Ink by Elizabeth Hunter

Author:Elizabeth Hunter [Hunter, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: E. Hunter
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Cary Nakamura walked into the shop and paused just inside the door, looking around and nodding. “This is good.”

“Yeah?” Ox walked over to shake his neighbor’s hand. “You like it?”

“I do.” He glanced over behind the book counter. “There any coffee made?”

“No. You want a latte, go down to Daisy’s. I’m not your mom.”

“My mom could beat you up.” Cary was about fifteen years older than Ox, but he’d been a client as long as Ox had been tattooing. He was a neighbor from Oakville and had orange groves just north of their acreage. When Melissa had started planting, she’d turned to Cary for help. Ox had more than once wondered if the older guy had a thing for his sister, but he didn’t ask. It was none of his business. Cary had been friends with Calvin. It was complicated.

“How’s your crop looking this year?” Ox asked.

“If I wanted to talk about my oranges, I’d call your sister. That’s all she wants to talk about. Ever.”

“Fair point.” Ox sat down on his rolling stool. “I know jack shit about oranges.”

“Stick with what you know.” Cary flipped a chair around and pulled out a piece of paper. “So this is the only picture I have of my dad’s shoulder. You can see the chrysanthemum is pretty faded, but—”

“I can definitely see the look you’re going for.”

“He got it for my mom. It was her favorite flower. Now that he’s passed, I want to get one too.”

“That’s beautiful, man. We can definitely work something up.” He glanced at Cary. “The traditional Japanese designs are not my specialty. I just want to warn you. I’ve done a few, but I’m not a master.”

“Man, I’ve seen your sketches, and the dragon turned out perfect. I’m not worried.” He handed Ox the paper. “Sketch it out. See what you can do. For now let’s keep going on my back.”

“Cool.”

Cary had been working on a full back tattoo for over a year. The dragon was almost done, and it was one of Ox’s favorite custom pieces. It wasn’t strictly a Japanese dragon, but it was inspired by classical art with a few modern tweaks that Cary had asked for. The clean lines and deep shading made it a striking piece, and it would blend well with the more traditional Japanese pieces Cary already had.

The needle started buzzing, and Cary relaxed into the chair, and Ox started to shade his left shoulder.

“The place is nice. Your pop would like the jackalope.”

“You remember Brewster’s?”

“Are you kidding? I always passed by that place as a kid, wishing my dad would take me there, but my mom refused to spend the money. Barber shops were for men. She buzz cut my head every month until I was sixteen.”

“They had a stuffed jackalope in there. I found one online.”

“How about the chair? Online too?”

“Nope, that’s from Brewster’s. Salvage.”

“Very cool.”

“Thanks.”

“This is a good place, man. Business going well so far?”

“So far.”

They chatted for the next thirty minutes, and Ox tried to imagine what it would be like to tattoo a client like Cary when the bookshop was open.

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