Page 17 of Back to Me
“Good to know.” I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her head. I felt her relax in my arms as she laid her head on my chest. After a few minutes, we pulled apart. She took her keys out of her bag and unlocked her car. “I should go but I will see you in the morning.”
“I’ll be the one with the coffee.”
“My hero.” She rested her hand over her heart and grinned. Shaking my head, I opened the driver’s side door and waited for her to get in before closing it after her. I got back in my truck once she had started her car up and pulled out of her spot. Once she had left, I headed for my house. I really wanted to go after her; I didn’t believe that she was just tired. If she didn’t want to talk about it though, she wouldn’t. I just had to hope that she will come to me when she was ready to talk, or that she was okay in the morning when I picked her up. If not, then I may have one less brother. If he didn’t pull his head out of his ass, then that may happen regardless. I just hoped that tomorrow night with Dallas went well. I know she wanted to get together, but she hadn’t really spent a lot of time with her since being back. At least she would have Belle with her, plus Beau and I would be nearby. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t shield her from everything. She needed to be standing on her own two feet, which was her whole point of keeping her return from us for so long. I would be there as a shoulder if she needed one. Pulling into my driveway, I got out of my truck and headed inside. I needed a shower and then sleep.
* * *
The next morning, I picked up Ally, coffee in hand as promised, and drove her to work before heading into the shop to meet with my client. She seemed okay, but that didn’t settle the feeling in the pit of my stomach that she was just putting on a brave face. I only had one today so I could catch up on some things that I had been neglecting before I went back to meet Ally. I would check on Belle as well and see if she wanted to come with us or if she was going home first and heading to Hurricane’s from her house. Maybe I would message Beau later and avoid dealing with Vannah for now. Last thing I wanted was to upset her and for Cash to come in like a raging bull and piss on our night out. I was better off leaving that for today.
Unlocking my shop’s front door, I left it open for when Oscar arrived and headed to my office. Putting all my stuff down, I took my phone and slipped it into my pocket and sat down at my desk. Turning my computer on, I sipped my coffee while I waited for it to load. Once it had, I opened the security camera app so that I could see when someone came in the front door before opening the folder I uploaded all my final designs into. Finding Oscar’s design, I printed it off, ready for him when he came in. I needed his final okay on it before I print it on the transfer stencil. Checking my calendar, I made sure that I didn’t have any surprise appointments that I had forgotten about and double-checked on my appointment with Jeremiah for tomorrow. I got his number from the appointment schedule and sent him a quick message from the work phone to confirm he was still good to go ahead, then looked at his design. Well, there goes everything I had planned. I was going to have to work on that today after I finished with Oscar. There were a few things I needed to change before it was perfect.
I finished off my coffee, then sat my mug down and stood up. I needed to get the booth set up. I put in the code on my door, opened it, and went inside. It may have been overkill but this ensured that no one could enter this room unless they worked here. I wanted to make it so that my clients didn’t have interruptions—my family included—midway through, taking my attention away from them.
After putting on a set of gloves, I cleaned everything down. Once I was done, I threw those gloves out and got a new pair. Getting out my favorite gun, I checked the battery was fully charged and connected it to the gun before setting it down on the trolley. Next, I made sure that I had a spare battery for it in case something happened. It hadn’t happened before; I could get at least six hours out of one battery which was plenty of time, but you never know. I grabbed out the black ink and empty pots from the drawers and sat them on the trolley too. I would wait until Oscar was in here before I tipped the ink in. We had confirmed his appointment yesterday, but things happen, and I didn’t want to waste the ink if I could help it. I was the same with the Vaseline. Once I had everything laid out, I took my gloves off and threw them out. Leaving the room, I took a seat behind my desk and checked the time. It was almost ten so he should be here soon.
Fifteen minutes and three unanswered calls later, I was pissed off. I get that shit happens but at least give me a call or send me a message that you are running late. I tried to push it out of my mind for now while I got up and walked to the front of the shop. I was about to lock the door when a woman came walking through. I moved back behind the counter.
“Hi, welcome to Inked Up.”
“Hey, I was wondering if the owner was around?”
“He is, you are lookin’ at him. How can I help ya?”
“My name is Gabriella, Gabby to those I like, and I was wondering if you had any jobs going here?”
“Why don’t you come through to my office and we can talk. Do you have any designs that I can see?” She nodded and reached into her satchel and pulled out a folder.
“These are all my designs and some shots of the ones I have finished. I also have references in the back.” I took it from her and motioned for her to follow me.
“Can I offer you anything to drink before we sit down?”
“No, thank you, I’m fine.”
“Alright, let’s see.” I sat down at my desk and sat the folder in front of me. She took a seat opposite. “What brings you to Harrison?”
“Well, I used to live here but left. Thought it might be time to come back.” I was quiet while I flipped through her work, and I had to admit that she was talented. I just didn’t know if I could offer her anything solid.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Gabriella, I’m not sure what I can offer you on a full-time basis, but I am happy to give you a trial. I have another room here as well as a booth for a piercer that you can use. I have more clients than I know what to do with so we can speak to them, show them your work, and see how they would feel about switching artists. From what I can see here, some of them would be right up your alley.”
“Do you have someone to do piercings, because I can do that as well?”
“Sure, if you want to do that, would save me from interviewing any more people, I am happy to give you a trial then we can look at perspective clients for you.”
“That would be amazing, thank you so much.”
“No problem. I’ve got to ask though, what made you come to me?”
“Well, I’ve heard good things about you from a mutual colleague of ours. He told me when I came back, to look you up.”
“Oh?” I raised a brow and opened her folder again and flipped to the references. My eyes ran down the list until it stopped on a name I hadn’t spoken to in so long but couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah, Gus. It’s been a while. I’ll have to call and thank him for putting in a good word for me.”
“When did you work with him?”
“It was a few years ago. I was running from some stuff going on here, so I went to Vegas for a little while. We met, I told him I was getting ready to open a shop, so he let me work with him for a bit and taught me everything I know about the business side of it. He let me work on a few of his clients for him and build my name and branding a bit more.”
“Did you meet his friends?”
“I did, some of their work was done by me. Some of Gus’s too.” I pushed her folder back to her and she took it from me. “Let me show you around.” For the next hour, I showed her where everything was and where she would be working. She seemed happy enough by the time she left, and after swapping numbers, I told her I would call her when I had a booking for her. Once she left, I did the stocktake I had been ignoring and put in an order. Once that was done, I sat down to finish the design for Jerimiah, in the hopes that he wouldn’t be a no-show tomorrow.
