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“Hell, yeah. Need someone to be on my side. You don’t care and Mitch is all about the Falcons.”
“It looks good, Mal, and thank you for getting it set up.”
“No thanks needed. I had fun doing it. Is this just a visit or are you staying the night?”
Ginger walked over to pick up Shawn. “Staying the night, if that’s okay. It’s weird, I didn’t want Dorian to stay with me, but the house felt oddly empty with her gone.”
“I’m more than happy to keep you company.”
I didn’t want to read too much into her statement. Maybe she was starting to see that house for the haven of bad memories that it was, but I wouldn’t push. She was coming around on her own, which made it all that much more rewarding.
After I finished eating, I gathered their bags from her car while she picked out a movie for us to watch. Like last time, Shawn had fallen asleep before the end of it. I offered to put him down for her.
When I entered my room, Ginger was bent over her bag, digging through it, in only her beige bra and panties. My gaze was drawn to the scar on her back. I’d seen it. I’d felt it when we’d made love. I knew it was there, but that didn’t stop the renewed rage that crept up. It was bad enough that asshole left her with deep emotional scars, but he had to add physical too.
I walked over and ran my fingers down the length of it.
She jumped at the contact and looked back at me. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I continued running my fingers down her back. The skin was smooth over the scar. Still, there were parts that were bumpy, as if the tissue had not healed correctly, causing a small lump.
She stood, holding a shirt to her chest. Her body tensed, as if my touching the scar pained her. My gaze traveled to that large ass tattoo on her shoulder. It might have actually been pretty, if not for his initials. I started to trace it with my finger. Ginger turned to face me, working to put her shirt on as she did.
She kept her head down. “It was an impulse decision.”
“Yours or his?”
Her head snapped up to look at me, deer in headlight expression on her face.
“There’s no way I’m going to believe you went out and got a tattoo after Shawn was born.”
Ginger started chewing on her thumbnail. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped, then turned away from me, and pulled on a pair of shorts.
“I should have gotten it lasered off or something, but—”
“But you named Shawn using the same initials, instead.”
She nodded as she turned back around. “Like you said, I wouldn’t have gone to get one, nor was I going to go see someone to take it off for the same reasons.”
“The scar?”
She nodded again. “Among other reasons.”
I stepped closer and pulled her into an embrace. I rested my hands at the top of her waistband and slid my thumb under her shirt to stroke the small of her back. She didn’t relax into me; instead, her body remained rigid like when I’d touched her moments ago.
I debated on if I wanted to ask the question that’d been on my mind since I first saw it. People got tattoos for their significant others all the time. They were in love and wanted to display that love for all to see. So what she’d done wasn’t completely crazy, but at the same time it seemed out of character for Ginger.
“Can I ask why you got it?”
She placed her hands on my chest and rested her forehead against me. She took slow, controlled breaths. I slid my other hand up her back, under her hair, coming to rest on the back of her neck. I gently massaged while I waited for her to deal with whatever she was wrestling with. Her hesitance made me think her answer had a whole lotta nothing to do with love.
I cupped her face and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “It’s okay, baby, you don’t have to answer.”
I let her go and headed over to my dresser for a pair of shorts. I pulled my shirt off and dropped it on the floor, followed by my pants. After putting the shorts on, I turned to catch Ginger still standing where I’d left her, with arms wrapped around herself, staring off into space.
I walked over to the wall. “Lights out.”
She looked over at me, almost dazed before nodding and climbing under the covers. I watched as she turned onto her side, facing the wall, which meant her back would be to me when I joined her. I thought about curling up behind her but thought better of it. This seemed to be one of those times she wanted space, so that’s what she’d get. I flipped onto my side, staring at the opposite wall.
