooing. This was bigger than that. This was about control, specificallymereasserting mine.
‘I agree,’ Megan chimed in. ‘Tattoos are hugely popular right now. This could be a big drawcard for the festival. Really set us apart from the other towns.’
‘Exactly,’ Jack said.
Celia stared at him. ‘Fine. I’ll think about it.’
‘You could do that,’ I told her. ‘Or… excuse me, gentlemen, can I just squeeze… thank you. How about we put it to the committee and the community,’ I suggested, edging past Jack and Ray’s knees and striding up the aisle. ‘Let them decide. Or are you the only one who has any say around here?’
