Indelible (18 page)

“Is it enough?” Angie rubbed her temples and wished she were with Luna and her magic bottle of massage oil. That would be far better than trying to determine the right way to curb Oliver’s aggressive tendencies.

“Have you talked to him, Angie?”

“No, but Luna did.”

“Really? Where were you?”

“Inside the assistant principal’s office. It was worse than being called there as a student.”

“I bet.” Jack chuckled. “Did he say why he did it?”

“The boy called his angel
stupid
.” Angie couldn’t quite follow Oliver’s progression. How did a disagreement over a fake tattoo escalate to Oliver’s friend Josh pinning a smaller boy while Oliver drew on his arm? Mr. Payton said no one was seriously injured, but the boy’s shirt was ripped. Angie would have to replace that.

“So he was defending something he knew was precious to Luna,” Jack surmised.

“But that doesn’t make sense. He’s only seen it a couple of times, and beyond saying that she did it herself and that it hurt, she’s never said anything about it being important to her.”

“She touches it anytime someone mentions her mother.”

“You think Oliver made that connection?”

“Maybe, maybe not. But the way she guards it, covering it with her hand? That would have registered. Perhaps not consciously, but enough to make him want to protect it the way she does.”

Her chest tightened. “Now I’m back to not seeing Luna again.”

“Don’t be silly, Angie. She’s a good woman, despite your efforts to paint her otherwise. Let her help you instead of pushing her away.”

“I don’t want her to hurt Oliver.”

“She won’t.”

“She might.”

Jack took another hit. “What are you afraid of?”

Angie debated telling Jack the truth. Did she really want to reveal her concerns to him? “She reminds me too much of your girlfriends. I don’t want to be with someone like that.”

“She reminds you…” After Jack’s voice tapered off, it came back stronger than ever. “Angie, you’re an idiot if you think she’s anything like the women I date.”

“She’s completely wild and untamed.” The thought made Angie’s breath catch in her throat. She pictured Luna naked and lying above her, hair cascading over her in loose tangles, a sheen of sweat covering her body, her eyes inviting and dangerous. She banished the image and continued ticking off the similarities Luna shared with her father’s line of women. “She does tattoos for a living, looks like a porn star, and owns more cow hide than a dairy farm. That’s not All-American wholesome. Not to mention, the longest relationship she’s ever been in was based solely on sex, and she has a reputation for being promiscuous.”

“That’s ridiculous. What’s the longest relationship you’ve been in, Angie? The last few months with Luna is the only one I can think of past high school, so you’re just as bad with demonstrated commitment. And you want to talk about promiscuous? You had Oliver when you were seventeen. Immaculate conception, while a popular subject amongst the Christians, is impossible. She owns her own business, which she is expanding. By all accounts, that makes her successful.” Jack stubbed out his joint and tossed it into the garbage disposal, then crossed the room and grasped Angie by the shoulders. “All that leaves is the leather pants. Are you really going to throw away the chance to be happy with a woman who adores you based on clothing?”

Angie sighed. When put that way, her fears seemed damn silly. Silly or not, she still wasn’t ready to fully embrace her growing feelings for Luna, let alone examine the possibility of love.

*

Saturday, September 12

“You know you have appointments this afternoon?” Perez tapped the appointment book.

“I’ll be back in time.” Luna couldn’t believe Angie was allowing Oliver the trip to Oaks Park, given his recent altercation at school. She was doubly surprised that she was still invited. Absolutely no way would she cancel now. She might have to cut the day shorter than she’d like to make it to work on time, but that was no reason to skip it altogether. Angie would understand. Hopefully Oliver would as well.

“The first one is at four.”

“I know.” One more reminder and Luna might roll up the appointment book and smack Perez on the nose with it.

“Okay. I just don’t want to be the one sitting here when Clarissa walks in and you’re still out on your play date.”

