Chapter 199
689 Words
“So, how did you all end up in Denver?”
Jim glanced over at Kat, curled up in the armchair across from him sipping a cup of tea that he’d made for her. “What?”
“You and the guys. I know you all know each other from your time overseas, but you’re not all from here. So how’d you all end up in the same city after you left Afghanistan?”
He set his book down on the coffee table and settled deeper into the sofa. “Well, Dallas left Afghanistan first. He used to come to Colorado to go skiing when he was a kid, and he’s always loved it here, he says. He moved to the city, started his security firm, bought two houses. Then about three months later, Dean finished his tour and packed it in. Dean is actually from Denver but his parents have a tiny place now since the kids all left home, and so Dallas offered him his one place as a rental. Dean has a local artist friend named Reena who helped him start up the tattoo parlour, and he’s been building it ever since. And me? When I came back to the States, I went back to Iowa but was going crazy on the farm.” He grinned. “I’m not much of a farmer, to be honest with you.”
She laughed. “No?”
“Nope. I hate cows and chickens, and Mom and Dad have plenty of both. Anyway, when Dean called and offered me a job, I couldn’t get on a plane fast enough.”
“Where’d you learn to do tattoos?” she said.
“When I was in high school, I worked at a parlour at the weekends. I just learned hands-on, you know, and I got good at it. Soon it became all I really wanted to do. Until the Rangers, that is.”
“And – and you do OK at it? Like, you can make a living as a tattoo artist?”
Oh, hell, yeah.” Jim examined her expression. “You’re thinking about my crappy little apartment, aren’t you?”
She flushed. “I’m in no position to call anyone’s place crappy or little.”
“Hey, it’s OK. I was just teasing you. Anyway, yes. I make a great living at it, and I made a good chunk of change in the Rangers. I bought my motorcycle and I bought my truck, and the rest is just sitting there. Waiting for me to need it for something big.” He shrugged. “Maybe a house, one day. Maybe some traveling. I’ll see.”
Kat nodded. “And Chris?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s from Vermont, and he was just like me: finished up his tour, went home to his Dad’s garage to work. He liked it well enough, but when he heard that me and the guys were all hanging out together again, he moved out here right away. With his skills, he had no shortage of job offers, but he loves working on bikes, so he took a job at King’s Garage.” Jim shrugged. “And here we all are. One big, happy group of former-Rangers and -snipers.”
“You guys are close, huh?”
Jim looked at her. “Yeah, for sure. After the s**t we pulled each other through over there, there’s nothing else we could be.”
She nodded again.
“And what about you and the girls?” he asked.
“How’d we all become friends?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, that’s a shorter story than yours: Emma and Jenny and Liv all went to school together. I think they’ve known each other since Grade Two or something. They stayed in touch when Liv hit it big in modelling, mostly because she never really left Denver.” Kat sipped her tea. “Liv was getting pressured to move to L.A., but she loves the Rockies, so she just never did, even though it meant tons of travel for her.”
“And how’d you get into the mix?”
- Writer
