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Holden would remind her to breathe. He would get her water whenever she started to look paler than when she walked in. He noticed she wasn't chatty like the other girls he tattooed. Her green eyes held sadness and pain.
    "So what prompted you to get a tattoo?" he asked, breaking the silence.
    "Just doing some life changes. Made a list of everything I wanted to do that I had been too apprehensive to do." She didn't feel the need to give him the whole truth when a fraction would suffice.
    "I can understand that. A bucket list."
    "A what?"  
    "Bucket list. That's what I've always heard them called. List of things someone wants to do before they die."
    A barely noticeable shiver went through Emily's body. Under Holden's touch, the bear inside him sensed it. It could feel her heart speed up and her body temperature alter, more than is normal in getting a tattoo. It alerted Holden to her distress.
    "Everything okay?" he asked.
    "Yes, sorry, must be a tender spot." She replied. Very tender , she thought, in fact you hit it right on the head.
    He went on in the relative silence, comforting her when she seemed pained. At the end of the session, he let her view it in the full-length mirror and saw the happiness radiate through her.
    "It's perfect." She whispered; a tear falling down her face.
    Holden rubbed the shop's blend of petroleum jelly and oils over it, covered it with a bandage, and went to get her the list of aftercare instructions.  
    "And if you need anything, anything at all, call me."  
    His hand went out and took the paper and wrote a number on it without thinking twice about it. His home number, not the shop's.
    And with her smile and gentle wave to him, she walked out into the night air.
    He reminisced about the encounter after she was gone. He remembered how she sat stoic through it, even though she looked weaker than a kitten. He thought of how her body reacted, how he could feel the sadness coursing through her. He wanted to know more about her; what made her tick, what drove her to make the list, and why she had reacted so intensely to the bucket list. Holden realized he almost didn't care if he lost the shop over her.

Chapter Four: The Invitation
    She sat there at the edge of her bed and gently traced the now-healed lines of her tattoo. Each morning she looked at it and smiled. She didn't know how he got it so perfect; how he had captured the strength and bravery she wanted to have in these final months.
    The aftercare sheet lay crumbled in the waste bin, not having been looked at in the weeks since the appointment. Once you read it, you didn't really need to keep it around. Keep it out of sunlight, keep it moist while it heals, and don't rub it after a shower. Simple enough.
    The one thing that she hadn't done though was empty that waste basket.  
    She walked over and pulled the paper out and rubbed it with her hands to straighten out the creases. There, in the corner, was why she kept it. His name and number.
    She looked over at her list and saw it there staring at her. Have a one night stand. While she ached to fulfill 'fall in love' she knew she needed to knock the one night stand off first. She'd never been the bold one. Every school dance she waited for someone to ask her. Even now she waited for invitations. Not this time. This time Emily was going to go and make the first move.
    The phone shook in her hand as she pressed the numbers.
    "Hello?" A sleepy Holden, answered.
    Shit , she thought, just because I'm up at this hour doesn't mean a guy that stays up tattooing all night is.  
    "Hey, sorry if I woke you. This is Emily. The girl you gave the lionheart tattoo to?"
    "Oh right, yes. Healing up alright? Is everything okay?"  
    It had been weeks and he stopped hoping she'd call by the third day, believing that she threw away the aftercare sheet without a second glance like most of his clients.
    "Yes, it looks great. Thank you again for it. No, I was calling to see if you wanted to get together,