Clarissa Waters, one of Luna’s regular clients, had an endless desire for ink and a similarly endless supply of funds to fuel her obsession. She was also a royal pain in the ass. Her temper was perpetually at 99.9 degrees Celsius and the tiniest thing made her boil over. Once Luna offered her a register receipt, rather than a handwritten one with the description of the work done, and Clarissa threw a massive temper tantrum. She didn’t calm until Ruby stormed down the stairs and out-hissy-fitted her. Trust-fund babies spoke a language all their own, one that Luna would never understand.

“Perez, do not make me say it again. I’ll be here.” Luna ground her teeth.

“Okay.” Perez closed the appointment book.

“Okay.”

“Are you picking them up?” Perez asked.

Luna looked at the clock. “Yep, in about twenty minutes.”

“You excited?”

“Nervous. I can’t believe she agreed to let me come.” Luna shook her head slightly. Apparently, Jack had some sort of magic ability to change Angie’s mind. Luna needed to learn his secrets.

“What about tomorrow?” Perez dragged the stack of files from the bottom desk drawer.

Luna cringed. She didn’t want to look at applications for apprentices. “She said yes. You bringing Tori?” If Perez had invited Tori to Nan and Vi’s anniversary party it wouldn’t be so boring for Angie.

“Yep.” Perez flipped open the top file. “She’s pissed that I waited until the last minute, but she’s coming.”

“Good.” Luna scrambled to distract Perez from the applications. “Did you make the appointment with the realtor?”

“I tried. Called the realtor about fifty times. Kept getting kicked to voice mail.”

“Fifty? You’re kidding.” Luna knew Perez was obsessive, but that many calls in a day landed her squarely in stalkerville. “You’ll end up with a restraining order, not an appointment.”

“No, I won’t.” Perez stared hard at Luna. “We’ve looked at this place, it’s perfect. I don’t want to miss out because our realtor is spending the day at the beach. Literally or metaphorically.”

“That makes no sense.” Luna let Perez’s exaggeration pass. Yes, they’d looked at the exterior of the building, even peered through the windows to check out the basic layout. So far, it did appear perfect, but they hadn’t actually
looked
at it, not with any amount of critical objectivity. Perez had been so excited to find a place that met all their criteria, at least on paper, and Luna was in serious denial about moving. Neither of them was able to evaluate the actual pros and cons of the location. “One message is enough to get your point across. Now she’ll think we’re crazy.”

“Luna, you’re not allowed to talk yourself out of this.”

Luna didn’t answer. The idea of moving Coraggio still gave her twinges of guilt. Intellectually she knew it was the right thing, but emotionally, she was clinging to their current location.

“You find an apprentice?” Luna asked. Discussing would-be tattoo artists would be her penance for frustrating Perez over the real estate.

“I’ve narrowed it to four.” She laid out the sample sheets of art work. “And I need to know when you want to talk to them.”

Luna checked the clock again. Ten minutes until Angie expected her. “Just schedule them in the book. Any time, I don’t care.” She grabbed her jacket. “I gotta run. Wish me luck.” She waved to Perez on her way out the door.

When Luna pulled up in front of Angie’s house, she froze, unsure what to do next. Should she wait in the car? Should she go to the door? Should she have bought flowers? She was nervous as hell. Angie would never forgive her if she fucked this up. For that matter, Luna would never forgive herself.

Finally, she took a deep breath and opened the door. As she was climbing out of the car, her elbow bumped the steering wheel. The horn sounded louder than she ever remembered, and she jumped, victim of jangled nerves and embarrassment. She sprinted to the door. God forbid Angie thought she was the kind of asshole that honked the horn and waited in the driveway.

Oliver burst through the front door and stopped, close enough that Luna braced for impact. She thought Oliver intended to jump on her and was surprised when he held back. He vibrated with excitement.

“Hi, Luna,” Oliver said with an enormous smile.

“Hey.” Luna indulged the urge to ruffle his hair. Surprisingly, he didn’t resist. “Your mom inside?”

