“Yeah, I’m good.” I lift the bag of food in my other hand. “I saved the food.”
“That’s obviously the most important part,” Amelia rolls her eyes. “Are you ready to go?”
“Not until I see the finished product,” I argue.
“It’s all wrapped up. You’ll have to wait a bit to see it. Maybe we can find somewhere to eat and I’ll show you afterward.” She touches the edge of the plastic around her tattoo. “Thank you, again, Charleigh. It’s more than I could have dreamed up. I seriously can’t wait until it’s healed.”
“Anytime, girl,” Charleigh grins. “Let me know when you want to come in for the next one. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you’re already itching for it.”
“You know your clients well,” Amelia laughs. “I’ll be calling you soon. Now… I’m going to go eat. I’m starving.”
“Y’all be careful on the drive home.”
“We will,” I say. “Tell Jake I’ll call him tomorrow sometime.”
Charleigh has a shit eating grin when she replies, “Will do. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn toward the shop door, and place my hand on the small of Amelia’s back. I want to pull her closer. Not until I know for sure that we’re on the same page, though That I’ll have the right to hold her in my arms and not let go.
I open the car door for her before I slide into the driver seat. “Want to go back to the park? It’s not too cold tonight.”
“Sure,” she says as her stomach growls again. “Can we eat the fries on the way there? Cold fries are never good, and I’m pretty sure my stomach may start eating itself if I don’t feed it.”
“Go ahead,” I hand over the bag of food. “I’ll get us to the park as fast as possible.”
* * *
“I think this is going to becomeourspot,” Amelia says around a mouthful of hamburger. That would probably gross most guys out. I think it’s kind of cute.
We’re sitting on the merry go round again, not spinning this time because that’s just asking for trouble. There isn’t much room for talk. Amelia is eating like she’s been starving for days. Most of it has to be from adrenaline, though. She keeps lifting up the small sleeve on her shirt to admire her new ink. I get why people like them, and go get them frequently, it’s just not my thing. One is enough for me.
This should be the perfect segue for the talk I want to have about us. I chicken out. “How’s the burger?”
“So, freaking good,” she moans. “It probably would have been better when it was still hot, but the temperature doesn’t matter at all. It’s. That. Good.”
Charleigh is a goddess for mentioning that restaurant. If it were up to me, we would have hit up a drive thru on the way back to Asheville. “I’m glad you like it,” I smile. As long as she’s happy, I’m happy.
She crumbles the wax paper holding the burger and shoves it in the bag. “I can’t wait to take this stupid wrap off. It’s starting to itch.”
“Whatever you do, don’t scratch it. It could take the ink off your skin.”
“You know,” she leans back. “For someone who doesn’t have a lot of tattoos, you sure know a lot about them.”
Wrapping the other half of my burger up, I place it in the bag. It’ll be my lunch at work tomorrow. “It’s the hazard of having two best friends that are dating tattoo artists.” It’s literally all they talk about some nights. I could probably run that shop if they ever needed me to.
“What time do you have to go to work tomorrow?”
“Early,” I reply. “I have to open.”
“And here I am keeping you out late.” She looks over at me. “You can take me home if you need to since you have to be up super early. I don’t go in until lunch.”
The urge to tell her it’s fine is strong. Being tired, and grumpy, is almost worth it if it means I get to spend more time with her. She makes me feellighter, like I don’t have a shit hole home to go back to. On the other hand, Tony doesn’t like when I’m overly tired, and is likely to send me home if he sees me so much as yawn.
“Are you sure? I don’t want the night to end. I have no idea what’s in store for me tomorrow.” It kills me to say that.
“Yep. I’m good. I could probably use more sleep. It’s still hard for me to fall asleep in a room that isn’t mine.” She grabs the food bag and starts to stand up. “Are you done with this?”
“I have the rest of my burger in there. I can take that out so we can put the rest in the trash.” I reach for the bag.