Page 80 of Haunted

“Whatcha think?” Luca asks. I look down at him then back at the tattoo.

“I think it looks amazing.” I state the truth.

The guy is obviously following anAlice in Wonderlandtheme. He has a Cheshire cat, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, a vial with the words “Drink Me” written on a tag, Alice, and theQueen of Hearts. Luca just added a pocket watch with a cracked face and the words “Time for Tea.”

I’m pleased when I see Luca smile at me, as if pleased with my praise. For some reason, it warms my heart that my opinion seems to matter to him. He tosses the used napkin in the trash and grabs a fresh one, then sprays something on the design and starts wiping it again.

I look down at the guy, who looks to be in his early to mid-forties. “What are you going to have done next?”

“The rabbit. After that will come the Mad Hatter.”

“I take it you likeAlice in Wonderland,” I assert with a laugh.

“My kid does. She’s twenty, but still loves the movie. The new one more so than the old one. I’ve been working to cover my back for five years. The wife will only let me get one or two a year.”

“Whoa, whoa.” I hold my hand up. “The new one?” I ask, confused. I look to Luca. “They remadeAlice in Wonderland? But it’s a classic. You can’t remake a classic.”

He chuckles as he finishes cleaning the tattoo then starts swiping on some ointment. “Most of the time they can’t, but I think they did a pretty good job with this one. Johnny Depp did a kickass job of playing the Mad Hatter.”

“Johnny Depp played the Mad Hatter?” I think for a moment. “I can see how he would make a good crazy person,” I admit reluctantly.

“I have the new one on DVD for Aria. We’ll watch it sometime.”

“I’m not so sure I want to. I don’t want to tarnish one of my childhood favorite movies by watching a remake.”

He gets up from the stool, snaps off his gloves, and tosses them in the trash. He turns back to me, his lips tipping up at the corners. “Trust me, you’ll want to.” He looks at the man stilllying down. “Go take a look, Garrett, and tell me what you think.”

Garrett gets up from the chair and walks over to the mirror, turning his back to it and looking over his shoulder.

“Fuck, man. That shit is badass,” Garrett says, looking very pleased with the finished design. He comes back to the chair and grabs his shirt. “Gonna try to talk Mitzy into letting me get the rabbit in a few months,” he says as he pulls the shirt over his head, being careful not to drag the material across his new tattoo.

“Good luck with that,” Luca grunts with a chuckle.

“Yeah. Lord knows I must love the woman to put up with her all these years. I’ll get with you when I can.” He looks at me. “It was nice meeting you, Jules.”

I smile kindly at him. “It was nice meeting you too, Garrett.”

“Ella will take care of you out front.”

With a nod, Garrett walks out of the room. Not wanting to leave yet, I resume my seat on my stool and watch Luca as he straightens the room and cleans his tools.

I run my eyes over the colorful ink on his arms. “Who did your tattoos?” I ask.

His hand pauses on putting away a bottle of ink and he looks at me before resuming. “Most of them my dad did. But Ella has done a few.”

“Your dad owned the shop before you, right?”

He starts dismantling his tattoo machine as he answers. “Yeah. He opened it twenty-eight years ago. I always knew growing up that one day it would be mine.”

“Did you know that Aria wants to work here when she gets older?”

A smile touches his lips as he puts all the pieces of his tattoo machine in the autoclave. “She’s told me.”

“She’s really good at drawing.”

I know I’m rambling and should probably shut up, but I like being with Luca and hearing him talk.

“She always has been. It used to piss Theo off,” he remarks.

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