Page 86 of Under My Skin
“How could you not? He’s always been . . .” She searches for the right word. “Good.”
I nod. “He is. I think I might go to his shop for a little while today. There’s a café not too far from it where I can get some work done.”
“I’ll take you. Let me get my keys.”
Before I even have time to respond, she’s on her feet. She comes back a moment later, and we get into her car. The entire drive, an anxious excitement courses through my veins. I thought I was coming here because something was ending. I thought I’d bemourning the life I had, but what I didn’t know was how much I’d look forward to the life that will take its place.
By the time my mom pulls up to Copper Ridge Tattoo Co. I’m practically bouncing at the thought of seeing Everett again. Now, I get to spend as much time with him as I want. There are no secrets, nothing to hide, and this is only the beginning.
The familiar ding above the entrance gains the attention of everyone in the shop. All the artists are here today, and Troy greets me with an excited, “Hey! There she is!”
Everett stands behind the reception desk, his elbows resting on the desk as he reads over something. He looks up at the sound as he sets the papers down in front of him. He beams at me, and I easily return the gesture.
As soon as I walk to the front of the desk, he says, “Well, look who it is. Coming to say goodbye?”
Leaning over the desk, I slowly shake my head. “Nope.”
He raises an eyebrow. “The call was good news then?”
I nod and look down at the papers in front of him. “What’s this?”
“This,” he says, turning the paper toward me, “is my idea for the shop.”
My mouth falls open. It’s the sketch of me, sitting in the chair at the front of the shop, but he’s completed the entire scene now. Everything about the place looks different than it does currently. There are mounted light fixtures along the top of the wall, the stations all have uniform drawers with a shine to them that makes me think he’s envisioning them in copper, and even the front window has an updated logo to match the one I came up with. “This is incredible,” I say as I continue to marvel over every tiny detail he put into it. I look up at him. “But why not just draw it from scratch? I’m sure you’ll want different chairs for the waiting area.”
He shrugs. “Maybe. But no matter what changes in here, I was hoping you’d still be a part of it.”
My heart flutters in my chest. He changed everything about this place except for me, and he did it with intent and purpose. I bite my lip as I stare down at the sketch because I don’t know how I got this lucky. I came back to Copper Ridge because everything was falling apart. But I already had all the pieces I needed. They might not fit into my life the way I thought they would, but this new reality doesn’t have me mourning the way things once were. Instead, I push up on my toes and press my lips to Everett’s, giddy with the prospect of what can be. When I lower onto my heels, I grin. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
THE END
Epilogue
EVERETT
SIX MONTHS LATER
“Are you sure about this?We can leave the Sharpie on for as long as you want.” Lucy sits at my station, and it’s crazy to think how much has changed during the past six months. It hardly looks like the same shop. The walls are painted a dark blue, the artwork at each station is displayed in copper frames, copper drop-down lights hang above each table, and each station has a set of black drawers with large copper handles. The back wall we painted black with our shop logo displayed in large copper letters. The antique floors offer a sense of depth and warmth to the room that was never there before. It hardly resembles the Copper Ridge Tattoo Co. I opened. In fact, Troy’s taxidermy owl is one of the few things left unchanged. He insisted he couldn’t part with it, and how passionate he was about keeping it only made me more hesitant to ask him about it.
Lucy rolls her eyes. “Would you stop? I can handle this.”
“I know you can.” She might look confident, but I know it’s a front. I can tell by the way her eyes track my every move as I open a new needle. She wants this, though. This isn’t like her storming inhere six months ago and demanding a cat tattoo on impulse. She’s thought about this for a while now. She’s tried three different temporary placements, and her forearm is what she liked the best.
She gives me a grateful smile before looking up as Toni approaches us.
“Finally doing it?” she asks with her arms crossed.
“So she says,” I offer with a raise of my brow.
Lucy playfully glares at me before turning her attention back to Toni. “Yes. I’m finally doing it.”
Toni gives an approving nod. “Welcome to the club.” She pauses, eyeing the purple stencil on Lucy’s arm before walking away. “Well, almost.”
The tattoo is simple. There was really nothing to draw up on my part. She found it online when she was looking at minimalist tattoos. I understand why she likes it, though. Even without her weekly debates where she justifies the meaning to me out loud, I’d think the tattoo suits her either way.
The open delta with an arrow isn’t anything new, but it doesn’t have to be. Lots of people have gotten this tattoo as a symbol of being open to change and willing to move forward in life, but that’s not the point. It means something to her. The past six months have been pivotal for her, and she’s been open to everything thrown her way.
I dip the tattoo gun into black ink and check in with Lucy, but as soon as our eyes meet, she blurts, “Dad and Greg invited us over for dinner.”
