Page 13 of Mika's Heart

She is jumping up and down, “Want a tattoo?”

“What?” I ask, still trying to catch my breath from being startled.

“We have time before opening and I really want to try out this new ink Fiona sent me. Please.” She begs.

“Who is Fiona?” I don’t recall hearing that name.

“She’s our big boss back in Montana.” Arin explains. “Technically she is my business partner but she taught me everything I know. I wouldn’t be here without her giving me a start.”

After several more minutes of begging, I give in and find myself laid out in the tattoo chair while Arin draws a Phoenix on the back of my shoulder.

Her argument that convinced me to give in was that if I give tattoos I should know what it feels like to get one.

I wanted something simple but then she wouldn’t have been able to experiment with all the colors she wanted to try out.

Expecting pain I tense up when the buzz of the gun starts but quickly find myself relaxing.

Tuning out the world around me, I’m only half listening to Arin, when I think she says the name, Taylor, but I miss what she said.

After she finishes about two hours later, I don’t have time to even look at her work before the first customer of the day comes in.

From there, we are too busy for anything. People wander in and out of the shop for hours. Some with appointments and some without.

Arin handles the ones with appointments as they patiently wait their turn.

I handlereception and set up appointments for the ones without.

One asshole got so mad that he couldn’t get what he wanted immediately, he started making threats. A guy that was waiting his turn escorted him out.

Arin stood by me as we watched him get thrown to the curb.

“The guy with the nice ass is Eagle; he’s the leader of the Midnight Sons MC. You don’t have to worry, the asshole won’t be back.” She says with a giggle before going back to finish the tattoo she was working on.

“I thought you were married?” I question over the sound of the gun starting up again.

“Married not blind.” She calls back.

The rest of the night remains busy and before I realize it, I’m standing outside the door as Arin locks up.

“Hey, your dog is here.” She announces.

“Oh, He’s not mine.” I tell her.

She laughs, “Better tell him that. Good night.”

Watching Arin walks away, I so badly want to reach out and call her back. But;she has already done so much for me by giving me this job and I know she has a baby waiting at home for her. So I bite my lip and wait until she’s gone.

It’s the middle of the night so there aren’t many people wandering around.

Walking first to the park a few blocks over I check for out of the way places where someone could possibly sleep.

Some place out of the wind and out of sight.

All the spots that looked acceptable were already taken. So with the tears I had been holding back all day streaming down my face I make my way back towards the shop.

The temperature is dropping so I pull the sleeping bag Carol gave me out of my duffle and wrap it around me, while I sit in front of the shop trying to decide what to do.

Comet, who has been by my side since the shop closed, curls around me for warmth and we must fall asleep at some point.

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