“Yeah, along with my friend Josh. Mom said he could go, too. If it’s okay with you.” Oliver bounced in place. “Is it? Is it okay?”

Oliver’s energy level was giving Luna a slight headache. Having his friend along would either double the intensity of her pain or provide Oliver with another outlet for his enthusiasm. She was about to find out. “That’s okay by me.”

“Yes.” Oliver jumped into the air and pumped his fist.

Luna looked over to see Angie standing on the front porch. Wearing a loose white button-down shirt, faded jeans with a hole in one knee, and the sweetest smile Luna had ever seen, Angie took her breath away.

Everything would be okay.

*

“Are you sure this is okay?” Angie held Luna’s hand, letting their arms swing in unison between them as they walked toward the entrance of Oaks Park. The family-centric amusement park probably wasn’t the best venue for lesbian displays of affection, but Angie liked the way Luna’s palm felt against hers. If she intended to have a full relationship with Luna, it was time to stop holding back. She gripped Luna’s hand a little tighter.

“What? This?” Luna raised their joined hands to her mouth and kissed the back of Angie’s. “I’m positive.”

“No, not this.” Angie jostled her hand slightly. “But that’s good to know, too. I was talking about them.” Oliver and Josh ran ahead of them, playing tag between the parked cars. “I should have warned you that Josh was coming.”

Luna shrugged. “Maybe. I’m just glad I’m here. You could have invited the entire varsity football team and the marching band, and it wouldn’t matter to me.”

“I almost canceled completely.” Angie let the sentence hang, glad she didn’t need to rehash her reasons. After all, Luna had been there.

“Why didn’t you?”

“I wanted to see Josh.” Angie collected her thoughts. She hadn’t been able to explain why she not only wanted to continue with the outing, but to include Oliver’s friend as well. “I…wanted to see them together. See if they act different.”

“Than what?” Luna faced Angie and gripped her hand a little tighter. She was concerned, which made Angie smile inside.

“Than before this week.” Angie couldn’t force herself to describe the situation more clearly. What should she say? Before my son assaulted someone. Before the angel incident. Before… The list of possibilities was long, and every one of them made her stomach ache.

“And?” Luna probed gently.

“No difference that I can see.” That bothered Angie. She wanted some clear indicator in Oliver or Josh’s behavior, preferably in the form of a neon sign declaring what went wrong to cause them to cross that line. But she didn’t see anything but the same two boys, sometimes sweet, sometimes surly, but with no hint of violence.

“Maybe it’s there and it’s just too small to notice,” Luna suggested.

“Maybe.” Angie released Luna’s hand and dug her wallet out of her pocket. They were almost to the ticket booth. “I made him wash the tattoo off.”

The boys reached the entrance and turned to wait. Oliver tapped his foot, pointed at a make-believe watch on his wrist, and scowled at Angie. Josh poked him in the side and they both burst into giggles. Angie shook her head. She still couldn’t reconcile the teasing boys in front of her with their actions earlier in the week.

“That’s good.” Luna’s simple acceptance eased Angie’s mind. She’d worried that Luna would be upset, possibly think Angie’s decision somehow reflected on Luna’s tattoo. That wasn’t the case, but it helped that Luna didn’t ask her to explain or justify her reasons.

They joined the boys at the entrance and Angie paid for their ride bracelets. Luna protested, but Angie shoved her money through the slot in the window first and won the argument by default.

“Which ride do you guys want to do first?” Luna fiddled with the red plastic band around her wrist.

“The scream-n-eagle!” both boys yelled at once.

Angie stared at the ride in question, which looked like a surefire ticket to vomitsville. She pointed to a more sedate ride. “How about the carousel?”

“Oh, Mom.” Oliver kicked the ground.

“Come on, Angie, we want to go on the cool rides.” Luna nudged her arm. Angie could tell Oliver’s excitement was beginning to rub off on her.

“You want to go on the scream-n-eagle?” Angie couldn’t believe it. Not a single adult was on it. They were waiting in a circle around the ride.