Page 17 of Almost Always

“So do you, Raff. You grew up,” she offered quietly.

He chuckled and leaned back, strong hands with clean nails set on the table.Give me the strength to not drool over his hands. She’d come out that day with the intention of treating herself for surviving yet another crippling migraine. While seeing himwasa treat, she was feeling a weird kind of anxiety.

“Nice ink,” he said, nodding to her arm.

She’d been so distracted that she forgot she’d taken off her jacket, leaving her in a black tank top that exposed her floral sleeve. She smiled and stretched the arm out, turning it as she admired the beautiful colors and intricate design. Starting at her wrist, it covered her entire right arm all the way to her shoulder, where leaves hung over her shoulder blade. It was a burst of yellow, pink, red and orange, and was one of her favorite pieces on her body.

“You and Nonna Ames introduced me to flowers. In Greenville, my grandaunt Magnolia taught me more and now it’s a part of me.” She pointed at a few and smiled. “Tulips for the two of you, gladiolus for my dad, magnolias for my grandaunt, daisies and peonies for myself and a bunch of others I really liked.”

“They’re beautiful.”

“What about yours? From the looks of it, every inch of skin seems covered.”

He smiled. “Almost. Once I started, I couldn’t stop.”

“I know the feeling. This was never meant to be a sleeve, it turned out that way because I was addicted.”

“I knew you’d get it.” He smirked and added, “How about that cap, Daze?”

She laughed and clamped her hands over her mouth when it turned into her infamous wheezy cackle.

His eyebrows dipped at the action. “Don’t hide your laugh.”

She cleared her throat and dropped her hands. “It’s a weird laugh.”

“Who the fuck said that? It’s one of my favorite things about you.”

There was something so demanding and possessive about the way he said those words.

“Dad said a bad word,” Callahan sing-songed and held a hand out. Her friend didn’t look away as he handed a dollar to his son.

“How much money have you made off your dad?”

“A lot. Dad likes to swear about everything,” he said.

“Daisy.”

She sighed at the way he said her name and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table. “My ex didn’t like my laugh. Thought it sounded like an animal dying.”

His frown deepened. “I like your laugh. Cal, do you like her laugh?”

“Itisweird, so yes,” the kid said with the kind of candor only children were capable of. “But also because your eyes dance when you do.”

“I have to agree. They light up and that means it’s genuine,” Rafferty added.

Her heart twirled, pointe shoes and tutu included, at his words. Even as kids, he would tell her to fuck what everyone else had to say. Because the only opinion that mattered was hers. She did like her wheezy cackle. Sometimes.

“I should have known the Ames men would still be the sweetest of them all,” she said, eyes on Callahan as he puffed out his chest proudly.

“Spent a long time looking for that hat.”

She tugged it off her head, turning it over in her hands and smiled at all the embellishments she’d added over the years. “It became my security blanket,” she said, fingers tracing his initials. “Remember us lazing around in your bedroom the day before I left? Nonna called for you, so I was alone and wanted something of yours to hold onto. This is the first thing I saw.”

“Shame you didn’t leave anything of yours behind for me.”

“You seem to have done fine without it,” she teased.

“I didn’t.” The sincerity and firmness with which he said those words startled her. “Cal’s the best thing to ever happen to me, but I wasn’tfine.”

---