Page 73 of Every Step She Takes

“Well, that sounds like a challenge.” Ari lays down her menu, and when a server comes by, she orders in flawless Spanish. Then Inez orders tapas for the whole table to get us started—patatas bravas and croquettes, as well as lots and lots of bread to soak up our lingering hangovers—and I get by with just enough Spanish to order myself a Coke. When itarrives, I take a sip, andoh my damn. Even Coca-Cola tastes better here.

“We could get tattoos,” Ari casually suggests. “There’s a shop next door, and the sign said they accept walk-ins.”

I snort into my mind-blowingly delicious soda. “I don’t think I’m that brave.”

“It’s not about bravery for me,” Mal says, taking a sip from her own Coke, her bowed mouth puckering into an O around her straw. “I just really hate my father.”

“Let’sactuallydo it!” Vera perks up now that she ingested half a basket of rolls. “Let’s get tattoos together!”

“Darling,” Rebecca drawls, popping an antacid before taking a sip of her herbal tea. “After last night, I think we’ve made enough poor decisions due to peer-pressure and group-think.”

“I would also advise against—” Inez starts, but Vera and Ari grab on to each other’s hands in excitement.

“I’m serious!” Vera insists. “We could all get matching Camino tattoos!”

“Certo! Sì!” Stefano gleefully agrees. He’s already up out of his chair even though the tapas haven’t arrived yet.

“I’m in,” Ro grunts with a surprisingly relaxed shrug.

“Ilove it.” Ari pumps her fist in the air. Mal reaches over and lowers it back to the table.

“Absolutely not.” Mal returns to her casual perusal of the menu. The server arrives to take our final orders, and the only thing I want is more potatoes, so I ask for the only otherpatatason the menu. “I love getting impulsive tattoos as much as the next queer, but we don’t know anything about this tattoo shop and its practices, and A Guarda isn’t exactly a sprawling metropolis,” Mal continues. “Plus, I don’t think our hungover brains are doing their best thinking right now.”

“It has a 4.5 rating on Google,” Ari notes, staring down at her phone.

“And this is a horrible time of the year to get a tattoo,” Mal adds on. “You can’t expose it to the sun.”

“So we’ll get it somewhere the sun don’t shine.” Ari winks at her.

Mal shakes her head. “And trying to keep the tattoo clean while sweating is going to suck.”

“Comeon,” Vera pleads, pouting in Mal’s direction as if she is the true arbiter of what we do, not Inez. “Aren’t we supposed to challenge ourselves to do things outside our comfort zone? That’s our reflection prompt for today.”

“Hmmm.” Rebecca thoughtfully stirs her tea. “When you put it like that, I suppose I could get a small tattoo, somewhere private, just for me.”

“Fuck yes, Rebecca!” Ari shouts, completely sober and still committed to this reckless decision.

“For liability reasons, I want to emphasize that I was not promoting permanent physical changes to your body,” Inez chirps. Mal studies the worried expression on Inez’s face before she speaks again.

“You all can get tattoos.” Mal leans back in her chair, and it should be illegal how good she looks doing this. “But I’m going to sit this one out.”

“No, no! We’ve all got to do it! The entire Camino Crew! Sadie, you’re in, right?”

I chew on my upper lip. I’m not the kind of person who has tattoos. I wear cardigans and reading glasses; I study the Arts and Crafts movement in architecturefor fun; I genuinely enjoy doing my taxes. I’m asleep every night by nine, and I’m simply not cool enough to get a tattoo.

Except. I reach up and touch the ends of my short hair, feel the slice of bare neck above my shoulders.

Except three days ago, I didn’t think I was the kind of person who would cut off all her hair with kitchen scissors in a foreigncountry. And I definitely didn’t think I was the kind of person who’d drunkenly kiss a woman on a beach.

What was it Inez said at the sharing circle this morning while I was distracted by the nata? The Camino isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself.

“I know that look.” Mal interrupts my thoughts with a low, warning growl. “Don’t do it, Freckles. This is a very bad idea.”

“It is a bad idea,” I agree, “but I think that’s why I have to do it.”

“Noooo,” Mal groans at the same time Ari does another fist pump and shouts, “Yes!”

Inez shakes her head repeatedly. “Legally, I can’t have any part in this. I am going back to the hotel.”