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“I think that’s a great idea,” Erin said. “And we can grab lunch, too, if you want. It’s up to you what you want to do.”
“You’re taking my credit card again,” Neils said. “So, feel free to head out and do anything you want.”
“Anything?” I asked with a sly smile.
“Okay, you can do anything I would approve of you doing,” Neils said with a laugh. “I don’t want you two coming home with matching tattoos or anything.”
“Come on, you know it’s just a matter of time until she starts getting her own,” I told him.
“Fair enough,” he said. “But, Libby, I think you should wait until you’re at least eighteen before you go off and do something like that. Not that I’m against tattoos, clearly, but when it comes to something you’re going to have on you for the rest of your life, I want you to make absolutely sure before you get it.”
“Pretty sure I’m not going to be able to find a shop that would give a twelve-year-old a tattoo anyway,” I said. “At least not without her dad there to sign off on one for her.”
“And that’s not going to happen,” he said.
“You’re no fun!” Libby teased.
“I’m tons of fun,” Neils said. “So much fun you’ll thank me when you do wind up getting your own tattoo one of these days.”
“Sure,” she said as she rolled her eyes.
“I think he’s right about this one,” I told her. “I love my tattoos, but I have to say I’m glad that I took the time to really think about what I wanted and where before I went through with them. You can get a cover or have them removed these days, but I don’t want to go through that.”
“I’m going to have a lot of tattoos,” Libby said. “All of them.”
“We better get going,” I said as I looked at the time on my phone. “I want to make sure we have the time to really look around. I love having time to just browse the shelves whenever I’m working on changing up my style.”
“I just don’t know if I’m ready to buy anything, but I do want to give it a try to see if there is something that suits me. Just don’t make me get something I don’t want,” Libby told me.
“You know I won’t. Give your dad a kiss, and let’s go,” I said. “Do you care if we drive?”
“That’s fine,” Libby said with a shrug. I felt she was putting up a front to make it appear as though she wasn’t scared, and I was proud of her for it. I felt that meant she had taken our conversation to heart the other night, and she was applying some of the advice I had given her about moving on with her life.
“Bye Dad,” she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Be good,” he said. “Listen and do what you’re told.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said with another shake of her head. She clearly wasn’t happy with being told what to do, but she wasn’t going to argue about it, either.
“We’ll be back this afternoon,” I called to him as Libby trotted over toward the door.
“That’s fine. I’ll eat something here if you girls are going to have something while you’re out,” he said.
“Do you want me to bring you something?” I offered, “It’s no trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I can take care of it.”
“Suit yourself,” I said before closing the door behind me.
“Do you want to ride in the front?” I asked Libby when I got to the car.
“Do I have to?”
“Of course not,” I said. “You can do whatever you want.”
“I think I’ll hang out back here,” she said. “If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t,” I told her. “Just as long as you’re happy I’m happy.”
