It was a whirlwind of a week. Traveling from St. Skin to my place for a change of clothes then back over to the old hometown to either visit Great Aunt Ada at the hospital or check on her house. She was insistent that something was going to go wrong at the house. She was the kind of woman who grew up with the understanding that what was yours needed to be yours. Meaning you didn’t give things up. She hid money in places in the house you’d never expect. A random coffee mug in the glass case. Money sewed into the curtains. Envelopes under the mattress in the guest room filled with thousands of dollars.

So, she had a point about being nervous about someone coming into her house.

Just the fact that she was obsessed with that and knew where the money was told me she was going to be just fine. Which she was. She woke up like a ball of energy and demanded to go home. But she wasn’t in the clear that quickly. There was still fluid in her lungs and doctors weren’t going to let her go home until that was cleared up. And in fact, the doctors were talking about transferring her to an assisted living facility just to monitor her for months.

Months.

There was no way Great Aunt Ada could live in a different place like that for months.

No matter where I went, Hazel was with me.

Standing next to me, holding my hand, touching my back, most of the time not even talking, but just there. Finally, for some reason, walking down the hallway one afternoon, I stopped and realized it. I was tired, hungry, wanted a damn drink, and just needed a fucking break. Tate was up everyone’s ass about the new shop, looking at blueprints, getting ideas, and just being fucking annoying. I was on edge, but in that moment when I stopped and looked at Hazel, I thought back to that one night Great Aunt Ada had me shooting whiskey with her, talking about love.

I had been on the verge of nineteen, on the verge of spiraling out of control, and that night Great Aunt Ada saved my ass again.

I realized that Hazel had been by my side no matter what. Not quite stalking me, but face it, she had been the one taking pictures of me without my consent.

Stealing a few spare minutes of the day, I grabbed Hazel by the waist and pinned her against the wall right there in the hospital hallway. Fuck the world surrounding us. I needed her right then.

I kissed her and then sucked in a growling breath.

“Goddammit, sugar,” I whispered. “You’ve been on this ride since the night I got the call. Camera around your neck, too.”

Hazel reached up and touched my cheek. “Of course, Maddox. I’m here. I want your trust. I want you to have mine. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone.”

I grinned.

I knew the camera was a security blanket for her. Like that damn stuffed bunny she used to have that she told me about. She hadn’t snapped a single picture around me and Great Aunt Ada. But it kept her feeling safe.

Not to mention Great Aunt Ada took to her. First thing she said to Hazel? Maybe you can get him to shave those pubes off his chin. He looks foolish.

I laughed so hard in that moment tears came to my eyes. They were mixed with tears of relief because I didn’t want to lose my great aunt Ada. Her time wasn’t up yet. Shit, no.

“There’s the doctor,” I said, “I need to talk to him.”

“Try a little patience this time,” Hazel said.

“I go for answers,” I said. “Patience isn’t in my name.”

I grabbed for her hand and took her with me. The doctor had turned and was making a smooth getaway. So, I let Hazel’s hand go and charged after him. I got my hand to his sleeve and pulled.

“Doc,” I said.

He turned and looked surprised to see me.

“My great aunt,” I said. “Let’s get down to it.”

“Maddox, listen…”

I put a hand to his chest. “You listen to me. You put her in a home and it’s her death. She may be old but she’s not dumb. And she’s not going to function with someone breathing down her damn neck. Telling her to stretch her legs and tell her when to eat. You’ll kill her. You will, Doc. Your orders will-”

“Maddox,” Hazel said.

I backed away a little.

The doctor looked between me and Hazel. “What I was going to say is that your great aunt is quite stubborn. I see you learned that from her.” The doctor nodded to me. “She’s also showing a remarkable recovery. I feel comfortable sending her home. But she will have a visiting nurse two times a day for a few weeks. Just to check on her. Check her lungs, blood pressure, make sure she’s walking, eating, all that.”

“Doc…”

“Now before anyone wants to hug me,” he said, “if there are any signs of declining, at all, she’ll have to come back here for observation and then will have to be placed into an assisted living rehabilitation center.”

“That won’t happen,” I said. “And I’m not going to hug you. A handshake, yeah.”

I offered my hand and the doctor took it.

He nodded and hurried away.

I grabbed for Hazel and swung her around, feeling a sense of being alive that I hadn’t felt in years.

Then the world stopped.

We froze, staring. That little flicker of love was much more now. Maybe what once was a shooting star on a clear night was now an asteroid ready to smash into the ground. There was no stopping it, either.

I suddenly had a vision of how far things could go with us. Images and dreams flirting with my mind that I wasn’t sure I was ready to handle.

Before I could speak a word, a voice next to me said, “Maddox?”

I turned and saw a nurse. “Yeah?”

“It’s your great aunt Ada.”

I felt my heart pause. “What’s wrong?”

