Page 9 of Jaxson

“Will do, why don’t you head out into the yard, and I’ll get your food ready.”

He nodded and left his bag of tools near her front door. Loading up his plate with all the right fixings, she did the same with her own, then carried out their plates.

Jaxson was sitting on one of the deck chairs, and she handed him his plate, then a tray so he could sit and eat. There were many times she and her parents had eaten out like this. It was so lovely to watch the sunset and enjoy their food.

“Fuck me, that’s good,” Jaxson said, which made her laugh.

“I’m glad you like it.”

She took a bite and knew it was good, totally not authentic, but it still tasted good.

“Did you always want to sew?” he asked. “You know, and create that studio and do what you do?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve always loved to sew and craft. I didn’t go out and party, nor did I make a whole lot of friends. My summers were spent making my own clothes for the term to come, you know? My mom taught me as much as she could, but she was more of a knitter and not a sewer, but she took me to Kate’s Fabric Shop, when Kate’s mom actually owned the shop, and she helped me out. Then it was trial and error, but it was always something that made me happy, and I loved doing it. Besides, I’m sure you heard the disaster of the doctor’s surgery and what happened there.”

She heard him chuckle.

“Just a little. You passed out?” he asked.

“Okay, yes, I passed out and it was totally bad, but I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize I was that squeamish at the sight of blood, but one moment I could see it, and the next moment, I couldn’t.”

“Tell me, Tillie, do you even like horror movies, or gory movies, where you see every break or blood-spurting scene?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No.”

Jaxson laughed.

“Okay, okay, I get your point, but in my defense, I have never watched a lot of television, so how was I supposed to know that?” she asked. “I wasn’t. Anyway, I was fired, and my parents had been working on transforming the garage, and it was a shock. They told me they believed in me, and they couldn’t give me college, but they could help me with this. So, that’s what they did, and the rest is history.”

“Your parents were always good people,” he said.

She looked toward him and nodded, because that meant a lot. “Thank you.”

He nodded.

She didn’t like the overwhelming sadness that enveloped her. “So, I heard you left town to explore a dream. Do you want to share what that is?” she asked.

He groaned. “Not particularly.”

“I shared.”

“But yours is not embarrassing.”

She gasped. “Seriously, I fainted on a patient who was in terrible pain, and my job was to remain calm.”

“True, true, okay, fine, if you must know, I went to the city, because I thought I would prefer it there, compared to here. Also, I went looking to be the next big thing in tattoo artistry.”

“Tattoo artistry?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?” Tillie asked, curious. No one in town really knew what Jaxson had done. They all knew he had left town, but he always intended to, because he hated it there. Everyone knew he had a complete lack of love for the place.

“Let’s just say I have a new appreciation for small-town living, and being a tattoo artist, although it is a dream, is not something I’m going to make a lot of money from. I’m good with my hands.”

“Did you design the ink on yourself?” she asked.

He looked down at his arms.