Page 30 of For a Goode Time Call…
She snorted. “Cassandra Danielle, I’m your older sister. I know you. There’s a guy, and he’s why you’re having this crisis about Rick.”
“It was bothering me.”
“What’s his name?”
“Why does there have to be someone?”
“Because if there wasn’t, you wouldn’t be arguing. You’d tell me there isn’t anyone. You’re dodging. Therefore, what the hell is his name?”
I sighed. Sisters. So annoying, especially when they know you better than you know yourself. “His name is Ink.”
“What’s his real name?”
“Thatishis real name.”
“Really? That’s kinda cool.”
“He’s a tattoo artist.”
“And his name is Ink?” An appropriate amount of disbelief.
“Serendipitous, right?”
“To say the least.” A pause. “What aren’t you saying?”
“He’s Inuit, six-foot-seven, and covered in tattoos from head to toe, never wears a shirt, and he calls me Little Sparrow.”
A really long, really significant pause. “Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Little Sparrow?”
“Apparently I’m delicate, but elegant, or something. I don’t remember how he put it.”
“Six-seven?”
“With a beard that hangs to his chest, a ponytail, and did I mention the tattoos on every inch of his skin?”
“And youlikehim?”
“I don’t know!” I yelled. “Yes, I do. I do like him. I can’t figure it out.”
“You once told me tattoos were trashy, long hair was effeminate, and beards were gross.” She spoke over my protest. “And, I believe, you once said you hated being made to feel any smaller than you already were, so any man more than six inches taller than you was right off the list.”
“Yes, Charlotte, I did say all that. He is literally everything I always thought I didn’t like in a man.”
“But?”
“But he’s the nicest, warmest, most genuine, interesting, and unique person I’ve ever met. He’s absolutely and utterly just himself. His tattoos are absolutely amazing, individual little works of art all connected and interwoven all over him. They’re not trashy—they’re an expression of who he is. And he’s absolutely gargantuan, and I feel so absolutely incredibly tiny around him, I don’t even know how to explain it, but it’s…comforting.”
“Are you attracted to him? Like, sexually?”
“I…” I paused, thinking. “Yeah.”
“You had to think about it, Cass.”
“I know. But that’s just because I didn’t even realize how much I liked him, or that I was even attracted to him. He’s just so…different. I’ve never in my life met anyone like him. He doesn’t judge, and he’s so wise, and…”
