Chapter Eighteen
Spreading Her Wings
Ziggy
I never saw a fight clear the air so quickly, but Ro seemed like a new woman. I hardly had a chance to check my phone while we waited for French toast, she didn’t stop talking. Oddly, it didn’t annoy me the way chatty people normally did.
“I can’t believe you were married to her long enough to have five kids, Jesus.” Ro laughed.
I shook my head, “To be fair, I wasn’t here that long. I was deployed most of the time we were married.”
She flubbed her lips like that didn’t mean anything, “You know, I had a friend in middle school. Her mother was a prison wife. She said if her husband wasn’t incarcerated so frequently, they’d have been divorced long ago, you imagine that was the story with you two?”
I laughed and shook my head slowly, “I don’t know. Maybe I’d have been a better partner, or maybe I’d have been a worse one if I’d have been more physically present. It’s possible we’d have never fallen apart, but just as likely we’d have grown tired of each other eventually anyhow. I try not to look back. I just accept shit for what it is and try to do better tomorrow. What else can we do?”
“What about your parents?”
“Are you sure you’re a gardening major? I’m getting shrink vibes.” I narrowed my gaze playfully.
Ro grinned and shook her head, “I just mean, are they alive? Still married?”
“Both gone, they were still married.” I summed up for her, as the food arrived.
She smothered her food in syrup, and we dug in. She was right, they were really good with that powdered sugar on top.
When we finished, I checked the time and was pleased to discover it was only noon. I slid my phone out and shot off a quick text to Sauce.
Who is working?
“Come on.” I tipped my head encouraging her out of the booth as I dropped a tip on the tabletop and led her to the van.
“We can go back to the house if you want. I don’t have to be there for two hours,” Ro offered, as my phone went off again.
I glanced down at Sauce’s response and grunted.
Moxie.
“What now?” Ro groaned, drawing air through her teeth as she lifted her gaze from the phone to my face and grimaced.
“Nothing bad. I was asking Sauce who is working at his new shop.”
“Your son has a shop?”
I nodded. “A tattoo studio.”
“Somebody getting ink?”
“You,” I informed her, before pulling onto the freeway.
She didn’t object, but she didn’t take her gaze off me for a while, either. I pulled up in front of the huge warehouse style building he’d secured for the place. There were a few cars out front, but I was only interested in the 1970 Monte Carlo with the license plate that read DRTY MOXI.
I pointed toward the cherry-red car, and told Ro, “That’s Talon’s friend Moxie. She and Sauce are the only ones allowed to lay Dirty Savage ink of any kind.”
“Oh.” Ro nodded, not yet taking her seatbelt off.
“You don’t have to get tattooed today but come inside so she knows your face in case you change your mind.”
“I– thought women couldn’t be Dirty Savages?”
“They can’t.”
Her lips and brows formed a question, though she offered none.
“You’re the president’s ol’ lady, if you want ink saying so, this is where it comes from. That’s all I’m saying.” I slowly spelled it out for her.
“There’s a special tattoo for that?” she asked, reaching for her seatbelt finally.
I raised a shoulder, “There is certain imagery that is associated with the club, sometimes it’s mingled in.”
She climbed out and followed me inside.
There were a few artists in the corner huddled in their workspaces with clients. Moxie had her back to me, a phone to her ear while she stared at a schedule book.
“Be with ya in a minute,” she called over her shoulder.
“You bet,” I shot back, causing her to turn at once.
She stuck her tongue out and grinned, waving, before she returned to her call. A few moments later, she hung up the cordless and hurried to the counter we were standing at.
“Sauce told me you got married, congrats, Ziggy.” Moxie rambled, before turning her attention to Ro, “Talon never invites me to anything.”
“This is Moxie. Mox, this is Ro, my ol’ lady. She’s not sure if she wants to be inked up today, she has class here in a minute.”
“No– I do,” Ro denied, “Do I get to see it first?”
Moxie laughed and waved her around the counter.
“There are two or three designs that can be put with the ‘property of’ tattoos, unless you had something else in mind–” Moxie paused and looked back at me.
“I’m good with whatever she wants.”
“Wait.” Ro looked up from the two scraps of paper she was holding, “Which one does Jolene have? I don’t want the same one she has.”
I laughed so hard I snorted, “Yeah right.”
“What?” she asked, when Moxie giggled.
“Jo doesn’t have any tattoos. She hates the club.”
“Oh,” Ro seemed to glow hearing this, “How–? What do they mean though?”
“Huh?”
She held up the raven most avoided just because of the line work. “What’s with the crow?”
“Raven,” Moxie corrected, “Messengers of the gods if you ask some. I always thought it would look cool if the bottom kind of streamed down into smoke. A little razzle-dazzle.”
“That does sound cool.” Ro grinned.
My phone buzzed and I fumbled with it while they discussed placement.
You up there?
I shot Sauce a simple thumbs up emoji.
“Great, let me draw one up for you.” Moxie hopped to her desk.
Ro came and sat on my lap in the foyer. I hated leather furniture, but I couldn’t fault them for it, I figured the cleanup was probably easier with it being a public place. Moxie returned to us in no time, holding out a pretty impressive raven with wings that faded just as she promised. Above the creature was my name in fancy script, with a bold printed ‘Property of’ artistically placed over the top.
“Where the fuck are you going to put that?” I glanced at my lap.
Ro flashed a dimpled smile and spread her hand over her throat.
I didn’t know what to say for a minute. That was dedication. The type of shit you did in forever situations.
Marriage is forever, dumbass , I inwardly told myself.
“You– you may not have time for all that today,” I pointed out.
“She can outline, and I can come back if needed,” Ro suggested.
“For sure,” Moxie agreed.
I yawned and followed them back. Moxie was good, she’d been tattooing for years, so she was pretty quick for such detail. Ro surprised me, I figured she’d change her mind about the throat piece, but she sat for it like a champ.
We had fifteen minutes to get her to campus, once Moxie had it all bandaged, and I’d paid for it.
Thankfully, traffic was favorable. I pulled up along the edge of the visitor’s lot, as close as I could get her to the building she needed for her class.
“Thanks for a perfect morning,” Ro kissed my cheek, as she prepared to hop out.
“Almost perfect,” I grinned, recalling the start.
“Meh, it takes more than Jolene to ruin my day.” Ro laughed, “See you in a few hours then?”
“You got it.” I nodded.