Page 13 of On the Ropes
Tabitha
“Okay, three.”
“Wait.”
“We can’t wait. We’re doing a shot countdown. We’ve got momentum to keep up.”
“Half of mine just spilled down my hand.” My sister—pink cheeked and a little extra giggly—mopped up drops of tequila from the side of her wrist. “Okay, okay. Now I’m ready.”
“Two,” I said.
Alexis burst out laughing. I kicked her under the table. “You’re as bad as Kathleen when she makes us go drinking with her boozy book club friends.”
My sister leaned in, shot glass raised by her face. “After they finally read Eat Pray Love, she dragged me out club hopping with her and that book club. Eric had to come pick me up because I lost my keys, wallet, and cell phone because I was that drunk and a kindly bartender had to call him for me.” She pursed her lips. “Later, all of those things were found in the trunk of Kathleen’s car.”
“How the hell did they get there?”
“Who knows?”
I laughed. “Okay, come on. One more shot before you head home. You wanted me to bring my trademark spontaneous fun.” I indicated the beer bottles and shot glasses on the table. “I brought it, bitch.”
She nodded somberly, like she was the pitcher and I was the coach, sending her in when the bases were loaded. “I love you.”
“Love you.” I winked. “And one.”
We licked the salt on our hands, threw back the tequila, and bit down hard on our limes. I shook my head, hair flying, nose scrunched up. Then I whooped and clapped my hands together.
“Oh my God, that one tasted like regret,” she said. “Of the tomorrow variety.”
“Then that’s tomorrow’s problem, babe.” I pushed a tall glass of ice water her way. “Drink up.”
My sister and I were at Benny’s, the local bar down the street from Aunt Linda’s house. After a lovely day with my family yesterday—plus a shower and some vigorous laundry—I’d moved myself and my backpack into Lin’s house this afternoon. There was a bed, a coffee pot, and more embarrassing pictures of my and Alexis’s preteen years than I knew what to do with.
We’d been posted up outside at a table on the sidewalk for the past few hours—people watching, idly chatting, doing shots when the mood hit us. It was still hot, the sky slipping from a rosy sunset to a lavender twilight. It seemed like half the neighborhood was out, strolling on by, while the other half was cheering for the baseball game inside.
Plus, our server was extremely adorable, and my sister and I agreed he was definitely flirting with me.
Alexis sipped the last drop of water, then fell back against her chair. “Twenty more minutes, then I’m leaving you to be with my daughter and cuddle with my sexy husband.”
“Get it, girl.”
She tracked the movements of said adorable server. “You think you’ll stick around?”
I fluffed out my hair. “I don’t know. How do I look?”
“Drop-dead gorgeous, as always.”
“Then definitely yes.” I scanned the rest of the sidewalk crowd. “Or I’ll chill at the bar inside. There’s a one hundred percent chance we went to school with at least six people in there.”
I don’t think you’ll ever leave this place. Do you?
I blinked and scrubbed my hand down my face. That was twice now my mother’s voice had slithered back into my thoughts, when usually I was able to mute her. But I was twenty-seven years old. I was not a child. And I was completely capable of being back home and not having her ruin it.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, beaming up at Alexis. “I’m awesome. I’m excited. Happy to be back, doing shots we’ll regret with my favorite person in the whole world.”
She propped her chin in her palm. “I’m a little drunk.”
