“Yeah, things are…” A montage of Rian and me in fifty million positions over the last twenty-four hours rolls through my mind. All our jagged edges fit together like puzzle pieces. “Good.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m not deaf.”
I chuckle and head to my office, passing Frankie’s station.
“Hey, boss. I heard you got your head out of your ass.”
I look over her shoulder to see a butterfly with three Greek letters underneath. The girl she’s working on looks me over. A look that, once upon a time, would’ve had me sliding a chair next to Frankie and shooting the shit.
“I did. She’ll be here shortly to give you all the details, I’m sure.”
“Can’t wait.” Frankie chuckles. “Oh, I had no one for Jolie. She’s coloring in your office. Sorry.”
“My favorite girl.” I wink to her to let her know it’s okay.
As I walk away, I overhear the girl asking Frankie if we’re a couple.
Frankie, being Frankie, says, “Hell no, he’s my boss. He’s taken by a gorgeous blonde who’s a brilliant mathematician.”
I smile all the way back to my office. Who would’ve thought the word taken would sound so calming? Not me.
I’m on cloud nine until I open my office door to find Jolie with a crayon on my wall.
She freezes. Then she gives me that sweet smile of hers. “Uncle Dylan!”
She runs to me, so I bend down. When she wraps her little arms around my neck, I pick her up and squeeze her.
“You’re a lucky girl we’re so free with art around here.” Which is true. Our welcome table has drawings from all the tattoo artists who have come through here. “Do you want paper or a coloring sheet?” I put her down.
“I have a coloring book.” She holds up a coloring tattoo book. Of course. She kneels on the floor and opens the book, choosing to color an angel tattoo.
“Can I join you?” I ask, sitting on the couch and grabbing her crayons.
“Want to pick?” She hands me the book.
I scroll through and pull out a heart with angel wings and a banner across the front. Holding the crayon in my right hand feels weird. The fact that I miss inking so much I’ve resorted to coloring says the next five weeks are going to be a struggle.
Jolie joins me on the couch and cringes. “You’re outside the lines.”
“I’m a lefty, so I don’t do much with my right hand,” I say. And I don’t say that her angel is all blue and she’s outside the lines too.
“Mommy says to stay in the outline if I want to be like her when I grow up.”
I chuckle. “Is that what you want to be when you grow up? A tattoo artist?”
“I want to be Mommy,” she says, coloring a line on my page with her blue crayon. She giggles.
I watch her concentrate on her picture, pressing too hard. She’s such a sweet kid but hasn’t had the easiest life so far. She’s heard and seen way more than she ever should at her age.
“Your mommy is pretty cool,” I remark, exchanging my red for gold.
“Rian too,” she says. “You like Rian?”
“Man, news gets around quick in these parts.”
She giggles and slides down to sit on her knees on the other side of the coffee table, leaning forward and staring at me.
“Yeah, I like Rian.”
“She’s pretty like a princess,” she says.
I nod. Jolie’s right. Rian is pretty like a princess, and instead of being with a prince, she’s chosen me, the commoner who wants to brand her with a tattoo drawn just for her.
“Mommy’s not pretty like a princess,” she says.
I laugh. Maybe they should make a princess doll with tattoos and an edge that would challenge any prince that came her way.
“Mommy doesn’t like princess stories. She says there’s no such thing as a prince and I need to be able to save myself. Be strong.”
Only Frankie would lecture her kid about fairy tales, but I can’t say I blame her.
“I don’t really believe in all that ‘prince saving the princess’ stuff either,” I admit as Frankie opens the office door.
Jolie’s eyes widen. “Really?”
I shake my head. “I think sometimes both the princess and the prince need saving.”
Her small eyebrows crinkle.
“Someday you’ll understand,” I say.
“Lecturing my kid on fairytales?” Frankie walks in and sits in my office chair. “Finally being productive, huh?”
“Can you tell I’m itching to do anything with art?” I continue to color outside the lines, shading the wings.
“Not bad for your right hand,” she says.
“Look, Mommy. An angel.” Jolie hands her picture to Frankie.
“I love it. It’s beautiful. Remember you have all those colors though. See how Dylan uses more than one? You can too.”
Jolie snatches back the picture.
“Only you would criticize a kid’s coloring page.”
Frankie shrugs, not offended in the least. “It’s merely a suggestion.” She winks at Jolie, whose face lights up.
Jolie takes the gold crayon from my hand and puts a halo on the top of the angel’s head. Then she puts the gold down and takes out the blue one again.
“Blue is her favorite color,” I say and Frankie nods.
“How do you spell Jax?” Jolie asks me, and I side-eye Frankie.
“J.A.X.” I write it on the back of my paper so she can see the letters.
When she writes them, it looks more like UAT, but she gave it a try. Her name at the bottom is more legible but spaced so far apart it takes a minute to figure out what it is.
“Can I go out there?” she asks, knowing she’s not allowed to run through the tattoo stations. The waiting area and my office are the only places she has free rein.
“He just finished,” Frankie says, and Jolie bolts out of the room.
“And you?” I stand.
“The girl brigade is complete. I have an appointment in ten though. I hate to ask this on a Saturday night, but would you mind watching Jolie?” She cringes the same way Jolie did when she told me I color outside the lines.
“Sure. What else do I have to do?” Other than take out my girlfriend. “Mind if Rian and I take her to dinner?”
“Not at all. She’ll give you a good idea of what it’ll be like when you have your own kids.” She laughs, and I throw a crayon at her back as she leaves.
Jolie runs back in and Frankie swoops her up. “He loved it. He hung it on the wall.”
Frankie turns to me and I can’t decipher the look on her face, but it’s not one of happiness. “That’s nice.”
Jolie does a little shimmy to get Frankie to set her down.
“Go work, I got this,” I say.
“Thanks, boss.”
As Frankie leaves and I watch Jolie, my mind wanders to kids. I’m sure it’s something Rian wants, and I used to think about back when I was a teenager, probably because I never had my own family. But now that I’m a grown man I know that kids are a lot of responsibility and you have to be a good role model. That thought is terrifying.
So I do what I do best and push it aside to deal with another day.