Henry bumps my arm and I pull out my earbuds. He’s about to talk and I have a feeling I know what he’s going to say. It’s the same thing he’s been saying for months.
“You should go back up there. I know you want to. You’re tattooing yourself with her memory for fuck’s sake.” He laughs when he says it, but I know he’s not kidding. I’ve gone off the rails since Beth drove away. Sanity tells me I shouldn’t have, but my heart has been screaming otherwise.
“Haven’t you ever felt like this? I’m starting to think I’m losing my mind.” I stare down at the tattoo gun as Henry shades in the wood sign.
“A lot has changed since you’ve been gone.”
“How so?”
“Do you remember that land developer I was telling you about? Well, it turned out better than I could have hoped. I’ve met someone. Her name’s Cami.”
Henry has spent as many lonely days as I have and it’s great to hear he’s met someone. “That’s great, man. Any progress with the development?”
“I don’t think we’re doing it, not after what went down in the Springs, but that’s a story for another day. Right now, I’m convincing you to go back to Massachusetts and find Beth.”
“Thanks for the advice, but you already know how that story goes.” I smile, catching his stink eye before he glances back down at my tattoo again. “You know how hard I looked for her. I was up there every day I had off for two months. I put days of my life into trying to find her. I don’t know if you know this, but trying to find one woman named Beth in all of Massachusetts is really hard. Just combing Dairy alone took all of July.”
Henry lifts the gun from my arm and shakes his head before wiping away the ink and blood that have swirled on my arm. “Why the tattoo then? If you’re never going to talk to her again, why look down and remember her every single day?”
“Because she’s the first woman I’ve ever loved, and I never want to forget that, even if I can’t have her.”
Henry nods and smiles before covering my fresh ink with a clear bandage. “You’re really growing up, cousin. And to think, I used to be worried about you.”
I give him a half smile. “Thanks for finishing it up. It looks great. I’ve got another one I want to get done on my leg sometime soon.”
He laughs. “As long as it’s not a lake with a naked woman named Beth in it, I’ll be happy to see you.”
“Good luck with this Cami girl. You deserve to be happy.”
“So do you,” he says, gruffly clearing his throat. “I hope you decide to go back sometime. I don’t know what good it will do, but you never know.”
I meet him at the register and nod as I swipe my credit card. “You’ll be the first to know.”
Another customer walks into the shop and I step out into the street, letting Henry get on with his day. I really do hope he’s found someone to share his time with. The man works non-stop and has the biggest heart of anyone up in these hills.
I climb up into my pickup truck and back out onto Main. It’s nearly dinner time and I’m not sure what I have in the house to cook for tonight except some dry pasta and a frozen piece of venison that won’t thaw in time. I should stop at The General Store and grab something and maybe a case of beer. I’m going to need something to go along with all the rock ballads I will inevitably fall into while I think of Beth. Thankfully, every shop on Main is within a few feet from the next so I only drive twenty feet before pulling into a spot in front of the market. I could’ve walked, but I wasn’t thinking.
I wasn’t thinking and apparently, I’m not seeing straight either. I rub my eyes and hop out of the truck, staring down the sidewalk toward the diner with my heart split open in my chest. That body. I know that body. I’ve seen it in every moonlit memory I’ve had this summer.
“Beth?” I say her name with a hint of caution as I convince myself that I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.
The woman turns toward me, her long blonde hair flowing off her shoulder.
It’s her. There’s no doubt about it. How could it be her?
“Alex?” Her sweet voice cracks as she jogs toward me.
My arms open wide as my heart slams against my chest.
“Oh my God,” I exhale as I wrap her curved frame in my arms, holding her close to me. “You’re here. Are you real?”
Tears roll down her cheeks as she stares up at me. “I almost left. I came out here, and I didn’t want you to think I was a weirdo. I got nervous that you didn’t feel the same way. It was one night. We didn’t have—”
My lips press into hers like waves to the shore and I breathe her in. Flowers, cinnamon, vanilla. “I went to you,” I say, kissing her lips between each word. “I looked for you for months.”
“You did? I’ve been living with Susan in Boston.” Her gaze drags down over my chest. “I had no idea.”
I brush a strand of her hair from her face and lean in to kiss her forehead. “I’m never letting you get away from me again.”