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“Ready for this?” Sage asks, turning the car off and turning her attention to me.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I say, nodding and taking a few calming breaths. We head in, making our way to the tattoo side of the shop. Ryan was sitting in the corner at her desk, typing away ather computer. She lifts her head and gives a little wave before meeting us at the door.

“Ryan, thank you so much for squeezing us in before the holidays,” Sage says, giving the shorter woman a hug.

She waves Sage off. “Nonsense, you know I’ll always make time for you. And for Naomi’s first tattoo? I’m definitely clearing room in my schedule.”

She turns her attention to me, giving me a big hug. “You ready for this?”

“I think so?”

Ryan laughs at my uncertainty. “It’s normal to be nervous. Do you at least know what you want?” She walks over to her desk, grabbing her tablet and dragging a stool over to the station she had already set up.

I nod. “I do, actually. I want a small cross, and then the verse Psalm 94:19 along the bottom of the cross.”

Ryan makes a rough sketch of my idea on the tablet, and we go back and forth, making adjustments to the design dimensions and testing out different fonts until I’m completely happy with it. “Alright, I’ll go get this stencil made up, and then we’ll get started!”

As Ryan walks away, I turn to Sage, the nerves radiating off me. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you talked me into this!”

Sage gives me a little shove. “Hey, I gave you a choice.You’rethe one that told me to go ahead and call Ryan in.”

I grin. “I know. I just can’t believe this is happening. Are you planning to get one too?”

Ryan comes back at that moment with the stencil for my tattoo. “Yeah, Sage, are you going to get one too?”

Sage looks over at me before nodding. “Actually, yeah. I think I will get one this time. Small little idea that I’ve had floating around.”

Ryan claps her hands excitedly. “Yay, good! Let me take care of Naomi first and then we can talk about you, ma’am.”

She turns her attention on me. “Okay, where would you like this?”

I run my finger along the wrist bone below my thumb on my left side. “Like right here? Maybe a little bit further up my wrist?”

Ryan nods. “I’m not going to lie, some people say the wrist bone is painful, others don’t think it’s a big deal. Sage and I both are in the latter group, but you never know how you’re going to feel about it. I’ll move it a little further up so it’s more on the arm than directly on the bone. How does that sound?”

I nod. “Sounds good!” Ryan cleans my arm, shaving it before applying the stencil. She has me check that the placement is okay before instructing me to lie down on the bench. I lie back and hold my arm out to the side, placing it on the little cushioned pad next to Ryan’s tray.

Sage pulls up a stool on the other side of the bench, taking a seat and taking my free hand in hers. “You’re going to be fine,” she coos into my ear, pressing her lips to my cheek.

Ryan starts up the machine, grabbing my arm and going in to make the first line. “How was that?” she asks.

I shrug my shoulder on the free side. “Honestly, not as bad as I expected! It’s honestly like if you’ve ever written on your skin with a super fine gel pen but dug hard into the skin while doing it.”

Ryan laughs as she goes in to do the rest of the tattoo. “I’ve never heard it described that way, but you’re absolutely right.”

Sage grins at me. “You’re doing great, Georgia.”

I smile over at her. “Thanks, baby,” I say, giving her a wink.

Ryan continues to work on the tattoo on my wrist. “So when did you guys make it official?” she asks, pausing to look up at us. “I’m assuming y’allaretogether now? Just based on how muchPDA you’ve shown since you came in here. It’s cute. A little gag-inducing, but sweet nonetheless.”

Sage rolls her eyes at Ryan’s teasing. “About a month now? We’ve been making up for lost time though,” she says, giving me a wink.

I let out a laugh. “That we definitely have,” I say, feeling my face heat.

Ryan shakes her head. “TMI, Sage, TMI.” She sprays my arm down before wiping at the tattoo.

“You’re all done!”