The nurse smiled. “She’s ready to go home.”

* * *

I stood in the doorway to the little kitchen where Ada and I shared more meals than I could ever count (from quick peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all the way to her famous pot roast and potatoes with carrots). I watched as Hazel and Ada talked and laughed. They were like old friends. Hazel was showing Ada her camera, explaining what some of the buttons did.

“Oh, you know when I wanted to take a picture,” Ada said, shaking her head. “I had a black camera. Yes. I’d press the button and then I’d have to wait to see that picture until I went to get the pictures developed. And before that…” She waved a hand. “Nobody needs to hear that.”

“Why don’t you take a picture?” Hazel asked. “You try this out.”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that. I might drop it.”

“That’s okay. Maddox will buy me a new one.” Hazel looked back at me. “Right?”

That’s when I entered the room. “Of course, I will.”

“I guess I could try,” Ada said. “My hands are a little shaky. From those damn medicines. I’ll tell you that.”

Hazel gave Ada the camera. With loving patience and a smile she treated my great aunt like that queen she really was in my life. Hazel knew nothing of what I went through and the hell Ada always kept me on the other side of. When her friends were enjoying retirement and playing bingo on Friday nights, Ada was going to bed by seven to get up at three on a Saturday morning for overtime. And I was just some prick of a teenager, too dumb to see what she was doing, even dumber to not help out more than I did.

Ada looked at me. “Smile, Maddox.”

“No, no, no,” I said.

“Are you going to argue with me?” Ada asked. “Don’t make me yell at you in front of your pretty girlfriend here.”

I put my hands up. Defeated.

“Fine. Take your picture.”

Ada wrestled with the camera and held it up. Hazel stood next to her, explaining what to do next.

“Okay, Maddox,” Ada said. “Are you ready, dear?”

Hazel glanced at me, that little smirk on her face, knowing she was enjoying watching this.

I smiled.

I would never deny Ada a smile.

She pressed the button, the camera clicked, and that was that.

“Oh, that was fun,” Ada said. “I could use one of these.”

“I’ll get you one for Christmas,” I said.

“He’s a smart ass,” Ada said. “Forever a smart ass. He used to be smart.”

“I still am smart,” I said.

Ada snorted.

“Why used to be smart?” Hazel asked.

“Maddox used to do very well in school. Always bringing home awards and such. I thought he was going to be a doctor.”

“I was never going to be a doctor,” I said. I laughed. “Never.”

“You could have been,” Ada said.

“What happened?” Hazel asked.

“He turned seventeen,” Ada said. “So smart one day and then a damn fool the next.”

“I’ve seen that in him,” Hazel said.

Ada grabbed for Hazel’s hand. “His mind went to mush. Everyone said it was typical teenage boy stuff. But there was something else in him.” Ada looked at me. “You could have been a doctor.”

“But now I’m a tattoo artist,” I said. “Almost the same thing.”

Ada laughed. “A damn fool.”

“See how I grew up?” I asked, winking at Hazel.

“I think you grew up better than most,” Hazel said.

“I agree,” Ada said. “He put some years on me, though. I would look twenty years younger.”

“You look beautiful, Ada,” Hazel said.

“Yes, you do,” I said. “So, let’s forget about me growing up. Nobody needs to hear about that.”

Or why I became so distracted. Why I almost fell over the edge that night myself.

I hoped Ada wouldn’t bring up what happened after.

“We had enough sadness around here,” Ada said.

I cringed.

“Why sadness?” Hazel asked.

“Oh, just a tragedy,” Ada said. “Poor girl that Maddox knew…”

“Hey,” I said. “I realized that I have no new pictures with my great aunt.”

“Are you up for a couple of pictures?” Hazel asked Ada.

She touched her face and sighed. “I don’t look my best.”

I knocked a hand on the table. “You look beautiful. I’ll say it ten more times.”

Hazel walked by me. “Nice save,” she whispered. “She was going to say something about you.”

I put my hand out and touched her stomach. “Not here. Not now. Okay, sugar?”

Hazel nodded.

I went to the end of the table and crouched to take a picture with Ada.

Hazel stood in her glory, snapping picture after picture.

I surprised Ada with a kiss to her cheek, making her yell with a laugh. That picture was by far one of the greatest pictures ever. One of those pictures that would forever live on long after her days were called short.

I stood and helped Ada to her feet.

When I first came to live with Ada, she was as tall as my shoulder. Time and gravity pushed on her, along with me growing up and getting taller and stronger. I put my arm around Ada and she was just below my chest now. It didn’t matter her height, she could and would still kick my punk ass if I ever needed it.

After a couple pictures, Ada grabbed the back of my shirt. She looked up at me. “Maddox, you don’t dare ruin this.”

“Ruin what?”

“What you have here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Maddox, I know what I’m looking at. That woman with the pretty green eyes…you’re going to marry her someday.”