Page 54 of Broken
“I know Momma.” She replies quickly.
“Oh yeah? How did you know?” I ask moving to the floor with her.
“It's like the letters on the fridge, when you get it close to the fridge it snaps there.” She smiles, “That's what it feels like.”
“What, what feels like?” Katherine asks
“Having him around. Like I'm pulled to him, like the letters to the fridge.” McKenna colors the roses pink, concentrating extra hard to stay in the lines.
“Well, that was easier than I thought.” Katherine says standing up from the table.
“So what now?” I ask, unsure of what to do with myself.
“Does that mean I can call you daddy instead of West?” McKenna's head pops up, looking over at me.
“Yes sweet pea. If you want to call him daddy you can, if it's okay with him.” Katherine says, walking away.
“I'd like that.” She says, smiling widely.
“Me too.” I reply, grinning like a damn fool.
Chapter Twenty Three
Katherine
It's been a week since we told McKenna about West and everything seems to be going swimmingly. He's looking for a job and watching McKenna while I work and Bailey's with her mom.
Right now, I have the tattoo gun buzzing in my hand as I shade the rose tattoo on the underside of a woman's breasts. She opted for a vine with roses in an upside down V shape. I'm doing the finishing touches when the bell over the door signals someone's walked in.
“I'll be with you in a moment.” I shout, using the paper towel to wipe away the access ink. “All done girlie.” I say turning to get the cleaning supplies. I use the towel and some water to clean her up. “Hop up and take a look in the mirror while I go see who's out there. Then I'll wrap it and you'll be good to go.”
She jumps off the table and heads to the mirror while I strip my gloves off and head up to the front. We have the tattoo areas behind curtains off the main floor.
I'm greeted with West, who shouldn't be here. “Where's McKenna?” My heart drops from not seeing her with him.
“Bailey came back and wanted to take her to the park, figured you wouldn't mind.” He says, looking more worried than I felt a few seconds ago.
“Oh, yeah, that's fine. I didn't realize she was coming back today.” My heart settles as I close the gap and throw my arms around his neck. “I'm sorry I'm keeping you at an arm's length still.” I say. I know it's killing him not knowing my answer to what this is. But I'm still not sure if this is what's right.
He's so good with McKenna, so patient with me, and I'm just pulling him along while I sort my head out.
“I get it, you want to talk to your therapist first. Which you'll do tomorrow. Right?” He asks, lifting a brow at me with a half smile.
“Yes. I have an appointment with her before work tomorrow.”
“Then for today, how about we do a tattoo?”
I lean back and look at him curiously. “I just finished one.” I say, lightening the mood a bit, even though I don't think that's what he meant.
“I mean, why don't you tattoo me.” He says very seriously.
“You want a tattoo?” The disbelief is real, when I went and got the roses on my wrist when we were in Vegas, he had absolutely no interest in ever getting one before.
“Yes ma'am.” He says handing me a folded piece of paper that looks like it's seen better days. I flip it over and carefully unfold it to see something I haven't seen in years. My fingers trace the lines as I feel the sting of tears swelling in my eyes. The ripped edge tells me where he got it. But, how did he get it?
“Where'd you find this?” I ask, looking from the paper to him.
“In a notebook, under a mattress, in a girls pink room.” The smile on his face tells me what he did. Cheeky bastard.