Chapter 1
“Good to be back”
Lilly
My plane just landed in Mississippi, and already I feel better about being that much closer to home. Since college is finally done, I now have my degrees to show for all the time I’ve spent away, and I have to admit…it feels good.
It’s about 4:00 in the evening and I’m so ready for bed. Even though I’m only 27, today I feel like there is another 50 years added onto that. Plane rides always make me this way, but when I get to baggage claim I see the one person who has never let me down standing there holding a sign with my name on it. As if I wouldn’t remember what my only brother looks like. About 6 foot 2, short light brown hair styled slightly, light green eyes, and covered in tattoos. Along with black jeans and an old worn shirt that he wears a little on the tight side to show off his physique to women everywhere. “Shane!” I yell. “Lils!” He holds his arms out for me and tears threaten my eyes. When I reach him he wraps his arms around me tight, the closest thing to my father’s hugs that I can get, and it works just fine. “You’re glad to be back I take it?” He asks with a chuckle. “You have no idea.” I mumble into his chest. “Well come on lets grab your shit and get the hell out of here.” Sounding up beat but anxious to go, my brother always hated traveling and anything that had to do with airports.
When we were little we always moved from place to place because our father was in the military. So that meant flying a lot and Shane always got sick. Our mom had to give him medicine to help it, but it only worked some of the time. Me on the other hand, I just slept off the jetlag.
He grabs my big dark purple suitcase and I grab the two little ones. Without a care in the world of what people will think of a grown man pulling behind a purple piece of luggage he leads us outside. “Where did you park?” I ask as we stop for traffic to pass. “Way the fuck out there.” He points in the direction and I squint my eyes to look for his massive black truck. “I don’t see it.” He laughs. “You actually think I’d risk someone fucking up my paint by parking this close?” I roll my eyes as we cross the cross walk. “No, it’s just that I thought you’d actually park in the airport parking lot and not 100 miles away. Thank goodness I wore my running shoes today.” I finished with a sigh for effect because I love teasing him. Plus it’s probably about 90 degrees out with the hot sun blaring down on the pavement, so needless to say it’s going to be a long walk. “So dramatic Lils, but seriously it’s probably only like 5 miles away.” He laughs and bumps into me causing me to trip. “Watch it!” I yell at him just like I have done the whole time we grew up, and he only laughs louder. Shane would pick on me, just like a normal older brother would do, and then I would complain and pretend to be mad. Our mom would tell him to stop and I would give him the smug smile of victory. Then it would happen again five minutes later. It’s just what siblings do I was always told.
However, the older we get it still continues, but sadly our parents aren’t around anymore to take sides or join in the fun.
“There, see, I told you it wasn’t that far.” He points again to the distant image of his shiny black truck and looks at me. “Great.” I say sarcastically. “What’s wrong Lils? Are you outta shape or something, because I got about five years on you and I’m not even out of breath.” Again he teases and even though it’s all in good fun I just want to go to sleep. “I’m fine just tired is all. You know how it is to fly.” I add and he nods because he understands. “Give me your bags and you can sleep on the way back home.”
Finally we make it to his truck and he puts my bags in the bed of it and closes the hard black cover. When he starts it and the cool air begins to hit my face, immediately I feel a little better.
“So tell me about the shop. I remember you saying something about having to hire some new people or something at my graduation. Sorry my brain was just fried from finals and studying that I don’t remember everything.” I ramble on as if I’ve been gone forever, but still it would be nice for the refresh. He just smiles as he focuses on the road and merges into traffic. That’s when I see the beginnings of some age lines at the corner of his eyes. He may only be five years older than me but raising a younger sister for the past eight years will do that I guess.
