And me? I’ll be happy knowing she’s happy. I’ll hang on to every moment, every memory, every touch, every kiss. I’ll remember how it felt to be so unconditionally wanted, loved, and accepted.

31

Tyler

“What’s got you looking more fucked up than usual?” Tanner asks, punching my arm as he walks past me at my workbench and sits on the stool on the other side.

Holly’s stool.

“Nothin’. Just working.”

He cocks his head at me. “Don’t bullshit me, Ty. You’ve been moping for days.”

“Shouldn’t you be at the shop? Or at your own house?”

“I took a few days off.” He pulls a knife from his ankle sheath and starts to clean his nails with the tip. “Darcy won’t answer my calls or texts. She doesn’t want me in the house.”

Frowning, I glance up from the belt buckle I’m polishing, and he’s got a dead serious look on his face. Tanner has been with his wife forever, and I’ve never seen them fight, or even raise their voices at each other. I guess while I’ve been hiding, a lot has changed.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I fucked up. Bad. And I have no fucking idea how I’m going to fix it.”

“I’m sure you’ll work it out. She loves you.”

He scrapes the knife along his nail. “I don’t deserve her love right now.” He blows out a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it. You havin’ a problem with that little cutie with the blanket? She’s a fuckin’ doll, Ty.”

I shoot him a warning glare and he grins back at me. “I know who she is, Ty. I wasn’t born yesterday. I think its cool. It’s about time you found someone to be happy with. Maybe now you’ll get your head out of your ass.”

“It ain’t gonna last. She’s moving.”

“Moving? To where?”

“To New York with her brother and his girl.”

“Why the hell would she want to live in New York?”

“To get away from everyone in this town who knows what happened to her. She goes through the same shit I do. Assholes staring and asking questions. She wants to go somewhere where nobody recognizes her. And her parents treat her like crap.”

“That’s a lame reason to move, isn’t it?”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Tanner. It sucks.”

“How do you feel about her moving?”

“How do you think I feel? I love her. I don’t want her to move. But I’m not gonna ask her to stay here just for me.”

He flips his knife up into the air and catches the handle. Someday I know he’s going to slice his fingers off doing that. “Did you tell her you don’t want her to go?”

“Not really.”

“Why the hell not? You’re gonna let some beautiful chick that believes in magic blankets just walk out of your life?”

I shake my head at him, growing annoyed with this conversation. “Because I want her to be free to make her own choices. Because for ten fucking years she had no choices at all. That’s why. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Has it occurred to your dumb ass that maybe her choice is you and she just wants you to man up and tell her what you want? Maybe she needs to hear it.”

“Fuck you, Tanner.”

“I’m serious. Trust me on this; women want to hear what you want. I learned that the hard way. She doesn’t have to move all the way to New fucking York to get away from this town, Ty. As Pop used to say, use your fucking head. And for the love of fuck, tell her how you feel.” He shoves his knife back into its sheath and stands up. “I’m gonna go crash on your couch. Don’t fuck this up, Ty. You finally have a chance to be happy.”

As he walks out, Poppy comes running in and sits at my feet, wagging his tail expectantly.

“All right, all right,” I mutter.

I spend the next week putting a plan together with Tanner’s help. By some miracle, the first part falls into place with incredible ease, as if it was meant to be. Now, I just need the second part. I text Lukas, my tattoo artist, who’s the king of all things artistic:

Ty: Hey you up for a custom illustration?

Lukas: Hey man :-) A tat, or…?

Ty: An illustration on paper. A few of them.

Lukas: Sure. Whatever you need, stop by tomorrow night. Late like you usually do.

Ty: I’ll need it fast. Within a week if possible. I’ll pay ya extra.

Lukas: I can do that. Is this for the girl you told me about at your last session?

Ty: Yeah

Lukas: No charge then. But bring her with you for your next ink. I’d like to meet her.

Ty: You got it. Thanks, bro.

32

Holly

My apartment looks incredibly lonely with my and Feather’s things all packed up and piled in the living room. Tomorrow she’s moving in with Steve—she’s packed twelve boxes of stuff—and I’m waiting for Zac to pick me up in his rented truck and take me to New York to begin the next phase of my life.