“Here it is.” She turned her laptop around so I could see the screen. The storefront was cute, obviously in an older downtown area with a lot of charm and some vintage details.
“It’s pretty.” I studied the image. There was something familiar about the large front windows and the decorative architecture.I peered closer, sure that I’d seen it before, but I couldn’t place where. “Is it expensive?”
“Nope, cheaper than the places we’ve been looking at, and bigger, too. The building is narrow and deep, giving us space for the individual rooms we’ll need for tattooing and a great waiting area, too. There’s even an apartment on the second floor if one of us needs to live there.” Melody was smiling, pleased with herself, as if she knew something that I didn’t.
“That might be me if my subletter doesn’t get out on time.” I’d agreed to a three-month sublet, but now my tenant was asking to extend that to six. I couldn’t keep sleeping on my friend’s couch much longer with a baby on the way.
“I was thinking I’d like it,” Mel said as she scrolled through the interior pictures so I could see them. “You’d be living someplace else.”
I snorted. “Like where?”
“With Brian.”
I tilted my head and stared at my friend. What on earth was she talking about? “I don’t think I’m up for that lengthy of a commute to work.”
Mel rolled her eyes at me. “More like only a couple minutes,” she said. “Poplar Springs isn’t that big.”
“Poplar Springs?” I looked again at the front of the building and recognition hit me. The building sat kitty-corner to Bite and Brew, which made it just down the street from the sheriff’s office.
“That’s right. It’s everything we said we wanted and a little more, for a really great price.”
“But in my hometown?” I said, feeling the usual pressure in my chest I always did when I thought of living too near my parents.
“I think we could make a go of it there. I did some research.” Melody pulled papers from a folder and consulted them. “The closest tattoo parlor is in Beaumont, thirty miles away.”
I almost smiled, guessing that parlor was the one where Brian had gotten the yellow flower tattoo on his butt. “That’s true.”
“With the rodeo coming to town again next year and the increase in tourists from that trail riding program I read about out there,” Mel said, “plus the customers we’ll get drawing from the thirty-mile radius, I’m sure we’d stay busy, especially when word spreads that two hot chicks create works of art there. People will flock to us.”
Mel made a good argument. The town’s rodeo weekend had been such a success that the plan was to hold it annually. Thousands of people came to the town for the event. Having enough business to be successful in Poplar Springs wasn’t the number one problem in my mind. Living in proximity to my family was.
“I was thinking that you’d want to be closer to Brian if you could be,” Mel said. “For the baby’s sake if nothing else.”
“Yeah, that would make it easier,” I admitted, still processing the possibility and weighing how I felt about moving home.
“And I’ve got a hankering to live someplace with a whole lot less traffic and crime. I’d love to be able to walk to work. And who knows, maybe I’ll fine me a hottie cowboy of my own who isn’t pretending to be something he’s not.” Mel shot me a smile. “I don’t want to pressure you, though. If you really feel you can’t live there, I understand. But if you think about it, it makes sense.”
I thought of my issues with my parents. They’d hate the idea of me owning a tattoo parlor, especially one right under their noses, but was that enough to deter me from returning to a place where I could be with Brian? Maybe it was time to stop letting my parents dictate my decisions about what I did with my life. They were going to disapprove, no matter where I was or what I did. I didn’t have to let that hold me back anymore.
I’d always thought I could never go home because my parents would take it as a sign of failure—that I couldn’t make it on my own. But that wasn’t true. My confidence in myself was being restored. I’d gotten my money back, Mel and I were moving ahead with our plans, and…I sighed. I had the love of a good man if I could make it work with him. Was that enough to undo the years of hurt I’d experienced?
Probably not undo, but it might be enough to begin the healing. If Brian was willing to do the same. My heart beat faster at the thought of being with him again. I knew there was no guarantee that it would work out for us. So many things were in our way, but could I commit to trying?
My fresh start could be back in my hometown with the man I’d fallen in love with twice.
“Brian would have to give a little,” Mel said cautiously, making me laugh.
“You mean he’d have to be less of a workaholic and get over his God complex?”
“Yeah, that.” Mel smiled. “Do you think it’s possible?”
I didn’t know. It would take bravery and trust on my part, and a willingness to work through his issues for Brian. I felt suddenly frightened, and a little lost, like a child who knew thatpicking the right path in the forest would lead to a rainbow and the wrong one to a smelly swamp. I couldn’t go back into that swamp again. I couldn’t bear to come second or watch our child come second.
Could I be brave enough to risk it, knowing how much I loved Brian?
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I need a few days to think about it. But thank you. You just opened a door that I had convinced myself was locked tight forever.” I hopped up and gave Mel a hug, feeling cautiously optimistic about the future.
“I want you to take your time deciding,” Mel said a few minutes later when we were eating dinner. “When I contacted Sophie Lawrence—that’s the real estate agent—she said she didn’t have anyone else currently interested, so we have time. If we decide we want the storefront, it’s available for immediate occupancy and she didn’t think we’d have any trouble getting the necessary permits.”
