The Fear Of Faith [2]

2. Cal

I headed to the desk and checked the diary for the day's appointments where I saw that my first client was due in 15-minutes.

'Perfect,' I said to myself.

I set up my station ready for the client before heading to the computer to go through some booking requests we had received overnight.

My shop was a small business on Bogart Street in Brooklyn that hadn't taken much time to fix up seeing as the previous owners had taken good care of it. With a little clean up and some paintwork it had looked good as new right away. We had a small reception desk right by the door with a little seated waiting area by the side. The archway behind the desk led through to our stations where we had three, even though there were only two of us. Bethan's parents, Clara and Ted, had organised for everything to be set up ready for us arriving here and I paid the final bill out of the savings I'd acquired over a lot of years.

I had driven up secretly once it was completed to check it out and had never felt more proud of myself upon stepping through the door. It had been hard to keep it from Bethan all summer, with the plan to reveal my move to New York to her being left to the very last minute, but it had been worth it to see the look on her face.

She adored the shop when she saw it. As soon as we had arrived in the city, she demanded we come down to Brooklyn to see it even before she saw our apartment. Having her feel proud of me was something else. The feeling it gave me was so new and strange and I always struggled to understand why she wanted to be with someone like me. The rumours had never bothered her and she'd had faith in me from the very beginning but I couldn't help but wonder how I got so lucky. It was a sure thing; I didn't deserve this luck after everything bad I had done in my life. There were men out there who could give her the world on a platter and I had no doubts that she could have anyone she wanted but the fact she chose me was beyond comprehension. Nonetheless, I knew she loved me and it was all that mattered.

'Shit,' I muttered to myself as I overlooked the requests on the screen.

The waiting list for appointments was looking to be pushed to three weeks now and I knew this was only going to send potential clients running to another parlour. Being fully booked was exactly what I'd dreamed but I hadn't realised I'd be dealing with that happening so soon. I didn't want to turn away work but with the two of us already working overtime, I had no choice.

I took down the appointments we could fill, sending over information and requesting deposits from the clients before the bell rang and my next client entered.

'Hey,' the young guy named Pauly grinned.

'Nice to see you again, man,' I said as I stood and clasped his hand. He had booked in for his tattoo just a week after opening; a simple touch up of the artwork already displayed on his hands.

'You too, dude,' Pauly replied as he pulled away from our handshake and I signalled for him to follow me.

'Let's get started,' I said, as we headed through the archway to my station.

I got right to work on Pauly's chosen design and we chatted about the best places to go in the city as I worked. After an hour, I'd finally completed the first part and was satisfied with the result so far.

'See you back here for the next session,' I was saying as I finished off dressing Pauly's ink work. 'Take care.'

'Thanks, man,' he said, before moving to his feet and heading out front and out the door.