linger like a tattoo kiss

If it weren't for his palm falling flat against the cool marble top of the island, he would have crumbled to the floor as he'd been when she arrived. He was torn between anger and sadness, the tango of emotions sending his mind into overdrive. Everything he'd known was now painfully irrelevant. There was no retirement plan — no room for the fun he wanted to have without the pressure of the league coming down on him.

Her voice pulled him from his thoughts, hand snapping back to his side as he stood an inch straighter with a forced smile, one that faded as his gaze caught hers. The redness in her eyes and the slight puff in her cheeks was a giveaway of what had happened in the bathroom, but he couldn't blame her. If anything, he was envious of her ability to let something out.

"Couch is good. I'll pull the coffee table closer." He'd sneak Moose a few pieces of food and hope that whatever they found on tv was enough to distract him, if even only for a long enough period for the man to shovel in food before the harsh reality washed over him again. "It's a list," he hummed, voice weaker than he'd expected, "for Rowan. Just the stuff I'll need before she gets here. I went back and forth on telling her I couldn't do it, but I will. I am," he corrected in a soft rasp. "I have to."

"can I see it?" she asked with a small voice. from seeing her sister go through the process, it would take months to gather everything a baby would possibly need. but knowing Henry, he would pick it up easily enough. "How much time do you have?"

"Not the kid's chair. Desperate times, desperate measures, right? Save yourself from having to do it again," she offered once more, a nod going to the chairs on the other side of the table. "Besides, it saves me from reading any further into this."

"my knees thank you, i don't know how they've recovered from last time." she finally sat down making sure none of the papers were anywhere close to her tea out of fear of spilling. "this might be a dumb question but do you enjoy what you do?" she asked with a soft smile still placed on her lips.

It had been a gift for his birthday last year, so you could say Kingston took his sweet time to book this wine tasting experience. His 56th birthday was a little more than four months from now, so it was safe to say that he was probably going to buy some bottles for the 2023 celebration, with his 2022 gift. 

her lips bit back in shyness as she set the glass back down. "i just smell grapes. old ones just really fancy ones maybe?" she said with a small laugh as she took a small sip.

No fear flooded his system at the thought of her having free range to his phone. Even when they were together, cheating claims aside, he wouldn't have minded her going through it. Whether it was searching the lyrics to a song he'd heard on the radio, or a quick view of the weather, there wasn't much else to see. Since retiring, the most excitement he'd had was a one night stand with a woman he couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever see again.

He could hear the sound of glass being moved from one place to another, her delicate touch noted with a brief smile. She couldn't help herself, could she? "I'm not even going to ask what you ordered. We'll call it a surprise," he countered smoothly. Maybe in twenty minutes he'd have an appetite, but even if he didn't, he doubted she'd give him the option of passing up yet another meal. The least he could hope for was that she'd let him wash it down with what little Jameson he had left.

The list. How had he nearly already screwed up something so simple? "Yeah, I didn't mean for it to end up on the floor. Thanks." Pausing in hopes of taming the ache in his chest, he turned towards her and tilted his chin upwards. "Second door on the left. If you need anything, just help yourself." The guest bathroom was stocked with the essentials that no one ever used, except for on the rare occasion where his family visited. "And no rush. I'm not going anywhere."

melody closed the door behind her, letting her back hit it with a small thud as she finally felt the pain of everything coming down on her. her mouth covered her sobs, he shouldn't haven't to hear it but she allowed herself to fall down to the bathroom floor and just let the emotions run through her. Sarah was gone, that pain was almost palpable and she could do nothing to take that pain away from henry. she let the first few tears drop getting lost in her damp clothes until she was able to control herself and her breathing.

part of her felt uncomfortable going through his bathroom hoping to find a towel to dry off her hair and wipe away the tears. but of course a creature of habit, she found them pretty quickly she took a minute to gather herself before sliding on his clothes and he had been right, they swallowed her up but she did her best to look better than how she showed up to his door.

"thank you." she muttered as she came back out, a shyness covering her in a way that she hadn't experienced with him since college. "food should be here soon, did you want to eat here or on the couch?" she asked pointing the countertop, her eyes glancing down at the paper once again. "are you sure you need this?"

He sighed as he was at last on a well needed break that seemed to be hours late. He was over with all the crazy people today being foolish and needed to get away. So he went out and stopped at the coffee cart outside the hospital and grabbed a coffee and muffin and walked across the street to the park that was across from the hospital. Put there to help people be able to relax and enjoy nature. He quickly went to a open bench he sat down a moment drinking a lot of his coffee before he sat it down next to him and laid down. "lyudi idioty" he mumbled to himself in Russian. He still had good accent on him even more when he spoke Russian.

He just needed a break, a breather and be away from it all. He did still have his scrubs on but had his jacket on over them. Not to really cover him up, it was just cold out and he rushed.

@sewastarters

x/four

Where: park across from hospital

her eyes glanced up at tallon, the park bench seeming somewhat lonelier that she had hoped for. "her, are you okay?" she asked genuinely, she didn't know whether to sick or just allow him the space that he might have wanted.

"I'm doing you a favor?" She didn't know why but it didn't matter because she got what she wanted in the end of it. "It feels like you know too much about me now so I guess you should tell me what's going on in your life."

"Fine." If that was the stubborn game she wanted to play, he'd do so for her sake and nothing more. "Just order something? Whatever you want. Use my phone." Paying for a quick meal was the least he could for her, even if she'd probably argue against that too. "It's on the counter. You'll have to turn it on. There's no passcode." Even if there was, she probably could have figured it out anyway.

