The verbal vomit took her by surprise. From what she’d glimpsed they looked to have the makings of a happy family, but appearances could be deceiving. “Whatever you think, Josie will always need you. You’re her dad. A girl always needs her dad.”
“Daddy. I’m Daddy and Chad is Dad.” He peered up at her. “She said that the longer name was more important.”
“Have you talked to Penny about this?”
“I try, but talking to Penny has gotten harder now that I’m here and then I’ve been busy. We used to be almost best friends, but now we just argue. One minute she understands that I’m doing all of this to support Josie, and the next she’s biting my head off for being a shitty father. Hell, I gave up fighting for her. She’s my kid. I’ll do whatever it takes to provide for her.”
“Ah.” Kellie tapped his shoulder. “But will you be there for her when the boogeyman is under the bed or a boy breaks her heart?”
He blinked at her, clearly baffled by what she was saying.
Kellie had missed all of that. Her memories of her father were fuzzy, but she never forgot the giant of a man who would sit in her room with a baseball bat while she fell asleep, or the man who got her up early so he could teach her how to ride a bike before work. He’d always made her feel important and loved.
“You can’t just make sure she has food to eat and a place to sleep. You have to spend time with her. Do you love her?”
“Of course I love her. She’s my kid.”
Her heart trembled. Quin cared. He just didn’t know how to show it. She cleared her throat to get rid of the uncomfortable knot of emotion.
“When my dad died, the things I missed the most were the times he would spend drinking make-believe tea with me. Or watching cartoons. Little things that showed me how he felt. He wasn’t a big talker, but he did things with me that showed me he cared. Girls are emotional, even those of us who are hard-asses. Do you do anything together?”
“Not really,” he mumbled.
“Can you think of anything to do together?”
“She actually liked hanging out at the gym. I did some research and we could probably do kids’ classes. I think she’d like it if we did that stuff together. I don’t know about all the frilly dresses and stuff though.”
She chuckled and blinked away moisture in her eyes. She was so not crying. “I know what it’s like to start a business and pour yourself into it, but you need to make time for your family. You only get one shot with your kid. I’m not a parent, but I’ve learned from taking care of Grandma what’s really important in life.”
He twined their fingers together. “So what should I do? I don’t want to screw this up.”
“I don’t know. Hang out with her. Go to the park. Play with dolls. Watch a movie. I get an easy pass there because after a few minutes Grandma doesn’t remember what we were doing, or who I am. Everything is always new to her.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier on you if you put her in a home or something?”
“She’s all the family I have left.” Besides her mother, who might as well be dead. “I’m not going to abandon her.”
“You wouldn’t be abandoning her. I wouldn’t go into a hospital and try to be a doctor. You shouldn’t have to be everything for her.”
Kellie shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. She’s my family. It’s not just that, it’s cultural. You don’t turn your back on your family.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He rolled over on his side and slung his arm over her waist. “I was just talking out of my ass.”
She rested her forehead against his shoulder. She had a wolf by the ears. Any way she turned things, it sucked, and she was doing this alone. If her mother would have stayed, maybe it would have been different. Maybe things between them would have gotten better. Maybe they would have been worse. At least she wouldn’t have been alone. Quin didn’t count. He wasn’t the ass she’d thought he was, but neither was he in for the long haul with her. And honestly, she didn’t have time for him, for this. Even if it felt good.
Chapter Thirteen
Hannya Mask—These masks were used in the Noh theater in the fourteenth century to convey a woman whose rage and envy has taken her over and turned her into a demon. This mask is usually depicted with horns, sharp teeth, gleaming eyes and with a resentful or jealous expression. These images are standalones and highly detailed, much like the traditional masks, which are highly valuable.
Kellie bent over Jerry’s shin as he lay on the table, appearing for all the world as if he were taking a nap instead of getting a tattoo.
The bells on the front door jangled. She cradled her pounding head with one hand and gingerly felt her nose, which still hurt like hell.
“What up, bitches?”
Her head snapped up and her foot came off the tattoo pedal. Autumn stood to the side of the receptionist desk, bag slung over her shoulder and a bright smile spread across her face.
“It’s about damn time you showed up,” Kellie groused, and yet the corners of her mouth turned up. “Nice hair.”
The hue of blue was darker, more sapphire, and drawn up into pigtails that fell past her shoulders. Her floral print A-line dress showed off a liberal amount of cleavage and was a blaring shade of pink. But that was Autumn, and as much as she grated on her nerves, Kellie had missed her.
“Autumn, hey,” Pandora called from her station where she was cleaning up her client and applying a bandage.
“Where’s Mary? How’s it going? Hey, Jerry.” Autumn hovered over her shoulder, despite having plenty of room to observe without crowding. Yes, Kellie had missed her.
She bent back over the tattoo, wanting to hurry and finish it so she could take a break and rest her back. “Mary is picking Sam up from school. Things are going well.”
“It’s good to see you.” Pandora wrapped Autumn in a hug.
“Want to take a break, Jerry?”
