The day was warm, and it was early enough in the afternoon that the after-school rush hadn’t passed by yet, nor were young families there for dessert. The picnic tables were deserted, so once they received their cones, Antonio took Evie to one of them. He sat on the bench, and she sat beside him on the table, her feet near his thigh.

“You should have picked up more napkins,” Evie said. She hadn’t bitten through her chocolate shell yet, but Antonio saw the chocolate starting to bead with perspiration.

“Why?”

“Because once I bite into this, it’s going to get messy.” She winked. “I’m a chocolate shell connoisseur. I know for a fact that the ice cream under this is already starting to melt. That’s what happens when you dip it in the warm chocolate.”

“You think these napkins aren’t going to be enough?” Antonio had grabbed a handful of them. It was more than he’d ever regularly use.

“Doubt it.” She shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to save me once I’m covered in ice cream and sticky.”

Without waiting for him to correct the situation, she bit through the cone. Hunks of chocolate broke into pieces and started to slip down the sides of the ice cream. He became fascinated as a single rivulet of melted ice cream started to drip downward.

Evie made quick work in devouring the thin pieces of chocolate, then started trying to do damage control on the drips. She made a valiant effort, but her bare thighs didn’t get out unscathed. Ice cream dripped onto them, and Antonio started to dab it away while he took care not to let his cone melt too much, either.

Evie was laughing, all of the pain from before gone. She was back to the brilliant woman Antonio knew, full of love and life. There was nothing like it. She was radiant without even knowing it.

Once she was down to just the cone, Evie breathed out a sigh of relief, then laughed again. “I forgot how much I love ice cream. It’s been so long since I let myself have one.”

“Are you dieting?” Antonio asked.

“I always try to think about what I eat,” she said. “I still do gymnastics on the weekend. On Monday nights, before I head back to work, I teach a gymnastics class to young girls. The really itty bitty tiny ones are my specialty. I mean, it’s a lot of… flailing.” She laughed again. “But their energy is just through the roof. I like to think that if I can inspire them to love gymnastics, that maybe some of them will go on to do the same kinds of things I did in life. If one of my kids goes to the Olympics, I’d be so proud.”

“I didn’t know that about you,” Antonio said softly. “I thought you didn’t want a leadership position.”

“With little kids it isn’t really a big deal,” she deflected. “It’s not like any of their careers or reputations are on the line. We’re just having fun.”

“Sounds like a pretty weighty responsibility to me,” Antonio countered. “Inspiring a lifelong love of gymnastics is a pretty charged event.”

Evie bit into her cone, letting silence lapse between them.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” she said. “I mean, I just saw Thorn Tattoo, and I know we didn’t get through all of it, but I’m really excited about the gallery that you set up on the ground floor. That’s exactly the kind of thing I want for Bloom Tattoo. I can just imagine how beautiful it is, and if you wanted to set up something a little more modern and sophisticated than at Thorn Tattoo, we could totally do that. It could be classy instead of edgy, if that fits the image better. I’m just stoked to think about all of our art on display in such a lavish setting.”

Antonio was silent. Taking over additional floorspace was something he was interested in, but the books were too tight to afford it at the moment and he didn’t want to borrow from one company to cover the reno costs of another; that wasn’t good business. Managing wealth was important, and he wasn’t looking to overspend himself. He wasn’t sure that Evie knew that.

“And I’m not sure how much you heard from my conversation with Luciano, but I’m really interested in doing like a… a tattoo observation room? A viewing room? Kind of like a surgical auditorium. I know it sounds lavish, but I honestly think it will pay for itself. It’s just so cool. It would have the whole community talking.”

Was it the sugar pepping her up, or was it the gesture of bringing her out and spending time with her? Whatever it was, Antonio was happy that she was happy. He brushed a hand along her calf affectionately without even thinking about it, and Evie stopped talking abruptly. She looked down at him, eyes partially lidded and softened with affection.

“I think those are great ideas,” he said. “But before I can say yes to that amount of work, I’d have to look at a budget.”

Her eyes shone with delight.

Antonio couldn’t say no to her. He wouldn’t shoot her down when she was flying so high.

If she wanted it to happen, then he’d do his best to support her every step of the way.