“You know what I’ve been looking at?”
“Tell me.”
“This.”I feel her finger trail from my tattoo, around my hip bone, and yet again venture dangerously close to the main stage.She adjusts her position so that she’s propped up alongside me.But she’s scooted down enough that she has an up-close-and-personal view of my ink.
“I didn’t know you had this one,” she says.“I guess because I’ve never seen all of you until today.”
“And what’s the verdict?”
“Oh, it’s a spectacular tattoo.”She looks up at me, grinning.“The rest of you is pretty good, too, but what do I know, since you’re my first…”
She goes back to tracing her finger along my tattoo.
“I have questions,” she says.
I figured she would.“Where would you like to start?”
“I see the Yosemite brand.But what’s the logo around it?I get the feeling this is a MacLaine thing.Am I right?”
“You mean because it says ‘MacLaine’ right there on the family crest?”
“That’s a crest?”
“It is.”
“There’s a lot goin’ on down here, Declan.Tell me all about it.If you don’t mind, of course.”She props up on her elbow and scoots up closer to my shoulder, which I do appreciate, since it’s kind of weird when your girlfriend talks directly to your junk like that.
I want Summer to be my girlfriend.
Of course I do.
And there it is, folks!All tied up in a neat little bow for the endlessly dense Declan MacLaine to figure out!I love her.Wanting Summer has been so natural, so much a part of my psyche for so long, that I even found a way to carry her with me—even though, at the time, I had no idea that’s what I was doing.
Dense.
But not anymore.
“Who’s the babe tangled up in flowers and whatever that is—a plaid scarf?She’s really pretty.Should I be jealous?”
Oh, now this is getting good.
I smile at her.It’s a little surprising she doesn’t see it.But I didn’t, did I?And it’s on my body!We both deserve some kind of award for how we’ve tripped over the obvious all these years, ignoring what was right in front of our faces.
That’s some professional-level pigheadedness right there.
I remember the morning I put the pieces together.It was just a couple months after I’d come home for good.My house was being built and I was staying with Dad.I stepped out of the shower, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and it came crashing down on my head like a ton of bricks.
I was shocked at first.Told myself that it couldn’t be.I’m a trained observer.I can detect tiny details others might miss.In source code.In the theater of combat.While flying.So how could I have not seen it?
Expert level.
“You’re not going to tell me who she is?”Summer asks again, examining the woman’s slender perfection, her long, trailing hair, and her beautiful eyes.
Maybe I’ll let her figure it out.I shouldn’t reveal all my juiciest secrets the first time we fall into bed together.What will we talk about fifty years from now?A man’s got to keep a little mystery about him.And anyway, I kind of like that Summer would be jealous of her.
I’ll be interested to see how long it takes for the lightbulb to go off.
“She’s a selkie.Do you know what that is?”
