Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
We play outside for an hour. Their little noses are red, and I know it’s time to take them inside to get warmed up. “Girls, let’s go get warm. I’ll make you some hot chocolate before I leave.”
“Okay.” They easily agree, which tells me they’re cold but didn’t want to miss any playtime outside to say they were ready to go inside.
Fifteen minutes later, they’re sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, watching cartoons and sipping on their lukewarm hot chocolate.
“I’m going to head out,” I tell Briar. “The girls are set up with their hot chocolate.”
“Thank you. I got a good bit of work done.”
“Good.” I lean in for a kiss. “I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon.”
“Girls, I’m leaving,” I tell them as I enter the room. I bend and kiss each of them on the top of their heads. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Okay, Forty,” they say as their eyes return to their cartoon.
“Damn, it’s really coming together.” I survey the building in front of us, and it might not look like much right now, but it’s starting to take shape.
“I know. It’s hard to believe our vision is coming to life,” Legend replies.
“Thanks to you.” Legend got an inheritance from his late grandparents who he never knew, and this was what he wanted to do with the money—make all our business dreams come true.
“Nah, we all worked our asses off to make a name for Everlasting Ink. I just got lucky enough to have an inheritance to help fund it, so we’re all not strapped for cash.”
“It’s hard to think that one day, this will be left to our kids.” He glances over at me. “You think the girls will want to take up the trade?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Whatever they want to do, I’ll support them.”
“Life’s changing pretty damn fast. Monroe is thirty-six weeks. In a month, I’ll get to hold my son. I can’t say I’m mad about it, though.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “We have a lot to be thankful for.”
“Who would have thought five best friends from the small town of Ashby, Tennessee, would have made a name for themselves in the tattoo industry? I mean, come on, where was this on career day?” he jokes.
I laugh because he’s not wrong. “We’re living the dream, man.”
“Hell yes, we are.”
“Mr. Raines, Mr. Huntley, it’s good to see you,” Terry, our contractor, greets us.
“Terry, good to see you.” Legend greets him with a handshake.
“How’s it going?” I say when he turns to shake my hand in greeting.
“Good. We’re on schedule. Everything is going smoothly. I just like to touch base periodically, as you know, to make sure there are no changes or issues that might have arisen.”
“None that I can think of.” Legend looks at me, and I shake my head.
“Great. How about a tour? I can answer any questions you might have about the process, and you can pass them along to the others.”
“Sounds great. Lead the way,” Legend says.
We spend the next two hours walking through the build site. Every item on our wish list of what each of us deemed the perfect shop has been taken into consideration. We’ll have a separate wing for guest artists. They’ll have their own break room as well. That allows us to keep our side with our family and the break room, as well as the room for the kids. Not that we don’t trust our guest artists. We have to in order to invite them into our space, but you don’t trust just anyone around your wife and kids. It’s overkill, sure, but we had the space and the capital to do it, so we did.
“Thank you, Terry,” Legend says as we end the tour.
“Anytime. All right, I have another site to get to before the day's over. I’ll talk to you soon.” He shakes our hands and heads off to his truck.
“I got a mock-up of the sign. It’s badass,” Legend says, pulling out his phone to show me. “It’s our logo, and it’s going to be all lit up and massive right in the center.” He points to the general location. “I’m going to have them make a smaller version for the waiting area too.”
“Damn, that’s sick.”
“Right?” he agrees, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “Well, I’m going to head home. I should get home at the same time as my wife.” He grins.
“You know, I’m gonna get me one of those.”
“Yeah? You think she’s ready for that?”
“She will be.” I’m just waiting on the day for her to tell me. Once she does, there’s no holding back.
I wave goodbye to Legend, climb into my own truck, and pull out of the lot. I honk as he turns from the stop sign and ease up for my turn. I’m looking right and left, getting ready to turn toward Briar’s, which is why I don’t see it coming.