Page 4 of Fallen Ink

Mace: You up?

He sipped his coffee as the little bubble on her end of the conversation popped up.

Addi: Yes, but I need more coffee. All the coffee. Ever.

Mace grinned and paged through his notebook, glancing at his sketches for his first client. The cadet wanted a set of twisted trees on one shoulder to signify an event from his past with his family. He wouldn’t explain to Mace exactly what it was, but he had given enough detail for Mace to get the idea down for him. He’d also had to relearn all the rules and regulations regarding tattoos that came with being a part of any military branch. Things had changed so much in the past ten years that it almost took a math degree to figure out percentages of skin and placements. With the amount of ink covering Mace’s chest, arms, and back, there was no way he’d ever be able to join up—not that it had ever been in the cards for him, even since the beginning.

Mace: You still want a ride to work? Or you going in early?

Addi: Let’s save the environment.

Mace snorted before draining the last of his coffee. He’d need another cup before he headed over to Adrienne’s to pick her up. Hell, he might need a third cup, considering he hadn’t slept well the night before.

Mace: Pick you up in an hour.

Addi: kk.

Mace: What’s with the two ks?

Addi: …

Addi: Are you really asking me about texting lingo when I’ve only had half a cup of coffee after being up all night? And I have no idea, Austin’s kid starting doing it, and then Austin assimilated it, and now I’m doing it. Apparently, it’s hip with the cool kids.

Mace had to set his second cup of coffee down on the counter so he wouldn’t slosh the hot liquid over the sides. He had no idea how she’d texted so fast, but she could probably beat some of those so-called cool kids at the texting game. He and Adrienne had been forced to learn texting by tapping numbers more than once for different letters back in the age-old times of the first popular cell phones.

And now he felt old at the ripe age of thirty-five. He needed more coffee for that line of thought.

Mace: If you’re using the lingo, the kids don’t use it anymore, just saying.

He frowned and texted her again before she could curse at him.

Mace: And what were you up doing all night? You catch his name?

He had no idea why he’d asked that or why it was even his business, but for some reason, he’d let his mind wander a little too much.

Addi: I was working on a damn sketch, dumbass. The other probably would have been more fun since I got stuck in my head for three hours before I finally figured the design out. Now, for real, gotta shower. Go clean that beard of yours, old man.

He flipped her off in an emoji, then set his phone down so he could finish his morning routine. He was just finishing cleaning up when the doorbell rang. He frowned, wondering who could be at his house that early in the morning since most of his friends were either already at work or worked nights and were probably just waking up like he was.

Stuffing his phone into his pocket, he made his way to the front door and blinked when he saw his ex through the peephole. Then he held back a curse when he noticed that she wasn’t alone.

He threw open the door but kept his anger in check because, beside Jeaniene in her pressed suit and to-the-nines makeup and hair, was their little girl, Daisy. He raised a questioning brow at his ex then went to his knees and opened his arms. Without hesitation, Daisy jumped into his hold, and he picked her up, holding her hard to his chest. She kissed his temple, then his forehead, then his cheek, before sighing and resting her head on his shoulder.

That wasn’t unusual for her since she wasn’t the most talkative kid. She only said things when they seemed important to her. She was sweet as could be and whisper-giggled to her imaginary fairy friends more often than not, but she was really shy when it came to the real world. He didn’t care as long as she was happy and he got to see her—but that wasn’t often with the custody agreement in place. Jeaniene got full custody, while he only had visitation. That’s what happened when one parent was a lawyer in a family of lawyers, and the other was a tattoo artist without a college degree. He’d fought with all his savings but had won visitation only.

This wasn’t his weekend, though; yet Daisy’s suitcase was on the step behind his ex.

“What’s up, Jeaniene?” He rubbed Daisy’s back as she clung to him.

“Hi, Daddy,” she said sleepily.

“Hi, baby.” He kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

“Uh-huh, just sleepy.” She snuggled into his shoulder and started playing with his hair, her mind in her little dream world. “Jeaniene?”

She gestured behind him. “Can we go inside for a second? I don’t have a lot of time and, honestly, I didn’t know how to say this on the phone. I know I’m doing this horribly, but…just…can you give me a moment, Mace?”

He studied her face and knew that he wouldn’t like whatever she had to say, but as he had his daughter in his arms, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. Jeaniene followed behind, rolling Daisy’s suitcase behind her. His ex seemed nervous, which was very unlike her, but he didn’t press. Not yet, and not with Daisy snuggled against him.

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