With muscle memory, he could put the A into his skin. Henry chuckled to himself because if he made it in red ink and stopped there, he could be a gender-swapped version of Hester Prynne. His A was always for Abigail, the whole name which he wrote into the skin above his heart after every time he died. Death had that cruel way of stealing everything away each time his body reset.
Before he could begin, the motion sensor for his front door beeped. Seconds later, he heard the voice of Jo Martinez calling out from the waiting room.
"Henry, it's just me. I got some of your mail again," she said.
"I'm in the back, Jo!" he yelled out to her.
The woman came to his work room dressed in her florist smock with her shop name on it. Henry thought the name Petal Pushers was clever, but he wasn't going to tell her that. His tattoo parlor and her florist shop shared the same strip mall and inconsistent mail carrier. They'd often walk misdelivered mail back and forth to each other.
Jo assessed him in his shirtless state. Henry was wearing trousers and the black gloves he wore whenever tattooing, but she could see what looked like a tattoo-free torso. She didn't hide her thoughts for long.
"You always told me your tattoos were under your clothes, but unless they're on your legs, I don't see any."
"What if they're not on my legs?" he asked in unspoken challenge.
"Then I'd say you're into a whole new level of pain than I am," she replied with a full body shiver. "It just looks weird not to see you covered in tattoos. You're like the chef who won't eat his own food. It's…"
"Distasteful?" he offered.
"Untrustworthy," she said. "Anyhow, here's your mail."
Henry stood beside her to take it from her hands. She glanced at him before asking, "Would you ever like to get some coffee sometime? No pressure. Just coffee."
It was his turn to assess her. Jo might own a flower shop, but she was no delicate creature. Visually, she was yin to Abigail's yang. She was an attractive woman, and Abigail wasn't coming back, no matter how much he wished it.
"Yes, I'd like that," he told her.
"Great! I'll see you. I have to get back to my store before Lucas fumbles everything," she said as she thumbed in the direction of her shop.
"Bye, Jo," he said.
Once she was gone, he returned to his tools. On impulse he decided that this time he wouldn't write Abigail's name into his skin. She would always be the center of his emotional heart, but the ritual no longer gave comfort. He had new people in his life to care for him, and who knew where that might lead?
Most immediately, it would lead to a coffee date with Jo Martinez. As he put on his shirt, he realized he was already looking forward to that.