I’ve known her for less than a day, but it feels right.
I’m glad Kash isn’t here. He’s good at charming everyone, so I want him nowhere near Cora. She’s too good for him—too good for any of us.
“Okay,” I relent.
Returning to the lobby, we find Cora chattingwith a pair of girls. I’m not sure if they’re an appointment or a walk-in, but I see Rhett smile and head toward the group.
“You should absolutely go with the color,” I hear Cora tell the blonde. “I think it’ll really make it pop more. Your skin is so light, it’d draw the eye.”
Approaching the desk, I look at the design Cora’s pointing at in one of our books. She doesn’t know it, but it’s one of mine.
The design itself is small, but she’s pointing at a sunflower with patches of yellow, pink, and green blended in. It’s not very large, maybe a few inches, but it’s bright and cheerful. Two things that I am not.
“Do you ladies have an appointment?” Rhett asks with a large grin on his face.
“No. We saw you had a sign for walk-ins and wanted to get one before we chicken out.” The blonde giggles, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
Some people forget that tattoos are permanent.
“We might have time. What were you thinking? Atlas and I are available if it’s not a large piece,” Rhett offers.
I watch Seth talking to Cora over by the door and grit my teeth every time she smiles at him.What is he saying that’s so funny?Seth is our resident quiet, brooding guy… well, after me. He’s not that funny.
I’m about to go over and separate them when Rhett grabs my arm.
“You ready to get started, Atlas? I know you don’t have any clients, and this won’t take long.” I had stopped paying attention to them in favor of staring at Cora and Seth. “I’ll do yours, Colleen, since you don’t want any color, and Atlas will get you, Kaylee,” he informs the blonde Cora was chatting with.
“Yeah, sure,” I push out, walking toward my booth. When the door chimes, I know without looking that Cora left.
Sitting down and gathering supplies, I try to push her out of mymind and ignore the disappointment I feel that she didn’t say goodbye.
The only thing that soothes the ache in my chest is knowing I’ll see her again soon. It also makes me panic.
I want her more than my next breath, but I know she’s too good for me. How do I convince her to give me a chance? Maybe I could bring her a treat or offer her a tattoo. Girls like that, right?
“I was thinking of getting it on my arm. Do I need to take my shirt off for that?” the blonde asks, giving me a flirty smile.
I forgot she was here for a moment, but now I’m already counting down the minutes until she leaves.
“No. Just push your sleeve up. I’ll be back.” I leave to grab the design and get ready. One sunflower coming up.
Chapter Seven
Cora
I’ve been juggling my time between the library and the tattoo shop pretty well. Kash, Seth, and Rhett are all really welcoming, and it was easy to learn their system. I haven’t had any issues with customers yet. Everyone who comes through the door, whether by appointment or walk-in, leaves incredibly happy. I can’t blame them. The guys do phenomenal work. I don’t have any tattoos but watching them work makes me want to change that.
Kash gets a lot of clients. Don’t get me wrong, they all do, but Kash specializes in these incredible, colorful cartoons and 3D tattoo designs. He makes pictures so realistic, they jump off the skin.
One of his recent designs was for a construction worker. He hurt his hand at a job site and had a nasty-looking scar on the top of his hand. Kash made this design that looked like there was a black hole in the center over the scar, with cracks coming from it. I had the urge to poke it and see if my finger would go through.
Rhett does a lot of black and gray tattoos. He can make beautifully detailed flowers and pictures. A mother and daughter came in the other day for matching tattoos. They’re both really into books, so he gave them matching book stacks with flowers. The only difference was inthe flowers they had. They didn’t want just any flower but chose the other’s birth flower.
I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy I felt. I’m glad someone has that type of relationship with their parents, even if I never did.
Then there’s Seth and Atlas. Seth handles most of the piercings for the shop, even though all of them can. He does most of the portraits and other designs I’ve come to learn are‘steampunk.’
Atlas is different. He doesn’t talk a lot, but I find him watching me when he thinks I’m not paying attention. His work is beautiful. He blends colors perfectly to create these amazing scenes, flowers, and designs. For a guy who doesn’t say much, his tattoos say a lot. It’s like all the color and brightness he misses in his life is poured into his work. There’s something captivating about him.
