Page 32 of Love Legacy

But since things were so rocky with my parents when I left, I took most of my belongings with me to Pinebrook.

At least all my clothes. My grandmother has some of my things, and there were a couple boxes left in my childhood bedroom.

My plan while I’m home is to finish packing up all my things and give Grannie Mae the rest of the boxes to hold onto.

I’ll get them once I’m done with school and I’ve decided where I’m going to go after graduation.

Sage pokes her head into the bedroom. “Almost ready, baby?”

I nod, zipping up my large suitcase. I grab my travel backpack, tucking my electronic devices and chargers into my bag. I pack my headphones and neck pillow as well. Sage grabs my suitcase and I follow her out of the apartment, taking my crossbody bag off the hook by the front door on my way out.

We pull up to Wild Thorn Ink to see Ryan’s motorcycle parked out front.

“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 at her 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’re the 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’all are together now? Just based on how much PDA 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!”

“That’s it?” I ask, looking at the finished tattoo on my arm as Ryan applies some kind of plastic film over the fresh ink.

She nods. “Yep, that’s it! This is Saniderm.

Leave it on for twenty-four hours, wash your tattoo with unscented antibacterial soap, then apply a second piece of film.

You can leave that one on for up to five days, and then after that, just keep it moisturized.

But a small piece like this, it should heal super quickly.

I smile, sitting up to look at my new tattoo in the mirror. “This looks great! Thanks, Ryan,” I say, giving her a big hug.

She hugs me back. “You’re absolutely welcome, Naomi. You sit just as well as Sage, honestly, so it was a breeze.”

“That’s a pretty big compliment,” Sage says with a shrug, “I’m her favorite person to tattoo for that very reason.”

Ryan scoffs. “Don’t let it go to your head, Sega.” She walks back to her station. “Let me clean up and reset, and then you’ll be next. Tell me what it is you’re looking to get while I work.”

Sage blushes, shifting her weight on her feet, seemingly a little uncomfortable. “So I wanted to get this mantra that my therapist gave me, ‘It’s okay not to be okay,’ in cursive down my spine with a semicolon at the end.”

Ryan stops in her tracks, her face dropping. “Oh, Sage… You never told me,” she murmurs, dropping her supplies to give Sage a tight hug.

I look between them, a little confused. Sage told me that she’s been in and out of therapy, but that seems like a strong reaction.

Sage pulls away, wiping a tear from her eye. “I don’t talk about it much. It was a dark time in my life.” She glances over at me, and seeing the confusion on my face, she bites her lip, rubbing the back of her neck.

“I haven’t told you this story either, Naomi. I told you how I ended up in foster care, but not everything that happened in the time between entering the system and being placed with the Davises.

I told you about how I was self-harming, but I didn’t tell you that I attempted suicide after a few months with my first placement. That family was awful and they treated me a lot like my mom’s ex-boyfriend.

I was at school when I attempted because I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to that house. My teacher found me and I ended up in the hospital. After DCF investigated, they removed me from that family and I was in a group home for a while.

After my suicide attempt, there was a note put in my file that I was a tough case. They had a hard time finding a family that they could place me with because of it. That is until the Davises came along. They didn’t care, they wanted me anyway.

Project Semicolon is a mental health organization dedicated to suicide prevention. The semicolon is a pause in a sentence, not the end. So the semicolon symbolizes that my story isn’t over yet either.

I’ve been thinking about getting this tattoo for a long time, but what better time to get it than now? If my story had ended then, I never would’ve met you. And this connection that we have? It’s so, so special, Naomi,” she says, taking my hand.

I reach up with my free hand, wiping the tears forming from my eyes. “Sage, I had no idea. I’m so honored that you shared this with me and decided to trust me with this moment.”

“Of course, I couldn’t imagine anyone else I trust more,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper as she presses her lips to my forehead.

Ryan sniffles, and I look over to see her tearing up. “Stop, you guys are going to make me cry! Okay, let me collect myself while I go make up your stencil.” She walks away, wiping her eyes on her T-shirt.

Sage gives me a small smile, pulling me in tight against her. “You’re one of the best things that have happened to me, Naomi, and I’m so happy you’re mine.”

I sigh happily, nuzzling into the crook of her neck. “Likewise Sage. Coming to Pinebrook has been such a blessing in disguise because I got to meet you.”

Ryan returns with her stencil. “Ready, Sage?”

She nods, pulling away from me. “Ready.”

Sage takes her leather jacket off, tossing it on a chair.

She pulls her hair up into a bun before pulling her long-sleeve shirt off, crossing an arm over her chest. She lays face down on the bench.

Ryan applies the stencil to her back, taking a picture so Sage can check the placement before starting on her tattoo.

She rests her head on her arms crossed underneath her, closing her eyes. She hums as Ryan works on her back, tightening her shut eyes at some moments.

“How is it?”

Sage pauses for a moment before responding. “Not the worst I’ve had, but it’s not painless. Like I definitely think my underboob and my thigh hurt more, but this hurts more than most of my arms,” she says, her eyes remaining closed.

“It’s impressive watching you. You’re not moving at all,” I say in awe of how calm she is despite the pain.

“Eh, at this point, I’m so used to the pain and sensations of being tattooed. I can get through it pretty easily.”

Ryan works efficiently, and before I know it, Sage’s tattoo is done.

She takes a photo, letting Sage check it for herself on camera and in the mirror, before applying the same film to her back that she applied to mine.

As she does so, I look up at Sage, becoming aware that she’s walking around topless.

“Sage, put your shirt back on,” I hiss, not wanting to make Ryan uncomfortable.

“It’s fine, nothing I haven’t seen before,” Ryan says, giving me a wink.

Sage chuckles when she sees the shocked reaction on my face. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Naomi, Ryan, and I have never hooked up. She’s the one who did my nipple piercings,” she explains as she pulls her long sleeve back on over her head.

“But I thought James was the piercer?”

“He is, but I’m also piercing trained and certified.

James is the one who taught me when we first started dating.

It’s just not my favorite thing to do, so I focus on tattooing.

But every once in a while, he’ll pull me in to do nipple piercing or clitoral hood piercing on a woman who’s not comfortable having a male piercer do it,” Ryan answers, cleaning up the shop.

“A what?” I ask incredulously, crossing my legs at the thought.

“Yeah, you can get just about anything pierced. Some people are into that kind of thing. Sage at the time was not comfortable with being topless around James, and probably still isn’t honestly, so she had me do them.”

Sage grins. “And thankfully, you were willing and able because I love them. But I love all your work so…”

Ryan playfully shoves her. “Come on, let me cash you two out so you can be on your way to dinner.”

“Dinner?” I ask, glancing between her and Sage.

“Oops. Did I ruin the surprise?”

Sage waves her off. “It’s fine. We were going to be on the road soon anyway,” she turns to me, “I made us reservations for dinner at one of my favorite local spots tonight if that’s okay with you?”

I smile wide. “Sage! You’re spoiling me today. Of course that’s okay.”

Ryan rings Sage and me up, individually at first, but I insist on paying for both of our tattoos. “You paid for my nose piercing last time we were here, and you’ve already spoiled me so much today. Let me do this for you,” I say as I sign the receipt and send Ryan a tip through Venmo.

“Thank you again, Ryan, for doing this for us,” Sage says, pulling Ryan in for a last-minute hug.

I take a moment to hug Ryan too before exiting the shop with Sage.

“You guys enjoy your date night, and Merry Christmas!”