Page 22 of Ink & Snow
“There you go,” he said after a few more seconds.
Ella picked up the mirror and looked at herself. “Yes! Finally. You know, if I ever want to get my belly button done, I’ll have to graduate top of my class.”
Amory whistled. “That would be pretty cool.”
“It would be a metric fuck-ton of work. It’s too bad I can’t bribe you to just do it without calling Rae first.” She looked at me and the thermos mugs in my hand. “I don’t think you can bribe him either. Oh, don’t ever play poker with him. He will gut you and make it look like an accident.”
“Ella, shh!” Amory said, grinning at me as he rolled his little table aside and pulled his gloves off, going slow with the right one.
The kid grinned at me. “You’re welcome, New Fran.”
“Thanks, kid. I appreciate it.”
She made a dismissive noise. “I’m not a kid.”
It took the kid some time to take photos of her new piercing, get her winter coat on, grab her shit, and leave, but she did, and I was finally alone with Amory.
I said, “Sorry I just barged in.”
“No worries.” He cleaned his little rolling table and deposited the needle in one of those special containers usually reserved for doctor’s offices. “I always get walk-ins. You know what you want?” he asked with a cheeky grin.
Oh, did I ever.
I held out the coffee. “I made this especially for you. I want to watch you drink it.”
“You and your coffee,” he said, taking the offered mug from me.
He kicked his little rolling stool toward me and hopped up on his client chair himself, sipped the light roast Americano.
“Ah. This is good coffee, and I really needed it.”
I sat and drank some of my own. “Agreed. Oh, I’ll clear the sidewalk out front for you. Don’t want you to aggravate that hand.”
He blushed, hid it behind the mug. “You don’t have to do that, Soyer.”
There were so many other things I wanted to do to him. Get him out of that sweater he was wearing, ghosts holding bedsheet-covered hands and wearing Santa hats. I wanted to have him in my bed, under me, wanted to kiss those pink lips and never stop. Amory was like catnip. I had never met anyone who had that effect on me.
“I’ll do it. I saw you struggle just now. Don’t think the kid noticed, but you should take it easy.”
He sighed. “Yeah. I’m going to. I’m actually closing up after this and heading home. That means I technically have the afternoon off and time to clear your sidewalk while you set up.”
“Oh, please. Dr. Ben would chase me out of town if he saw you do that for me. Plus, I did enough for the day as far as the shop is concerned. Even had my first customer.”
“Congrats! Can I ask who? Or is that weird?”
I turned left and right on the stool. The thing was well-oiled. “Mayor’s secretary.”
Amory slurped noisily. “Elias knows everything and everyone in town. He’s a little odd, but in a good way.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did you feed Cherry?”
I chuckled. “Of course I fed Cherry. Demanding little sucker.”
“She’s a baby. Of course she’s demanding.”
Amory looked away to the side as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how. My instinct told me to press him, but it was the instinct that had made me an excellent fixer.
