Shot Throught the Heart

eleven

The euphoria from getting the tattoo started to fade when I saw Mallory. She's wearing a white tank top with an old school looking logo on it with short jean shorts and her blond hair is down in two French twin braids. It took me a few seconds to pull my brain out of the gutter with how good she looked, it almost reminded me of when we were still in high school. The one difference though is that now she looks free. I pulled in another deep breath and my eyes found her again.

"Well because whenever I've been back here over the years, I never really strayed far from Fort Bragg. I have some time right now and needed to clear my head and decided to get a tattoo for my dad." I said and noticed that Logan has now let go of my legs and ran over to Shane who picked him right up.

            "Shane's one of the best tattoo artists around, so you definitely came to the right spot." Mallory said with a fond look on her face as she watched Shane take Logan over to his station.

            "You guys know each other?" I asked sensing the familiarity between the two.

            "You can say that." Mallory said and smiled when she saw Shane doing something with Logan.

            "Okay, I'm going to head out." I said wanting to remove myself from whatever is going on right now.

            "Actually, can we talk? Like have a mostly civil conversation that doesn't dissolve into both of us yelling at each other for the mistakes of our past?" Mallory said grabbing my wrist before I could move to the exit.

            I looked over to Logan and Shane and found them in their own little world by Shane's tattoo station before looking at Mallory.

            "Fine" I said wanting to clear the air between us before I leave again.

            "Shane" Mallory called out into the empty shop.

            "What's up?" He asked and looked up from the notebook.

            "We are going to go for a walk, Troy is only working a half day today so he'll come by once he's out. I'll see you guys sometime later." Mallory said.

            "Sounds good, say by Logan." Shane said.

            "Bye Mom, bye Dani!" Logan yelled smiling and gave us both a wave.

            I returned the wave and followed his mother out of the door. It was only when we got outside did I notice that Mallory slid her hand down from my wrist to intertwine our fingers. I didn't say anything but just kept my grip light and let her lead me down an alley to an area behind the shop.

            Behind the shop there is an awning that is attached to the building that's covering a couch and picnic table, with a basketball hoop and fire pit not far from the awning. It looks like this place is a hang out spot for artists in the shop as the table top is covered in different color paints and drawings. It was then that Mallory finally took her hand away from mine and took a seat on the couch. With my back turned to her, I took in my surroundings to find that there was a retaining wall about ten feet down that blocks the back of the building from the street.

            With the knowledge that nobody is going to be able to come from behind to surprise us, I took a seat on the bench of the table and faced Mallory. She didn't say anything for a few moments and I thought that maybe this was a bad idea. What else can come out of us trying to have another conversation about our past. All the other ones we had so far has just left us both more hurt then before. How can this one be any different?

            "I don't think I've seen Logan take to another person as fast as he did when it comes to you." Mallory opened softly with Logan. The kid was an easy topic to start with so I guess it was better to ease into it then come out directly swinging.