The hulking man grunted and sat up while Kellie wiped the tattoo off and applied some ointment to the areas she’d been working on. The piece wouldn’t be finished for another month, but it was coming along nicely. Jerry lumbered off to the bathroom and would undoubtedly help himself to a drink from the fridge. It was a small honor for how much he’d helped them build the new fixtures and paint the shop.
“Give me a hug. You look like a damn Smurf.”
Autumn needed no encouragement to fling herself at Kellie, jumping at the last second to wrap her arms and legs around her. Kellie grunted and rolled her eyes. Autumn was a lot like a toddler—annoying, obnoxious and full of life. Kellie was glad to play the grouch to her cheerful demeanor, but deep down she was glad Autumn was back. They needed her ever-present rainbows and cotton candy outlook.
“Okay, get off me.” She smacked Autumn’s ass to punctuate her point.
Autumn giggled and released her anaconda death grip. “Missed you too.”
“Please tell me you’re going to start calling some of your appointments back and get them to stop bugging me. Please?”
“Yes! Did you take messages?” Autumn stashed her body-bag-sized purse at her station.
“Tons of them.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “How’s Mom?”
Autumn straightened and stroked her hands over her hips. Her expression said she didn’t want to talk about it, but knew she didn’t have a choice. “I got her set up and I’m back home. Things are good. I’m good, and I promise I’m back for good.”
Kellie nodded even though she knew Autumn would flake again for what seemed like a good reason in the moment. Kellie would reprimand her, and they would do this again. It was annoying, but Autumn was a damn wizard with color and people loved her. Plus, she never batted an eyelash at doing the piercings the rest of them didn’t want to touch.
Autumn cleared her throat. “I have to go get the rest of my equipment from the car.”
“Dang, you haven’t even done a tattoo here, have you?”
“No, I did that couple’s horoscope signs
on their feet. Remember?”
Kellie tipped her head back and laughed. They barely had power on when the couple had knocked on their door, wanting to support the shop after all the buzz on the news. They were the first of many. “Yeah, only because they finally let you do it your way.”
“My way was better! They just wanted boring black crap.” Autumn tossed her pigtails over her shoulders, looking for all the world like an irritated toddler.
The back door clanged open, heralding their missing piece. Mary’s heels beat a steady staccato on the concrete, her skirts swirling around her calves as she proceeded down the short hallway, Sam following behind.
“Hey, señorita!” Autumn grinned.
“You’re back.” Mary set her bowling-bag-style purse down on the counter at her station and met Autumn halfway for a hug. “How are things?”
Autumn shrugged. “Better, but not what they could be.”
“You should let Mary give you a few black and gray lessons.” Kellie winked at Mary over Autumn’s shoulder.
Mary’s brows rose, but she declined to respond. Autumn, on the other hand, whipped her head around and glared at her, but there was no heat behind the gesture.
“You should do some black tribal or something sometime.” Pandora snickered as she was served the same treatment.
Autumn threw her hands up in the air. “Why did I ever come back?”
Kellie jabbed her ribs with a finger. “Because you miss us.”
“God, I’m screwed up if I missed you.” Still, Autumn slung an arm around Kellie’s shoulders and squeezed her.
The front door swung open and one of Pandora’s recent clients walked in. She peeled off from the group and went to greet the young man. Jerry moseyed in from the back, a can of Dr Pepper in hand.
“Ready to keep going?” Kellie flexed her hands and reached for the ceiling. Jerry merely grunted and lay back on the table. He stuffed one of the couch pillows he must have procured from the office under his head and settled in for what appeared to be a nap. It wasn’t unheard of for a person to fall asleep during a tattoo, it had just never happened to her.
Autumn glanced around, looking a little lost for what to do. “I’m going to work on some sketches I guess. Get ready for tomorrow.”
“Oh hey, before I forget. Quin has a fight up in Denton tonight, if you want to go.”
“Really? What kind of fight?”
Kellie pulled out a new pair of gloves and slipped them on. “MMA. It’s the first fight for one of his guys. I think Mary and Sam are going. I offered Pandora and Brian, but Carly just came home so they might go hang out with her instead.”
“She should come too.”
“Dude, she just got out of the hospital. I don’t think she’ll want to go anywhere.”
“Why not? She’s got to start living. Just because she’s in a wheelchair doesn’t mean her life’s ended.”
Kellie swirled the magnum needle in the ink and took a deep breath. “Well, if she wants to come she’s more than welcome to.”
She examined the design on Jerry’s shin and decided to begin tackling the shading on the scales. A huge, serpentine dragon wrapped twice around his leg before having a sword driven up through its lower jaw and skull. It was a gruesome piece of work, but it fit the man. Jerry had high expectations, which meant that each individual scale on the dragon would have to be shaded, and that amounted to a lot of hours doing tiny detail work.
It felt good to have Autumn in the shop. Things hadn’t been the same without her. Even with them all spread out through the space, it changed the vibe. Maybe with her back, things would be better. Kellie would have fewer nagging clients. Hell, just having Autumn’s obnoxious smiling face around made things better.
“Hey, take a look at this when you have a second.” Mary stood across from her, a piece of paper in hand.
