I chop away at the kohlrabi and fennel. Smiling, I ask, “And?”
He grabs a handful of the blueberries from the bowl they’re soaking in. “And nothing, that’s what I wanted to ask. If we can get a few groups on your books for April and May.”
Chop. Chop.“Yea, but you could have called or texted that. What else?”
He laughs, scratching his jaw. “Ev wanted me to see if I could do some digging.” He shifts, because Jack and I don’t typically talk like this. In fact, there was a time not long ago when I punched him in the face and threatened him to get his shit together about my sister. We keep things mostly about sports and investments. There was when I asked him to use his Cayman Islands place and not ask questions, but other than that, we don’t dive deep into feelings.
“She already knows, probably more than she wants.” I laugh and grab the box of frozen bison from the dry ice container. Running the water, I clean out the sink and start unwrapping the meat.
“Is it serious?”
I laugh and so does he. “Yeah. It is.”
He nods. And a beat later, he says, “The Lakers have a pretty good shot this year, yeah?”
“That’s rhetorical, you know that.”
My phone buzzes on the counter twice.
My hands are wet and covered in juices from the meat I’m separating, so I leave it.
“Want to hit Mac’s pads class tomorrow morning?”
He doesn’t answer with my phone bouncing and buzzing again.
“You want me to check that for you?” Jack asks.
“Yea, just let me know who it is,” I say as I run the water to rinse my hands.
“Agent Harper?” he says. “She keeps texting. It says: 911. Compromised.”
My stomach sinks. And before I can grab my phone from his hands, I hear screaming from next door, followed by the loud banging of something or someone hitting the wall.
“Fuck!” I shout as I rush out the back door and run as if her life depends on it.
50
Giselle
Michael Riggs has hadthis tattoo scheduled for more than six months now. I’ve told him that I can fit him in sooner, but every time I have a cancellation, he tells me he needs the time to decide on the design. Pain in the ass, but he’s grown on me. I think because he’s the only one left in the bunch who I can still make uncomfortable with what comes out of my mouth. But today, I was relieved to see him. I wasn’t ready to hear what Henry was telling me. How can he just change his life like that? He doesn’t know all of the facts yet, and now he’s making huge life adjustments for someone that he doesn’t know the full picture about.
“You okay?” Michael asks, interrupting my thoughts again.
“Yes, I’m okay.” I shake off the chaos happening in my mind for a minute and focus back on Michael. “What’s it going to be, Mikey? Finally decide on a big banana and cherries for your lower back. A nice bright tramp stamp?”
Ever the serious one, he doesn’t even crack a smile. “Not funny. Also, not my name,” he says. “You sure you’re okay? You look kind of scared and angry all mashed together.”
“Do you think that’s the right thing to say to someone who’s going to spend the next couple of hours tattooing something on your body? Permanently?”
I raise my eyebrows at him as he sits in the front of my shop. “Okay, let me print out what I drew for you. Show me how big you want it.”
He stands and lifts one leg of his basketball shorts, showing off his thigh. One thing about Michael Riggs, the man works out diligently, and it shows. His thigh is a lump of muscle. It’s going to hurt like a bitch to tattoo it. I smile at the thought, because I’m a dick like that.
I turn on some Nina Simone, because that woman can croon in my ear for hours. She’s also been giving me inspiration lately with some new designs. Plus, I can’t help but think about my Sinnerman. Ugh, how do I navigate this withhim?
A few minutes later, and we’ve decided on the size of the vector design of the ridge that mimics the one in Strutt’s Peak. I wipe down his thigh and start to shave the dark hair away so that the surface area is clean and prepped.
I hear my phone buzz from the front counter, but I don’t want to take off my gloves and have to re-sanitize. So I ignore it. As it is, the size of this thing is going to take at least two hours tonight just to outline properly.