Epilogue
Altan
“That will never cease to be amusing.” Greta pointed to the tiny “baby” crib in my mate’s workstation, the one currently hosting Bunny Foo-Foo for her nap.
“Gotta be honest with you, Altan.” Brent grabbed my shoulder. “I thought you guys were wasting money when you bought those two cat cribs, but my baby loves them.”
“Your what?”
“You have your own baby?” He looked down at Laney, who was fast asleep in my arms. “Let me pretend I have mine.”
Brent was having to compete for the number one slot in Bunny Foo-Foo’s book now that my mate showed up. But, to be fair, my mate was king of the spoiling, and not only Laney and me but also Bunny Foo-Foo.
“Do you know where my mate is?” I asked Greta.
She nodded.
“Would you mind sharing with me?”
She thought she was so funny. “He went to go get coffee for everyone. I think he thought you and Brent were gonna be out longer than you were.”
Brent and I had taken to walking every afternoon that he had off as a way to stay in touch.
Now that I had a family, I worked hard to make sure I didn’t let my relationship with my bestie fall by the wayside.
Sothea had said it was important that I didn’t lose myself in parenthood, and I was glad he had because I might’ve.
Lose the job? Yes, because that was soul-sucking, but not my friends, not my dreams, and not all my free time.
I was lucky because with his job including built-in housing, it was easy enough for me to stay home until I figured out what I wanted next my big-boy job to be.
I didn’t want to go back to an office gig, but other than that?
I still hadn’t decided. I was exploring options, including possibly getting into graphic design, but there was no rush.
It was kind of cool being able to think about what I wanted to do and not what would sustain me.
The bell on the door jingled, and in came my mate with two coffee carriers and a bakery bag, the handle hooked onto his pinky. “Just the person I wanted to see.” Sothea set them down.
Brent walked over to him for a hug, thinking he was hilarious. “Wait, you weren’t talking to me?”
“Oh, absolutely I was.” My mate shook his head and chuckled. He came over to Laney and me, kissed my cheek, then looked down at her sleeping face. “How long has she been out?”
“Only about fifteen minutes.”
“So, is she transfer-ready?”
That was what we called it when she was asleep enough that we could move her without her waking, but not so long that moving her might make her think her nap was over.
“She is.”
He took her from my arms, cuddling her close, the most amazing father.
Laney was the belle of the tattoo parlor. Well, she shared the role with Bunny Foo-Foo. It was a sight to behold, the way the big, burly men who came in for tattoos would turn into balls of fluff when they saw either of them. So did the other people, but I found that visual most amusing.
My mate was one of those balls of fluff, only, with him, it wasn’t as amusing as it was hot.
“I stopped by your favorite place,” he said. “Go check it out.”
And sure enough, in the bakery bag was a box with my name on it and a second one that said, The Rest. Mini tarts, of course.
“You did not just call your sister-in-law the rest, did you?” Greta asked. She popped the box open and grabbed a tart.
“I didn’t specify the word choice,” my mate said. “I just said, Altan for one and they marked the other, so, if you’ve got a bone to pick, go check out the bakery.”
“No way. I’m not fighting with them. These are too good. Can’t chance them not selling them to me anymore.”
We’d become frequent flyers there, and I didn’t see that stopping anytime soon. No longer could I blame pregnancy cravings. They were just delicious.
“You having a tart, Brent?”
“Nah, I gotta get ready. Your hubby’s gonna give me my tattoo.”
“Bestie, that means you should have a tart. Keep that sugar up.”
“You insist?” He grabbed a strawberry pastry and downed it in three bites.
For someone who was the reason I came in here to start with, it sure took him a long time to get his tattoo. But he’d finally figured out what he wanted, although he still hadn’t told me what it was.
My mate’s brother came around. “So, got your design picked out?”
Brent shook his head. “I’m gonna do like Altan here and grab one from the machine.”
“You do know that the only person tattooing today, besides your bestie’s man, is me, and I’m taken.” Greta batted her eyelashes, joking, but we were all glad she’d begun tattooing again. There would need to be an assistant hired for her soon to keep up the paperwork and such.
“I’m not under any notion that I was going to leave here with a beau,” he replied.
He went to scan his card, and Greta shook him off. “Just plop this quarter in there. Let’s see what you get.”
He did, and out came the plastic ball, and he popped it open. Just like mine, it was a bear, although the style was very different.
“Huh? How’d that get in there?” Greta reached in the drawer and gave him another quarter.
“Wait, why do I get another quarter? This is perfect.”
“Nah, that’s our little brother’s. He doesn’t work here anymore.” Theo had done maybe three tattoos in the time I’d been there, and all three were for friends. Brent had met him before, and they had gotten along, so I was surprised she was being so weird about it.
“Nope, that’s the one I want,” Brent insisted.
“Okay, I’ll call him and see.” She left with her phone in hand, probably expecting it to be a long and loud conversation. She was good at those. But when she came back, she surprised us all by saying, “He’ll be here in an hour.”
My mate looked at her like she had lost her mind. I was going to have to pump him for details later about why any of this was confusing to him.
Until then, I was just going to enjoy the company of my new family, my best friend, and the tattoo parlor that brought us all together. What a difference a drunken bet makes.
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