From Bittersweet Promises #3
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I groaned.
The rest of the staff was off since Nick would close up on his own. Sebastian was just there since he didn’t have homework or a date with Marley.
“Was she hot at least?” Sebastian asked, and the client, a woman in her sixties, bopped him on the head with her bag gently.
“Sebastian Montgomery. Be nice.”
Sebastian blushed. “Sorry, Mrs. Anderson.”
I looked over at the woman and grinned. “Hi, Mrs. Anderson. It’s nice to see you out of the classroom.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, even though they filled with laughter.
“I needed my next Jane Austen tattoo, thank you very much,” the older woman said as she went back to working with Sebastian.
She had been my and then Sebastian’s English teacher.
The fact that she was on her fifth tattoo with some literary quote told me that I had been damn lucky in most of my teachers growing up.
She was kick-ass, and I had a feeling that she would let Sebastian do the tattoo for her rather than just have him work on the design with me as we did for most of the people who came in.
He had learned under my father and was working under me now.
It was strange to think that he wasn’t a little kid anymore.
But he was in a long-term relationship, kicking ass in college, and knew what he wanted to do with his life.
I might know what I want to do with my work life, but everything else seemed a little off.
“So it didn’t work out?” Nick asked as he walked up to the front desk with the clients after going over aftercare.
“Not really,” I said, looking down at my phone.
The client, a woman in her mid-twenties with bright pink hair, a lip ring, and kind eyes, leaned over the desk to look at me.
“You’ll find someone, Leif. Don’t worry.”
I looked at our regular and shook my head. “Thanks, Kim. Too bad that you don’t swing this way.”
I winked as I said it, a familiar refrain from both of us.
Kim was married to a woman named Sonya, and the two of them were happy and working on in vitro with donated sperm for their first kid.
“Hey, I’m sorry too that I’m a lesbian. I’ll never know what it means to have Leif Montgomery. Or any Montgomery, since I found my love far too quickly. I mean, what am I ever going to do not knowing the love of a Montgomery?”
Mrs. Anderson chuckled from her chair, Sebastian held back a snort, and I just looked at Nick, who rolled his eyes and helped Kim out of the place.
I was tired, but it was okay. The date wasn’t all bad. May was nice. But it felt like I didn’t have much right then.
And then Nick sat in front of me, scowled, and I realized that I did have something. I had my friends and my family. I didn’t need much more.
“So, you and May didn’t work out?”
I raised a brow. “You knew her name? Did I tell you that?”
Nick shook his head. “Lake did.”
That made sense, considering the two of them spoke as much as we did. “So, was it your idea to set me up on a blind date?”
“Fuck no. That was all Lake. I just do what she says. Like we all do.”
I sighed and went through my appointments for the next day. “We’re busy for the next month. That’s good, right?” I asked.
“You’re the business genius here. I just play with ink. But yes, that’s good. Now, don’t let your cousin set you up any more dates. Find them for yourself. You know what you’re doing.”
“So says the man who dates less than me.”
“That’s what you think. I’m more private about it. As it should be.” I flipped him off as he stood up, then he gestured towards a stack of bills in the corner. “You have a few personal things that made their way here. Don’t want you to miss out on them before you head home.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“No problem. I’m going to help Sebastian with his consult, and then I’ll clean up. You should head home. Though you’re doing it alone, so I feel sorry for you.”
“Fuck you,” I called out.
“Fuck you, too.”
“Boys,” Mrs. Anderson said, in that familiar English teacher refrain, and both Nick and I cringed before saying, “Sorry,” simultaneously.
Sebastian snickered, then went back to work, and I headed towards the edge of the counter, picking up the stack of papers.
Most were bills, some were random papers that needed to be filed or looked over.
Some were just junk mail. But there was one letter, written in block print that didn’t look familiar.
Chills went up my spine and I opened it, wondering what the fuck this was.
Maybe it was someone asking to buy my house.
I got a lot of handwritten letters for that, but I didn’t think this was going to be that.
I swallowed hard, slid open the paper, and froze.
“I’ll find you, boy. Oops. Looks like I already did. Be waiting. I know you miss me.”
I let the paper hit the top of the counter and swallowed hard, trying to remain cool so I didn’t worry anyone else.
I didn’t know exactly who that was from, but I had a horrible feeling that they wouldn’t wait long to tell me.
Read the rest in Bittersweet Promises! OUT NOW!