Page 30 of Only In the Dark

“See if he’s available. You’ll come with me?”

“Of course. I have a phone meeting later this evening. But other than that, I don’t have anywhere to be or people to see.”

Thirty minutes later, we are sitting in a tattoo shop, and I begin to feel nervous. “What are we doing?” the female artist asks me.

“I want to get a sunflower on the inside of my arm and a bee above it.”

“Alright, give me a minute to draw it up. Go ahead and have a seat.” She points to a chair at her station and walks away.

“Nervous?” Dom asks me.

“A little. But I’ve been wanting this for a long time. I love Sunflowers and bees. So she does yours?”

“Yeah. Leah is super talented.”

Leah comes over and cleans the spot for the tattoo, then she places the stencil on me. “Take a look and see if that is where you want it and how you want it.” She hands me a mirror to look.

“Yes. I love it.” I already knew if Dom trusted her, then I did too.

At first the needle feels weird as it moves on my skin, but after a little bit I get used to it. And once Leah was done, I could tell it was better than I even expected.

“Go check it out,” she motions to the large floor length mirror against the wall. Walking over, I turn to see the inside of my forearm, and I smiled wide. “This is perfect.”

The detail is exquisite. “I love it.”

We head to the counter so I can pay, but Dom hands her his credit card.

“You didn’t have to pay for it.”

“I insist.”

“Now what?” I ask when we get back into the SUV.

“We can get some takeout for dinner. I know a place.”

“Sure.”

When we arrive, Dom says, “We’ll only be a few minutes.” And he looks to me. “Come on.”

He holds the door for me to enter first, and the bell above dings.

“Dominick!” A familiar woman comes over cupping his face in her hands, and she kisses his cheek.

“Hi mommy! You met Geneva before.”

“Yes. It’s good to see you again, dear.” This time, she brings into a hug. Then she looks at Dom. “What can I get ya, honey?”

“I just want to get some of your famous lasagna and chicken parm with a side of spaghetti.”

“You got it. Give me time to get it together for you.”

When she walks away, I hit Dom on the arm.

“What was that for?”

“You didn’t say I was going to see your mom. I sure as hell didn’t want her to see this,” I point to my eye and lip.

“You still look beautiful. Don’t worry about it.”

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