Without giving her much of a chance to argue, he brushed past her and down the hallway towards his bedroom. Every step felt heavier than the last, but the sound of pattering paws behind him offered a dose of comfort he'd desperately needed. "You can't let me out of your sight, can you?" He forced a small grin to his mouth as the overly excited dog jumped onto his bed. He winced at the thought of wet dog smell staining the sheets, but it wasn't as if he'd been sleeping there anyway. The couch and kitchen floor had been the only places he'd managed to find an ounce of solace.

After a few moments of digging, he'd managed to find a change of clothes for her. A shirt and a pair of joggers that would swallow her whole, but it was better than the wet clothing clinging to her frame. "Come on," he called out, watching as Moose lifted up from the bed and trotted out into the hall. He followed behind slowly before he'd reached the kitchen. "This is the best I could do," he exhaled as he placed the clothing atop the counter. "Did you get something ordered?"

“Fine” she replied back, she wasn’t going to fight him on who was paying or what to get. It all seemed meaningless when he had just lost someone so important to him. Her wet shoes made a horrible sound as she moved towards his kitchen, making a mental note to come back and wipe down any small puddles off the hardwood floor. Her fingers moved over his screen smiling at the background of him and Moose. He was right the moment the phone turned on, a flurry of messages came in and would make the phone vibrate like no other. She pushed past them trying to find an app to order and punched in items she knew he would eat. Comfort food was all she could think would help right now and she gave in and paid with the card on file. Once she got the delivery time, she went back to turn off his phone. If he was ever ready, he could go through all the messages and notifications he had gotten but right now wasn’t the time. 

Her eyes glanced around at the kitchen area, it looked like how she expected to find it. Part of her wanted to clean up, the other part not knowing if she intrude even further in his place. She had to remind that she was a stranger to his place, a guest if even that. Her hands reached hesitantly for the bottle that laid out on the floor, the clear culprit of the alcohol on his breath. She picked up a couple glasses with still evidence of liquor in them and moved them towards the sink. 

Her ears picked up on the small pitter-patter coming back into the room as she picked up the wadded-up paper, immediately thinking it was just trash. “I did, it should be here in like 20 minutes.” Her eyes glanced down at the clothes, the pair of joggers she had bought for him years ago. She was surprised he still had them but said nothing. “This is fine, thank you.” Her eyes glanced down the hallway hoping for directions. “This way right?” She took a step before remembering the paper. “Oh did you need this? I was just cleaning up. Didn’t want to throw it away if it was important.” 

He watched as Moose settled into the home as if he'd been there a thousand times already. Wet paw prints stained the wooden floors, but they'd dry with time. "I'm not really hungry." The retired hockey player cleared his throat, dark hues settling on her soaked frame. "Do you want some dry clothes? You can't stand around like that. You'll end up sick, Mel."

"please don't worry about me. i'll be okay." her teeth chattering gave her away until she finally relinquished a nod. "I'll agree to the clothes if we can get you something to eat." it was the only leverage she had in this situation where he might agree. "I can doordash you something or make you something? yeah you might not be hungry but you have to eat."

It wasn't often she carried her work out of the office, both for the sake of keeping her mind straight and for that of privacy, but this was different. Her boss, as much of an asshole as he could be, had dropped off an information pack full of details in one's route to becoming a paralegal. You're more than a secretary, he'd told her, but truth was, she'd already known that. The four person table she'd managed to steal upon a group of college students leaving was far too much space for her to sit solo. So, when she caught the eye of another looking towards the empty seat across her from, she folded over the packet in front of her and cleared her throat. "You can sit," she offered, gaze dropping to the free chair. "If you want. I don't need this whole table to myself. It was just the only thing I could find, so feel free. If you want it, it's yours."

"I get it. I had to pull up one of the kid chairs the other day to be able to enjoy my coffee the other day." She took a small sip still deciding it was too hot to drink yet.

"Oh, I'm sure." It wasn't so much the cost to correct this accident as it was the poor timing of it. A glance at her watch showed that she had no time to even try and secure another pair of dry and coffee stain-less pants, the realization earning another sigh from the woman's lips. "No, no, I think you've done enough."

Breathe, Delilah. They're just pants. And it wasn't as if he'd knocked her on her ass, so there was that. It was hard to imagine the animal before her ever having been small, more than living up to his namesake...add that to the list of reasons why Serj would remain the only dog in the Carreño family if Delilah had anything to say about it.

"How old is he?" Another forced smile as she closed and secured her coat. A temporary solution, just long enough to cover the soon-to-be stain and hopefully keep her clients none the wiser.

"please I insist." the last thing she wanted was to be in debt to her, she didn't look the type she wanted to owe a favor to. she knew that first impressions were never great to judge someone one but the tone wasn't helping Melody "I can go run to the atm if it's easier and just pull out cash." she wanted to make sure that the woman knew she was good for it. "Sorry, my name is Melody. this is a horrible first meeting but I want to be able to fix it."

Maybe she'd need to recruit more people with richer and bigger families than her own. With her luck, she'd probably get a clay machine which was wicked but not as nice as a coffee machine. "I want a big one." She says, hunting through the selection. "I might get hooked and knocking on your door every day. You're taking a big gamble by letting me close to this thing."

"i'll make sure to grab the big ones next time." it was no extra cost on her, the bulk case lasted her longer than she ever intended to. "it's fine, you're basically doing me a favor."