AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Imagining the embodiment of that on her wrist—knowing if Charlee were truly to get her first ink, it wouldn’t be big or overly prominent—I’d drawn this up.
“Lucas, it’s. . . ” She stared at the simple line design of an anchor with waves incorporated into the simple line drawing. And then looked up at me. “How? I mean. Where?”
If my goal was to render her speechless, mission accomplished. Not the way I imagined doing it, but. . .
“Your wrist? It’s not as noticeable as some other places, but not hidden either. Especially when you do that thing with your hair all the time. Which you still do, by the way.”
Her hand flew immediately up and then catching herself, Charlee dropped it.
“I do,” she admitted, as if I didn’t already know it as fact. “But how did you know? I mean, this is for my favorite quote, right?”
“It is.”
“A smooth sea—”
“Never made a skillful mariner. You had that in your locker all through high school.”
She smelled so goddamn good.
“But that was so many years ago.”
No way in hell I’d admit to checking out her social media. “Good guess then. You still like the quote?”
I could tell Charlee wanted to press me. To ask if that was the only reason I thought to draw that tattoo. But she was too proud.
“I do.”
Stalemate.
Neither of us said a word until Charlee took a deep breath, flipped her wrist over and said, “Let’s do it.”
There was something about the idea of having Charlee in my tattoo chair, my first customer, that I found more oddly enticing. It would have been safer to meet at a bar.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, more confidently. Then, taking her wallet out of the purse slung around her shoulder, Charlee handed me a dollar. “Your first bill?”
I couldn’t resist teasing her. “It is. But that’ll be more than a dollar, Charlee.”
“Oh my God, I was thinking. . . I’m so sorry.”
Taking the bill from her, I chuckled. To which she wrinkled her nose. “You’re teasing me,” she accused.
“I am.”
Not that I should be.
“Ugh.” But her expression didn’t match the sound she made. Smiling, she put her wallet away, then tossed her purse onto my design table. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Nervous?” Clearly, she was extremely so. Had been jumpy since she came into the shop. “It’ll be more uncomfortable than painful,” I reassured her.
“Can we. . . talk, while you’re doing it?”
Mmmm. Doing it. Not the phrase to use with me, Charlee. I’d been imagining tossing her onto the couch in my back room since the second I opened the door.
“Yes,” I said. “We can talk. Let me prep this first. Any changes?”
She shook her head. “None at all.”