“Sure, just let me finish this bit right here.” Daubing the area with a rag, she peered at the portrait Mary had replicated from a photo. Two babies sat propped up against a teddy bear twice their size. As a photograph it was probably darling, but she wondered if even Mary’s skill at lifelike tattoos could keep it from winding up on a tattoo fail website.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Mary huffed, rolling her eyes.
“Actually, you don’t. Are you going to do this in straight black and gray? Or can you use some color?”
“I would prefer color, but the guy who’s getting this is very dark. I don’t think color will show up on him. Maybe some red to shade it, but that’s it.”
“It looks about as good as that picture is going to get as a tattoo. I know portraits are your thing, but I wouldn’t do that one. Personally.” The front door opened and the bells jangled. Kellie glanced up and smiled. “Hey, Sammi.”
Samuel “Sammi” Zimmerman, their landlord and rich playboy, entered and leaned against the receptionist desk. They’d signed their last lease with his father, who had since passed away and left his son in charge. Though their dealings with him had been all professional and rarely face-to-face, the day after the fire he’d come to the hospital to check on them, and had gone with Kellie and Mary to pick through the burned-out husk of what had been the shop.
On the surface he looked to be the typical run-of-the-mill douchebag wearing too much cologne and blinged-out Ed Hardy. She didn’t know what he was like away from business, but he’d always treated them with respect and had gone above and beyond what she’d expected of a landlord.
“It’s looking good in here,” he said as he pulled his sunglasses off and studied the shop, no doubt taking in each and every change they’d made.
Mary crossed to the desk and shook his hand. “What can we do for you today?”
“I was actually thinking about getting a tattoo.”
Those words pricked Kellie’s interest, but she couldn’t spare another moment away from Jerry’s shin tattoo. Instead, she kept one ear open.
“Do you know what you want?”
“Yeah, I was thinking a Superman sign, in black, with my father’s name and the date he passed away.”
Inwardly Kellie groaned. They probably did a Superman logo once a week apiece. It wasn’t her place to judge what others did to memorialize their loved ones, but she could do superhero signs, astrological symbols and roses in her sleep. Well, her day was booked solid so it wouldn’t be left to her to do the tattoo.
“Do you have a drawing?” The pencils in the cup rattled as Mary pulled one out to do a rough mock-up on one of the pads of paper they kept at the desk.
“No. I thought you guys drew everything.”
“We do, I didn’t know if you had some idea or style in mind.” There was silence as Mary most likely did a rough sketch of the logo. “When did you want to get this done?”
“Today if possible.”
“Do you care who does it? Kellie and I both have appointments for the rest of the afternoon. Pandora will be free in an hour, and I don’t think Autumn has anything right now.”
“Nah, all of you ladies are talented. If Autumn can do it now, I’m fine with that.”
Kellie had to turn away under the pretense of squirting more ink out to hide her laugh. Mary knew Autumn hated doing black tattoos. They’d been trying to coerce her into doing them for ages, but she always talked her clients into some color, a little flourish here or there.
“Let me get Autumn and she can get this started for you.”
“Awesome. Thanks.”
Mary left Sammi waiting at the desk and went back to the office to retrieve their wayward artist. Kellie rolled her chair around to work on another section, which had the added benefit of giving her a decent view of Autumn’s station across the shop from her. Their areas mirrored each other, with the same chrome shelving units that housed their gear, the tables with glass tops, glass mounted on the wall to act as a backsplash, the rolling chairs. But where Kellie had decorated her wall with watercolor paintings of geishas, dragons and Koi, Autumn’s was a riot of color, c
artoonish depictions of people, animated characters and fanciful images. There wasn’t one thing that was an all-black design.
“Hi, are you Sammi?” Autumn’s flip-flops slapped the concrete. She’d exchanged her contacts for chunky purple and black tortoiseshell glasses.
“Yes ma’am.” He met her halfway and shook her hand.
“Oh man, you’ve got a grip on you. You must work out a lot.”
Sammi chuckled. He was a tall guy and had bulk from hours spent at the gym, with dark skin and features that spoke of a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern background. He was cute, but not to Kellie’s tastes. That was Quin.
She sighed and glanced at her phone. Quin had left her alone Saturday except for a few texts to ask how Grandma was doing and whether she’d thought about going to the fight tonight. She wanted to go, but had to wait to hear back from Natalie whether she could work tonight. She needed to get her a going-away present later. Mary had been enthusiastic about the idea of a night off and closing the shop early, as well as something Sam would be interested in doing.
With all of the clients trying to get in for tattoos and family drama on both sides, Kellie felt bad for not being around for Mary more. Whatever was going on with Sam was serious, and didn’t have a quick fix. A little part of her was jealous though. Wasn’t Mary her best friend? And yet she didn’t see her unless they were at the shop.
“What if we did the logo in color?”
Kellie glanced at Autumn and Sammi bent over a sketch pad at the receptionist desk.
“Um, color looks nice, but I’d really prefer it to be in black.”
“Even the letters?” Autumn tapped the paper with the pencil.
“Yeah.”
She tilted her head to the side and added The Smile. The one that had men turning to puddles of testosterone hell-bent on giving her whatever she wanted. “You sure you don’t want to add even a little color?”
The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Page 21