Page 3 of Then You Came Along

“A water would be great,” Cam answers.

“I’ll take a water, as well,” Holly says, plopping down onto one of the couches we have in the reception area.

I grab three waters from the mini fridge we have against the back wall, along with my notepad, and head back out to the reception area, taking a seat next to Cam. I open up to a blank page, ready to jot down notes on what she is looking for in her tattoo.

“So, who is your tattoo in memory of?”

“Um, my fiancé. He passed away a few years ago. It was a couple months before our wedding,” she softly tells me.

My gut twists at her response. I can sense it still affects her, and I give her a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Do you have any ideas on what you want?”

Cam sighs, twisting the cap on and off her water bottle. “I’ve thought of using his initials, but don’t know if that’s all I want. I also considered incorporating our wedding date in, as well.”

“Do you want any flowers or symbols included?” I question, a few ideas already forming in my mind.

“I don’t think so, but maybe the words ‘Forever in my heart.’ Or ‘Always on my mind, forever in my heart’ in the shape of a heart, and in the center, having his name.”

“And what was his name?”

“Ben. Benjamin Gibbs.”

“Do you want to include his middle initial, or just first and last?”

“I think just his first and last, but his middle initial is R if you want to include it in one of the designs.”

“Let me draw up a few things and we can go from there. Do you have time to wait? I can draw up three or four ideas from what you’ve told me, and we can modify from there.”

Cam looks at Holly, giving her a questioning look. Holly smiles, nodding her head yes.

“Sure, that’d be great,” Cam finally replies.

I walk back to my station, grabbing my sketch pad. I’ve done plenty of memorial tattoos, so I get right to work designing three options for her. The first two use the sayings she gave me, along with his name. The third is a saying I’ve used as a basis for memorial tattoos recently. It’s a feather that has birds flying away from it, with the words, “Your wings were ready, but my heart was not.”

About fifteen minutes later, I head back out to Cam and show her what I came up with so far.

“Oh my! I love them!” she exclaims.

“Does one speak to you more than the others?”

“I really like the heart one, but I also like the one with the feather.”

“So we can eliminate the third one?” I ask, chuckling.

Smiling up at me, Cam agrees, and once again, her beauty just about knocks me on my ass. Knowing this girl has already lived through something as painful as losing the one person she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with has my heart clenching in my chest for her.

“Would you like to take the designs home with you and think on it? You can call me once you’ve decided, and we can schedule an appointment?”

“I think I will. How long of an appointment will I need for one of these?” she asks.

“No more than an hour, unless you want them a lot bigger. I made them on the smaller side, not knowing exactly how large you wanted to go. Do you know where you want to place it on your body?”

“I can’t have it showing when I’m working, so I was thinking along my side,” she says, pointing to just below her left breast, along her ribs.

“You do realize that area can be pretty painful, right?”

“Crap, I didn’t think of that.”

“We can still do it there, I just don’t want it to be too painful for you. Especially since it’s your first one.”

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