“Put the shears down,” he scolds.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly. “I got distracted.”
“I noticed.” Noah catches my eye and smiles. “This one is going on display in our break room, because we cannot in good conscience sell this to a paying customer.”
“Good call,” I agree.
When Noah disappears into the break room, I glance next door again. A heavy weight settles in my stomach when I see Maya and Eddie have arrived, but Declan still isn’t there.
Panic starts to crawl its way up my spine.
I tell myself he could just be running behind. Maybe he had a late night and overslept. I glance at the clock above our register that looks like a daisy – there are still twenty minutes to go until the tattoo studio opens.
But he still hasn’t shown up by the time Sean cranks the music, his last to-do item every morning before opening, and an old song by The Script filters through the wall.
I lose track of how many times I glance next door over the next hour, but it’s a concerning amount. Around noon, I finally work up the courage to text him.
Me:Hi.
Then, deciding that was too open-ended:
Me:I was hoping we could talk after work, but I noticed you’re not in today. Is everything okay?
The tinyDeliveredbeneath my texts mock me the longer they go unanswered. Something isoff, and no amount of trying to convince myself otherwise can stop the churning in my gut as the afternoon drags on.
When the clock hits four in the afternoon, I can’t take it anymore.
“I’m going next door,” I announce.
Noah looks up from where he’s helping two customers decide on an arrangement for their mom’s birthday. I was trying to wait until they left so I could talk to Noah, but the brother and sister duo have been bickering about which colors their mom would prefer for the last fifteen minutes.
“Still no response?” Noah asks gently. He knows I’ve called Declan twice, left a voicemail and sent a few texts – all of which have gone unanswered.
I wring my hands together, needing to get some of my nervous energy out. I foolishly thought that when Declan told me he was giving me some space, that meant he would be waiting for me to sort through my issues so we could pick back up where we left off. I didn’t expect that when I was ready, he would be MIA.
“No answer,” I confirm. “If I sit around waiting any longer, I’m going to lose my mind. I need to see if they at least know where he is. Maybe he’s, like, camping and doesn’t have service.”
Even to my own ears, the suggestion sounds ridiculous. Declan doesn’t gocamping.
Noah smirks and raises an eyebrow. He’s been far too casual about the whole thing. Too serene. He’s of the mindset that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Declan isn’t answering me, and he doesn’t think I should stress about it.
I’m not so sure.
“I’ll be right back.”
I open the door connecting our two shops and slip inside the tattoo studio. It’s emptier than I’ve ever seen it – Declan and Sean are nowhere to be found, though Sean’s station is a bit of a mess, like he might have just recently finished up with a client. Maya sits hunched over someone lying on their stomach and Eddie is at his piercing station in the back with what appears to be a mom and her two young daughters.
With an old Goo Goo Dolls song blaring over the speakers and the buzzing of Maya’s tattoo machine, nobody notices my arrival. It must be one of Frankie’s days off. When she’s here, she’s usually seated at the front desk, scheduling appointments and handling inventory for the shop or working on her freelance stuff.
“Hi,” I call out when I get close enough to Maya’s chair that she can hear me over the noise.
She jerks her chin toward me in greeting, then looks back down at the intricate design of a lion that she’s inking behind a man’s shoulder. Her attention to detail is incredible; the big cat with its full mane and fierce eyes looks like a black-and-white photo staring back at me.
“What’s up? she asks.
“Is Sean here?” I don’t know Maya as well as I know Sean. If I’m going to hound someone about Declan’s whereabouts, I’d rather it be him.
“He had to go help Frankie with something at their place before his next client. She’s trying to rip wallpaper down on her own, or something.”
