two waters, before asking if we need more time to decide. We both nod. I watch her walk away as Easton looks back to the menu. “Four. Would have been three but the elderly woman I stayed with for a while passed away.”
I frown. “That’s so sad.”
He shrugs.
I give him a break to look over what they serve, deciding on a chicken sandwich and fries. We’re quiet until the waitress comes back and takes our order, grabbing the menus and leaving us be.
Sipping my water, I watch him stare at me before I decide to say anything again. “I struggled figuring out what I wanted to do for a while. Did you always know you wanted to be an artist?”
He nods. “Tattoos tell stories and I’ve always wanted to use my art to do that.” His eyes go to his sleeve. “Each tattoo I have has a story behind it. I never want to make a permanent mark that doesn’t mean something to me. After I got out of the system, I met Jay. I’d sold some drawings here and there to save up to get a cheap apartment a few hours away, got commissioned for doing a few tattoo designs. Jay saw some of the stuff I drew and asked if I was interested doing a little interning at a shop he worked at. I was poor and not stupid enough to pass it up. He gave me a chance, gave me a nicer place to stay when I told him where I lived, and the rest is history.”
“You guys are close, huh?”
“He’s practically my brother.”
That makes me smile. “That’s kind of how I am with Jenna. She’s been there for me through thick and thin, even when I pushed her away. She wouldn’t let me.”
“You two met in college, right?”
I tell him all about the orientation we met in, how she knew from that day we were destined to be friends. Me? I was shy and awkward and wondering why somebody as confident as her even bothered. I stayed in the corner and never talked to anybody. Then we shared some Gen Eds together and we got closer. She insisted it was fate and I bought into it, knowing I could use a friend on campus since Danny went to a different college. I told her all about him, about my feelings, about his girlfriend at the time. She bought me ice cream when their relationship developed and alcohol when they got engaged. And after his death? She slept at my apartment every single night, holding me together when I wanted to fall apart. I told her everything except the reason he stormed out.
It hurt too much to admit, to tell her I was responsible. I know she would have told me I was being stupid, scolded me, and I couldn’t hear that. I know now that I was wrong for holding onto that guilt for so long.
We’re halfway through lunch when I study his ink. My eyes trail over the beautiful flowers. “Did you draw all of the tattoos on you?”
“Jay did some,” he admits. “But I did most of them.” He points to the ones he did, trailing his fingers over one of the roses.
“Why the flowers?” He seems attached to the one he’s touching, maybe not even realizing that he’s doing it.
He sits back in his chair, blinking down at his arm before meeting my gaze. “Roses were my mother’s favorite flower.” My eyes widen at his reply. “I lied to you before. I did find my parents. My father left my mother shortly after they abandoned me. He was shot and killed in a hit and run not long ago. My mother found me about five years ago and reached out asking if I’d be interested in meeting. Jay drove me to the place we agreed on and stayed in the car while I spoke with her. She was dying of breast cancer. Said it was karma for what she’d done. I didn’t talk to her for more than an hour, but I learned a lot. She loved roses. She enjoyed baking. She dreamt of being an artist but never made it happen. She seemed proud of me.”
Sadness fills me as he trails off to look at something behind me. “It sounds like you two have a lot in common.”
“Had. She died shortly after we met.”
“I’m sorry, Easton.”
“I don’t think it was karma,” he says, blinking and clearing the sullen look filling his eyes.