Page 131 of So Wild

“No, it looks fine,” she and Nicole said at the same time.

Everyone laughed and Scott nudged her side. “You can read each other’s minds, can’t you?”

“Shut up, Galahad. Anyway, the sign’s fine. It’s just a bit faded.”

“Sure,” Tabby said. “In a shit way.”

“Yes, okay. Faded in a shit way. What’s your point?”

“That we should repaint the letters.” Tabby strode over to the cans of paint and nudged one with her toe. “We’ve got everything we need here and it’ll only take a little while. Then, once we’re done, we’ll have truly started a new era of Silver Daughters Ink.

“But it’s night time,” Nicole pointed out.

“So what?”

“So we might fall and break our necks?”

“That’s why the guys are here, they can catch us and ring the ambulance or whatever.”

“I don’t like this,” Scott muttered, but Sam could feel that energy again, that golden rush that said this was what they needed.

“I think we should do it,” she said loudly. “For dad and for us.”

“Sam…” Scott warned. “It’s not safe.”

Sam grinned and when she looked at Nicole, she saw her twin was smiling, too. “Should you tell him or should I?”

“We can both do it.” Sam took Nicole’s hand. “A life lived in fear…”

“…isn’t a life well lived.”

Scott sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Edgar DaSilva has a lot to answer for. Go on then, get up there, just please be quick. Andbe careful.”

So, giggling madly, Sam and her sisters clambered onto the roof and repainted the sign. Nicole used a fat roller brush to re-do the red, while she and Tabby tackled the letters. Sam’s ass stung with every step—a reminder she was looking forward to feeling all weekend. In less than half an hour they were climbing back down the ladder, supported by Noah.

Once they were on the ground, they all stood back, taking in the glossy letters.

“It looks fucking sick,” Tabby said.

“Very nice,” Scott agreed.

Noah grunted his approval and Toby and Nicole clapped loudly.

Smiling again, Sam pulled out her keys and opened the letterbox, figuring she might as well empty it while she was here—make it a proper fresh start and all.

The tiny space was chock-full of catalogues and other paper bullshit. She sifted out a letter from the bank—thankfully without a final notice stamp—and then she froze. There beneath a Coles catalogue and an ad for Korean barbecue, there was a bumpy, yellowish envelope addressed in handwriting she knew by heart.

“Guys,” she said, tearing it open. “Nix, Tabby, come and look at this.”

Everyone crowded around as she opened the envelope. She turned it upside down into her palm and out fell a piece of blue rubber, a shiny black feather and a tiny brooch, which, when Sam turned it around, had a kitten stamped on the front. There was also a small sheet of paper which she held up to the storefront light and read aloud.

For my girls,

A sign of good things to come.

Love, Dad

“Fucking classic dad,” Tabby said, picking up the feather. “Poeticandvague as fuck. He’s a master of the craft.”

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