Hailey wasn’t the same woman she was before, but in all honesty, who was the same person they were at age twenty?
She needed to push that aside and worry about Callie right then. One day soon, she would tell the girls about her cancer. She hadn’t known them when she was sick, but keeping secrets like this wore on her. Plus, she wanted to make sure the girls were taking care of themselves. She’d been young when she was diagnosed, way too young for that type of illness, and yet she’d had to go through everything that came with it. She didn’t want her friends to face the same things she had.
No one deserved that.
“I’m happy,” Callie said again, this time her eyes clear of tears. “And Morgan is going to freak when he finds out that I cried today. Because even if you don’t say anything. He’ll know. He’s just that good.”
Hailey kissed her friend’s cheek and let out a laugh. “It’s because he loves you.”
Oh, to be loved like that. Unconditionally. To know that someone could see deep inside and know every emotion, and take the time—and care enough—to cradle that feeling…
Hailey was indeed jealous, but it didn’t matter. Callie deserved all of that and more.
All of her friends did.
“He does love me, doesn’t he?” Callie said with a smile. “Okay, now that I’ve gotten coffee out of you and cried on your shoulder, I’m going back to the shop to work like I said I would.” She let out a sigh. “Another reason I’m in here early is that Morgan had a super early appointment. The call was with someone in another time zone. I hate being at home alone. So thank you for being you and letting me ramble. The guys and Maya should be into the shop a bit later. I’ll send them over since those brownies look to die for.”
Hailey grinned. “They are absolutely amazing. I taste-tested one this morning. For business purposes, of course.”
“How you keep your curves looking like a fifties pinup and taste all of your sweets is beyond me.”
Hailey snorted. “It takes a lot of yoga and running to keep me in the shape I am, thank you very much. And you’re like the size of one of my legs, so shut up.”
Callie rolled her eyes then bounced toward Montgomery Ink. Hailey loved the fact that there was a door between the two shops. When Hailey had first opened her shop four years ago, she’d been intimidated by the very broody, bearded, tattooed men next door. And then there was Maya.
The tattoo artist and middle Montgomery girl was a force to be reckoned with—all ink, piercings, and attitude. So, of course, Hailey became friends with her right away. Contrary to her feelings about being next door to people she hadn’t quite understood at first, she fell in love with their connections, attitudes, and sense of family. They were loud when they wanted to be, quiet and respectful at other times. They partied when they felt like it and threw small gatherings other times. They weren’t rough and tough to the point where she ever felt scared to be around them. Others might be assholes and judge the Montgomerys on their ink—and yes, their kink—but Hailey had found her soulmates. Her family.
She didn’t have a family of her own so it was nice to be adopted into theirs, welcomed into their open arms. Though the door between the shops had been there before she bought the place, the Montgomerys hadn’t used it with the prior owner— a prim and proper older woman who had no time for tattoos and ruffians.
Seriously. Her words.
Now the door was never locked, and the Montgomerys and their crew could come in and out of Taboo when they wanted food and caffeine. Hailey went over there often, as well, with trays of goodies and sometimes empty-handed just to see the beautiful artwork.
She was still a blank canvas, but knew she eventually wanted ink of her own.
One day she would be brave enough to ask for it.
It wasn’t the ink she was afraid of, wasn’t the needles. God knew she’d seen enough of those in her life thanks to chemo, radiation, and the countless tests and treatments.
No, it was the person she wanted to do her ink.
While Maya, Austin, and Callie would bend over backward to help her with her tattoo and the nerves that came with it, she didn’t want them to do it. She had someone else in mind.
Someone she was afraid to talk to for fear of what would spill out.
Someone who didn’t care for her as she cared for him.
Hailey’s phone buzzed and she sighed. Today was a day for melancholy thoughts, apparently. She turned off the timer on her phone then went to the front of the café to flip the sign to Open while unlocking the door. Two of her morning regulars, men in business suits, who had the courtesy to get off their phones before they walked into the shop, smiled at her.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” she said with a smile. “Your usuals?”
“You know it,” one said.