Once we get to the highway and traffic isn’t so intense he turns down the radio a little more so we can talk. “You still want to work in the shop even after doing all that college stuff?” He asks with a smirk because he already knows the answer. “You’re funny, and of course I still want to work there. It’s just as much a part of me as it is you.” I casually say as I look out at the passing scenery. “You’re right Lils, I was just teasing you know that.” His face turns more serious while I smile and nod. “Yeah, I know. I’m just glad to be back is all and I miss working with everyone.” I admit with a shrug. “No doubt, Jenny won’t shut the fuck up about you coming back and I’ll be glad to hand back over all the office work to you. It will be nice to just do what I do since we have gotten a lot more business I don’t want to turn people away, hence the reason for some new hires.” His confession makes my heart warm, because our Tattoo shop is expanding; doing better than it’s ever done, and I can’t wait to finally be home doing what I love also. “I bet it’s been crazy. Plus I haven’t been home since spring so I imagine my office is a mess.” He laughs. “Yeah, I apologize in advance because you know how I hate messes, but I promise you’ll understand once you get there and see that it’s just been nuts. We hired two new people and our appointment book is full.” He finishes proudly. “That’s good to hear honestly. Plus I won’t mind the mess; it’ll just be nice doing something other than studying.” I lean my head back against the head rest. “I hear ya, and even though I’m glad you went to school, we definitely need you.” Pride swells in my chest as the rest of the ride goes a little quieter.
The radio plays as my eyes drift shut in exhaustion while my mind reels in the horrible memory of my brother and me getting insurance money from our parent’s deaths. I was only a teenager at the time and completely broken inside, shattered actually. We just sat at the dining room table and stared at the check for what seemed like days. Neither one of us wanting to touch it for fear that it was real, because no matter how much the check was for, it could never bring back the two people who meant everything to us.
Finally though, Shane stood up and looked at me with my red tear stained face. He told me that we have to get a plan together because our parents wouldn’t have wanted us to sit and fall apart like we were doing in silence. So we did. We came up with an idea of a tattoo shop. Shane was already working in one anyhow; drawing the best designs and making them look flawless on people’s skin, while I was thinking of going to school for marketing and business anyway. It seemed like it might actually work, he would do the ink while I ran the business side of things. So we reluctantly took the money, picked a spot to build it and voila…here we are. It took a while to get the business side of things down to a science for me but Shane had no problem getting people in the doors. We even took on two more artists and a receptionist along the way so I could go back to school to be able to help our business grow in the future.
Now today we pull up in front of “Armed and Inked”, or A&I for short, and it’s ours. Named after our dad who served in the military and since he had a tattoo of moms name across his chest we just put it together. I’m certain they’d be proud of us today, for sure.
“I’ll bring your stuff up in a minute if you just want to go ahead.” Shane says as he breaks me away from my thoughts. So I take him up on his offer of me not having to lug my crap up the steps to the two bedroom loft just upstairs of A&I.
Since the sun is starting to set I look forward to a night’s sleep in my own bed. Plus I’m sure everyone is about to go home anyway and I don’t want to meet these new people looking the way I do since my hair is up in a messy bun and my clothes are all wrinkled. How presentable is that. I laugh to myself as I take in my reflection in the side mirror. “Can you please tell them all I’ll see them in the morning.” “Already done, I figured you’d need sleep after flying. So they aren’t expecting you until tomorrow anyway.” “Thanks.” I say as I jump out of the truck and head over to the door on the side of the building that leads up stairs.
When I get up there and open the door I chuckle because my brother has OCD when it comes to the loft. Past the slate colors of the living room and comfy grey sofa, down the hall of pictures and to the left is my room. I open the door and I can tell it’s been cleaned. Just dusted and swept but none the less, it’s clean and contrary to his belief, I do care about keeping things in order, just not to his extent. For a big scary looking guy, he used to really get pissed when I would leave my room messy and dishes in the sink. So I learned quickly to help out because I knew he had a lot on his shoulders and I wanted to show him that I appreciated everything he did for us. Especially when he made us dinner, even if it was premade pizza in the oven, he still cared enough to try. He truly was the best fill in parent I could have asked for.
So when I collapse on the bed I come to realize a few things and once I close my eyes I feel myself drift off.