“No, we can go. But I am definitely gonna come write here sometime.”
“Let me know when, and I might come join you,” he says as we stand up, placing a hand on my lower back, giving me a small shiver, as we make our way to the front door.
“You just want an excuse to get your hands on one of those croissants,” I say with a smirk as I walk by him through the door he’s holding open for me.
“You got me there,” he says with a deep laugh as he guides me to cross the street, where he opens the door directly in front of the coffee shop and up a flight of stairs. “But I do enjoy a good book.”
Once we arrive at our destination, I’m taken aback. This is not what I thought a tattoo parlor was supposed to look like. The walls are pink, there are plants everywhere, and Taylor Swift playing in the background. A large aquarium near the front of the studio with multiple tropical fish darting around catches my eye. And in front of it, a girl about my age with bright pink hair sits at the desk drawing on what I’m assuming is an iPad.
The minute she spots us she’s walking around the desk to give Ian a hug. “Ian!” she says as he lifts her off her feet, instantly filling me with jealousy. While I shouldn’t be jealous, Ican’tbe jealous. We’re just friends. I’m six years older than him. I’m barely divorced.
“And you must be Hannah,” the short, pinked-haired girl says, turning towards me and pulling me into a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you!”
Before I can ask her her name, she’s screaming, “Vivi! Vivi, come here! Ian and his girlfriend are here!”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” is the first thing that comes out of my mouth as I try to follow the pink-haired woman who remains nameless. Instead of introducing herself she just throws her head back and laughs.
Laughing, Ian takes me out of my misery and says, “Hannah, this is Clara. And that,” he says, pointing to the dark-haired woman joining us from behind the aquarium, “is Vivi, Clara’s wife. These two have been tattooing me since forever. They’re the only ones I trust with a tattoo gun.”
“Always the sweet talker,” Vivi says as she comes around and gives Ian a kiss on the cheek and extends her hand towards me.
“Hi, Hannah, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too; both of you,” I say giving them both a small smile.
“I doubt that,” Clara says, “You were giving me some serious side eye when Ian gave me a hug,” she continues, with a twinkle in her eye, making me blush and look at the floor at being called out for being jealous.
“Clara!” Vivi says, “You’ll have to excuse my wife,” she continues as she wraps an arm around her. “She has no filter. Now, how about you follow us through the back so we can talk about what you want to get tattooed, while Clara here makes herself useful and gets us all some water.”
Draping his arm around my shoulder, Ian stops me from following them right away, and whispers close to my ear so only I can hear, “No need to be jealous, Pretty Girl, I’ve only got eyes for you.”
Before I can stop it, a shiver runs down my back, making him pull me a little tighter before we make our way to the back, where a black leather bed waits for me, making me stop in my tracks a little.
“You good?” Ian whispers against the top of my head.
“Yeah, I just never thought I would actually be getting a tattoo,” I say, hearing the excitement in my voice.
Chuckling, Ian asks, “Why not?”
Before I can think twice, I answer. “Because Lucas wouldn’t let me.”
Ian stiffens besides me. “He wouldn’tletyou?” he asks, to clarify.
Shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot, I cross my arms and look down at my feet and let the word vomit come out. “He said tattoos were slutty—dirty—like putting a bumper sticker on a Mercedes. That no wife of his was gonna go around with a tattoo.”
Before Ian can respond Clara says, “Please tell me that this douche canoe is now long gone?”
“Yes. Ex-husband,” I say quietly.
“Well thank the damn lord! I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to learn that someone is divorced.” Spinning on her stool to face Vivi she says “Don’t even think of apologizing for me, you know I’m right.” Making me giggle at their antics she spins back to look at me and taps the black bed. “See, she’s laughing,” Clara insists with a look over her shoulder to Vivi. Patting the bed again she says, “Now, come sit that pretty little butt of yours up here so I can show you what I drew up for you.”
Turning towards the small desk along the wall, she puts her hair in a bright purple hair clip and grabs a pair of light blue glasses to plop onto her nose.
“Alrighty,” she says excitedly as she opens up an iPad, “from what Ian sent me and told me, you want something very feminine with some flowers, maybe the outline of a body part, and some greenery, correct?”
“Yes, something fairly dainty.” I look up at Ian, hoping he can sense my nervousness and move closer to me. He quickly picks up on the concern in my voice and the furrow in my brow and comes to stand right beside me as Clara turns the iPad towards me. “This is what I have for you, although they can all be modified to flow with your body—how big you want it, and where you want it.” Taking the iPad from her hands I flip through the drawings she’s created. They’re gorgeous. I can see why Ian comes here. As I flip through, I land on a small bouquet of wildflowers with fallen petals and new blooms that haven’t opened yet. For some reason it speaks to me. It gives me hope that like these fallen petals I can let go of old wounds that are weighing me down. That I, too, can keep growing.
“I like that one,” Ian says from beside me.
