Page 11 of Searching With January

“Yeah man. I’ve been married three years to the most beautiful girl in the world,” he says, gesturing to the picture on his table. It’s currently wrapped in Saran Wrap, but I can see that she’s curvy and just his type. “That’s my Abby.”

“She’s pretty,” I tell him, but no one compares to January.

“Yeah, she’s pregnant for the second time right now.” The look of proud and adoration on his face. “Our Elise is eighteen months old now.”

“That’s great, Isaac. Congrats man.”

“We want a big family,” he says as he begins to tattoo me.

“Me too,” I say.

“I haven’t seen you for years. What’s been going on?”

“My parent’s passed away while I was in Landstuhl. I came home to raise my sister. I couldn’t let her go into the system.”

“I understand man. It’s tough raising a sibling. You know how hard it was for me with Cora.”

“I remember. How’s she doing?”

“Really good. She’s in her final year medical school now. I can’t believe I got her all grown up.”

“That’s good. I remember her sending you videos of her singing and dancing while we were deployed. She also sent videos of her performing surgery on the nanny, so that all makes sense. I can’t believe we’re old enough for this.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m older than you are. Alright. All done. Anything else you want besides the anchor?”

“Yeah. Can you freehand 1-17-2024 around the curve at the bottom?”

“Sure. That date must be significant.”

“It will be.”

When he’s finished, he wraps me up and I take her back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

After dinner, I take her to the club Isaac recommended. We immediately hit the dance floor. The bass is pumping through the club and in our veins. My hands are on her hips as we dance, her back pressed against my chest. Her lemon scented shampoo fills my nose and it’s easy to get lost in the music. She’s lithe in the way she grinds her body on me. I know she can feel how hard she’s made me, but she ignores it. She doesn’t stop moving her body on me, and I never want this to end.

Suddenly, she turns to face me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her eyes are bright and she’s sweating a little.

“I love this song,” she shouts over the music. She gyrates fully on me, and my hands roam all over her back and ass.

We lose all track of time and leave when the club closes. She falls asleep in the Uber, and I carry her into the hotel room and put her on her bed.

There is nothing I want more than to crawl into bed with her, but that has to be her decision. She snores loudly as I pull her shoes off. Those jeans can’t be comfortable to sleep in, but I can’t be the one to take them off of her now.

I could get used to this.

CHAPTERNINE

JANUARY

“Oh my gosh I am so excited.” I tell him, bouncing on my toes. I am really excited. We went and saw Jason in the beginning of the week, and it turns out he wasn’t my sperm donor. After which we went and got matching tattoos. We also went dancing and man, that was hot. Between then and now we had another name that lived outside of Savannah, and he wasn’t the guy either.

Now here we are on our last day in Georgia, and we are waiting in line to taste Coca Colas from around the world at the Coca Cola Factory in Atlanta. “I can see that. You literally haven’t stopped bouncing since we parked,” he says pulling me further into his side. I notice he has been doing that lately, keeping me closer to him. I should hate it, right, but it is the opposite. I love how safe and protected I feel when he does it.

“I know. It's just so cool. Especially for someone like me who hasn’t been out of the country.” I remind him.

“I get it. It's adorable.” The line moves and it is our turn to go into the big room and to the drinking station. I listen not so patiently as the man explains where everything is and then he walks away. “Alright. Which country do you want to try first?” he asks, grabbing the tiny plastic cups from the holder.

“Ummm… how about France?”

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