While Indi hugs her father goodbye, I pull my seat forward so LJ can climb in the back. “There’s some containers in the freezer with that pasta dish we had a few nights ago, and the chicken casserole from the weekend, if you don’t feel like cooking while I’m gone. Oh and—”

“I’ll be fine, Pumpkin,” he says cutting her off and wrapping her in his arms. “I survived when you were away at college didn’t I?”

“I guess,” she admits with a giggle. “You should invite Elizabeth over for dinner one night if you get lonely.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckles, kissing the top of her head. I open Indi’s door for her when she walks around to the passenger side. I can’t even put into words how excited I am that she’s coming home with me. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Once I’m seated in the driver’s side, Ross leans in my window. “I’m only a phone call away if you need me,” he says, soft enough for only me to hear. I know there’s an underlying meaning to his words. He has no reason to worry. I intend to keep a very close eye on Indiana while she’s staying with me. I’d never let anything happen to her. I think Ross knows that.

••••

For most of the drive we travel in a comfortable silence. Except for when Indi is singing along to the radio. It’s sweet. I love how relaxed she is around me. There’s nothing pretentious about her at all. What you see is what you get.

“I can’t wait to see your place,” she says placing her hand on top of mine. “Meg and I went to Newcastle a few years ago for a girl’s weekend, when I was at Uni.” I look over at her and smile. I would’ve been living up here then. If only I’d known. It would’ve blown my mind if I had ran into them.

“How is Meg? Do you still see her?” When we were kids those two were always together.

“She lives overseas with her husband, Drew. We still talk on the phone when we can, but it’s not the same.” You can clearly hear the sadness in her voice as she talks. “They move around a lot, and with the time differences between countries, it’s hard. I miss her so much.” I bet she does. Meg married? For some reason I can’t picture that.

“Does she know about the tumour?”

“No. She has her own worries. She doesn’t need to be burdened down with mine,” she replies giving me a half-hearted smile.

“Regardless, Indi. She’s your friend, she’d want to know.” She shrugs at my reply.

“If the opportunity arises next time we talk, I’ll tell her.” I can see this subject is getting her down, so I quickly change it to something else.

“I can’t wait for you to see my shop. There’s something special about it that I haven’t told you,” I say squeezing her hand.

“Really?” Her face lights up when she looks at me. “What?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

••••

“Indi Ink,” she whispers when I pull up outside. “Oh my God. You named your shop after me,” she squeals, her head snapping in my direction.

“I did,” I reply smiling when I see the look on her face.

“When?” she asks excitedly as we exit the car.

“When I opened it.”

“But that was four years ago.” Her beautiful eyes widen when she walks towards the shop, her head tilted back so she can see the sign.

“I know. It’s silly I guess, but I wanted you to be a part of it somehow.”

“It’s not silly,” she whispers before launching herself into my arms. “It’s amazing. I’m so touched that you would do that.” Her lips are on mine before I get a chance to reply. “I love it. I love you,” she says against my mouth. My hands slide around her waist, drawing her closer. I love that she loves me, because I love her so fucking much.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Indiana

“Thank you for making me part of your shop,” I say when I pull back from the kiss. I got all choked up when I first saw it. I thought maybe he’d changed the name recently, but the fact he named it after me, even when I wasn’t in his life anymore, means so much more. It confirms everything I hoped all those years ago—that he hadn’t forgotten about me after he left, and that I did mean something to him.

“You still held my heart the whole time I was gone,” he admits, making me melt. The sincerity in his words brings a lump to my throat as my hold on him tightens. I can’t believe we wasted five long years of our lives apart. In saying that though, I know it will only make us more appreciative of what we have now.

“Can we go in and take a look around?” I ask with excitement. I want to see what it looks like inside. I want to see him in all his glory. I’m so proud of everything he’s achieved. Even though my heart was broken after he left, the hardest part for me was not knowing what had become of him. He was all alone. A teenager with a huge chip on his shoulder and a mountain of anger inside him. That’s what worried me the most.

My main concern was that he’d get himself into trouble. Or worse, turn to alcohol or drugs to cope. I’m so grateful that wasn’t the case. Even back then, as much as he tried to hide it, I knew his heart was good. He was just tainted by a stupid word.

“Really? You want to go inside now?” The disappointment in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed. When he pulls me back against him and I feel his hard on pressing into my back, I know why. “I was hoping to take you upstairs first.” The hopeful look on his face almost has me agreeing. But I want to get this out of the way so we can lock ourselves away for the rest of the night. I’ve been busting to see it.

“Just a quick one. Then you can take me upstairs and ravish me.”

“Deal,” he says grabbing hold of my hand and dragging me towards the shop. He unlocks the door and flicks on the main switch lighting the place up. My eyes dart everywhere as he disables the alarm system. I love it already. It’s nothing like I imagined.

“Okay. You’ve seen it, let’s go.” He reaches for my hand to drag me back out the door, but I pull away from him. Nice try buddy.

“Let me look around first,” I say with a small laugh as I pull out of his grip and step further into the reception area. I hear him sigh behind me, but I ignore it. It’s huge. It doesn’t look so big from the street. The floors are tiled in a dark charcoal grey. There are two long, black leather sofas right in the middle of the room, sitting on a turquoise blue shag pile rug. A black coffee table sits in the middle of the sofas. There are four large black albums stacked on top.

Walking towards them, I open the first one to see it’s full of his drawings. I want to sit down and go through them all, but I know that’s going to piss him off, so I’ll leave that for later.

Off to the right is a large, black L shaped counter, with three pendant lights positioned strategically above it. This place has so much class. It’s nothing like what I imagined a tattoo parlour would look like. I’m fascinated by every detail. My fingers run over everything as I pass. The walls are painted in the same turquoise colour as the rug, and the large black and white framed drawings around the walls stand out against the green. I take it all in as I manoeuver through the room. There are recessed lights built into the ceiling above each drawing, illuminating them.

My eyes move to Carter, still standing just inside the doorway. His hands are buried in the pockets of his jeans as he stands back observing me. “I love seeing you in my space,” he says as he stalks towards me. I love that he brought me here.

“This place is beautiful,” I tell him. “I’m so proud of you.” My arms snake around his neck as I tilt my head back to make eye contact with him. “Really proud, Carter.”

“Thank you,” he replies bringing his mouth down on mine. “Can I take you upstairs now?” His comment makes me laugh.

“I haven’t finished my tour yet. Show me around the rest of the place.” He exhales in frustration.