Page 48 of Four Tattoos

Ten minutes later, we’re at the shop. Christian and Zipper sink onto the couch, but I have to keep my hands busy, sifting through files, lining up bottles of ink.

After five minutes that feel like forever, she finally arrives, and I have to fight the urge to wrap my arms around her when I see the look on her face. “Rose, what’s wrong?”

She’s clearly agitated, her ever-present smile absent, replaced by pursed lips and a tight jaw that look foreign on her face.

“I’m here to apologize on behalf of my brother. He had no business coming here, and I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Unable to resist at least some physical contact to try to soothe her, I rub her shoulder, and hope that will be enough.

“It’s not okay,” she insists, appearing to be on the verge of tears.

“He was just doing what brothers do,” I tell her.

“He was way out of line, and I told him so.”

“How did he find out?” Zipper asks, still leaning back on the couch, looking much calmer than he has a right to. “Did you tell him about us?”

I want Rose to say yes, because that would mean she’s feeling differently about us, that she’s ready to open herself up to a relationship with us, but she shakes her head.

“His fiancée questioned me yesterday, after I was so late getting back to the shop, and I felt like I had no choice but to tell her what’s been going on. I should have known she’d tell my brother, but I didn’t think he’d react as badly as he did.” Distressed, Rose twists a handful of her skirt in her fist. “I told her not to tell Patrick, but she did anyway.”

Zipper nods at this, looking much too satisfied at the confirmation that Rose still wanted to keep us secret. When he meets my eyes, I can clearly read the “I told you so” that’s there.

Even though I knew she felt this way, and even though I understand, it still hurts.

Rose continues to apologize, but I interrupt her. “We agree with your brother.”

She’s stunned into silence, and takes a few steps backward as if I’ve hit her. The pain in my chest pierces deeper, but I stay firm.

“What?” She looks and sounds as if she thinks she couldn’t have possibly heard me correctly.

“It will be best for you if we stop seeing you,” I say. “We all knew from the start that we weren’t meant to be together, and this is a good time for things to end.”

“I can’t believe you’re listening to my brother! You’ve been telling me that I need to stand up for myself and what I want, and you’re going to listen to whathe’stelling you to do or not do?”

“We’re not doing this because of what he said.” Zipper finally gets to his feet. “We were already talking about it before he came here.”

Now it’s Rose who looks like she’s been stabbed in the heart. She stares in disbelief, then twists her head, looking for a way out. She’s not far from the door, and she reaches for it, but then she stops, straightens, and turns back to face us.

“No, you know what? I’m not running out of here. I’m not leaving until you explain yourself. If it isn’t because of my brother, then what is it?”

“You said yourself how different we are,” Zipper says. “We have very different outlooks on life.”

“We’re much older than you. You’re just getting started in life,” Christian says.

Rose’s brow furrows. “I didn’t think you had a problem with our age difference.”

I slide my hand into my pocket to keep from reaching out to her. “We don’t, but you should.”

“We’re not what you’re looking for in life, and you know it,” Zipper says.

Frustration is written all over the girl’s face. “I don’t know that. What if youarewhat I’m looking for?”

Zipper keeps his eyes locked on her. Somehow, his voice is emotionless. “It wouldn’t work. We’ve tried it before, and the woman involved got hurt. Things weren’t what she expected, and things weren’t right between all of us, either.”

She looks around at all of us, as if searching for different information, but she doesn’t find it. “Oh. Oh, I see. You say this is about me and our differences, but it’s really about all of you.”

“It’s the right thing for all of us,” I say. “You’ll understand that someday.”

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