“Excellent. I’m going to go and start getting these copied out to the right size so that the ink outline covers your back. That will give you a chance to get out of your shirt and bra. I just need exposure to your back, so feel free to hold your shirt to your front. Or not,” I said, winking at her as I left the room in hopes that the teasing would take some of the tension away from the lines surrounding her mouth and eyes.

It took nearly half an hour to get the wings the right size and evenly spaced, let alone straight on her back. I had been forced to wash away the ink copy twice before I finally got it centered as perfectly as possible. Two-sided tattoos were a bitch to do, as they required that each side perfectly matched up with the other. However, they were usually some of the most elegant tattoos I have ever seen because of their symmetry on the body.

Through all my cursing and eyeballing of her back from one angle to another, Tera remained still and silent. The perfect little client, but then I suspected she wasn’t going to give me any trouble considering that I was doing this tattoo for so little.

When I was finally satisfied, I told her to lie down on the table while I stepped into the other room and picked up a bottle of black ink. As soon as I returned, I found her lying on the table on her stomach with her shirt arranged in such a way that her breasts were covered as best as possible. Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, I glared at my hands as they trembled before I removed the plastic wrap from the little ink container. I hesitated for only a second, my mind questioning why I was so determined to do this, then I squirted the ink into the container, covering up the frond from the angel’s feather and the pollen from the Easter lily. It was the right thing to do.

Settling on a low stool with wheels, I took a deep breath as I dipped the needle in the ink and positioned the foot pedal for the tattooing machine under my toe. “Okay, I’m just going to do a short line to make sure that you can tolerate this,” I warned her before pressing on the pedal. The buzz of the tattooing machine filled the air and the tension oozed out of my body. I drew the first line and Tera didn’t even flinch. She’d passed the test. I grabbed a glob of petroleum jelly and smoothed it over the area that I was going to be working on and then continued to follow the blue outline on her shoulder, working my way down her back.

As I tattooed her, we talked about nothing at all. We discussed the weather, places we had grown up, and bad relationships. We laughed and joked as I worked, allowing me to completely forget about the dangerous potion I was permanently embedding in her flesh. I reminded myself that I couldn’t kill her, cancer was already doing that job, and quickly.

By the time I’d finished the first half of Tera’s back, Trixie had stuck her head into the room, so we took a short break.

“How’s it going?” my coworker asked with a cheerful smile.

“She’s a trooper,” I replied, setting the tattoo machine on the nearby table so I could pull on a fresh set of gloves.

“Putting up with your crude humor and lewd jokes, huh?”

“No, he’s been a perfect gentleman,” Tera said, defending me.

Trixie gave another snort of disbelief. “Give him time. He’s only half done with your back.”

“Thanks, Trix,” I muttered, turning my attention to Tera, who was looking at me over her shoulder. “I’m going to go help Trixie open up the shop. That will give you a chance to change your position on the table so that you’re facing in the opposite direction. It’s easier for me to reach that part of your back without dragging all the equipment around.”

Tera nodded and I followed Trixie out of the room, shutting the door behind me. We walked silently into the main room, where Trixie started to fiddle with her MP3 player, searching for tonight’s music before she settled on some Three Days Grace.

“How long you been at it?”

I glanced up at the clock. “Nearly two hours. Took me thirty minutes to get the fucking outline on her back properly. The tattooing is going quickly. It’s a simple design. I should be done with her in about another thirty to forty-five minutes. Can you handle things alone for that long?”

“Sure.” Trixie paused for a moment, staring at me with a frown on her face. I knew I wasn’t going to like what was on her mind. “I know it’s way too late, but I still feel bad about this one.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. It’s a feeling, and I’ve learned to trust my feelings. They’ve kept me alive this long.”

“Yeah, well, I’m just tattooing angel wings on the back of a dying girl. I don’t see the harm.”

“Nothing in the ink?” Trixie inquired.

I frowned at her. “What could I possibly have put in the ink that would help her?” Evading her question wasn’t much different from outright lying to her. Despite my intention of helping Tera, I didn’t like myself much at that moment.

She sighed as she walked to the front door to flip the sign over to OPEN. “Nothing, I’m sure.”

“I’m going to get back in there. Hold down the fort. I shouldn’t be much longer.”

“Be careful,” Trixie whispered at my back as I headed down the hallway, my heavy footsteps echoing off the hardwood floor so that Tera had ample warning of my approach. When I opened the door, she was settled on the table with the shirt properly tucked around her.

“Ready for the second half?” I asked as I grabbed a pair of fresh gloves.

“Ready.”

As I placed the first line on her lower back, she flinched. The tissue there was a little softer and the needle dug in more than when we had been doing her shoulders. I wanted to work my way up, getting the worst part of the tattoo done first. I continued working until she let out a little grunt, causing me to pause.

“It hurts more this time around, doesn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry, but that’s just how it works. When you do two halves of a tattoo, the second half always hurts more than the first half.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Does it feel like I’m kidding?” I resumed inking her back. I tried to quickly work my way up to where I knew she had been more comfortable during the first half.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Sorry, I would have warned you, but you’d have spent the entire first half of the tattoo worrying about completing the second half. You’ll get adjusted.”

Tera gave a soft little laugh as she settled her chin on her folded hands in front of her. “Besides, it’s not as if I can stop now. It would look ridiculous—a single angel’s wing on my back.”

“Actually, at this point, it’s a wing and a half, so that would look even sillier. You have to grit your teeth and stick it out now.”

I looked up when Tera sighed and found that her eyes were closed. “I’ve been through worse. This will pass too,” she murmured.

I had nothing to say to that, so I went silently back to work, finishing the tattoo as cleanly and quickly as possible. It took me another thirty minutes to complete it and wipe it down, removing the excess ink, blood, and petroleum jelly. I gave her a chance to walk over to the large mirror and stare at the image. Her eyes were shining as she gazed over her shoulder at her back. It really was an impressive work of art. The wings actually looked as if they would rise off her back and carry her into the heavens. But that was an illusion created by the puffy skin that resulted from cutting into the flesh. It was just a tattoo, even if it was one of my better ones.

While she was still standing, I pulled off a large piece of plastic wrap and placed it against her back before taping it down with medical tape. “This is to protect that tattoo for the next several hours.”

“I feel like a leftover,” she joked, her mood instantly becoming lighter than air.

“Keep it covered until tomorrow. Don’t sleep on your back, and wash it carefully with unscented soap for the next few weeks. Also, no matter how badly it itches, don’t scratch it.”