Page 47 of On the Ropes
Tabitha slowly dragged the spoon from between her lips. “This is huge news, Dean.”
I nodded, shaking my right knee up and down. I wasn’t sure what the nerves in the pit of my stomach were trying to tell me.
“And you’d want to do it? Move to Vegas, get back into boxing?” she asked.
I glanced at her sideways. Paused. “I have no fucking idea. Can’t tell if I’m excited or scared shitless.”
She grinned around her spoon. “That’s a feeling I know well.”
I dropped my elbows to my knees. “Would you take it?”
“In a heartbeat,” she said. “But, as we’ve previously established, I’m fond of taking giant leaps without looking. I said yes to that contract in Austin and didn’t even take a day to consider it. I’m sure I’ll love it there. And wherever I go always ends up being temporary. But still.” She shoulder-bumped me. “I wouldn’t knock your penchant for overthinking. This sounds like more than just the next gig. This sounds like a massive change to your entire life.”
I let out a long, low breath. “And a move. To be on TV.”
“And Alice thinks I’m internet famous. She won’t know what to do if she can legitimately watch you on television whenever she wants.”
I turned my head to look at her. “Wearing a suit too.”
Her eyebrow lifted. “Maybe I’ll tune in. For the suit alone.”
I forced myself not to release her gaze. I was enjoying this moment with her way too much—her curiosity, the warm laughter in her voice, her goofy flirting. Being on the receiving end of Tabitha’s charm caused that fight-night flicker in my chest to spark even more than the job offer. It was a different kind of power. One that had the same muting effect on my tendency to hesitate. To overanalyze every word and action from too many angles.
With my gloves on, I never once wavered when facing an opponent. Because I had instincts I could trust. As my eyes dropped to Tabitha’s full lips, I wondered if those same instincts were trustworthy. Or if being around this woman just made me really fucking stupid.
Tabitha dipped her spoon directly into my bowl.
“Used to be I commanded a certain level of respect in this city,” I said with a smirk.
She didn’t reply. But she ate water ice off that spoon with a self-satisfied smile.
“I thought being Dean’s Lady allowed me certain dessert privileges,” she said.
I tilted the bowl her way. She handed me her own. We swapped flavors, and I refused to scrutinize how fast my heart was racing.
“When will you find out if you get the job?” she asked.
“Harry didn’t say. But I got the impression things were happening fast.”
She hummed under her breath. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we both ended up at the airport together in a couple weeks?”
I didn’t know what it would be. And I hadn’t even begun to wrap my mind around what it would mean to leave the only home I’d ever known. My parents. Rowan. Eddie and Alice.
It must have shown on my face. Because Tabitha squeezed my arm and said, “I’m not saying you should definitely take this job or anything. But you should know they’d be making a huge mistake if they didn’t select you.”
She went back to her food, tapping her foot in time to the song coming from the block party.
“You like being far away from home though, right? Traveling all over?”
I caught a flicker of something across her eyes. She blinked and said, “I love it. There’s a bold, beautiful world out there. I feel lucky that I’ve gotten to see so much of it. If you decide to leave Philly, I think it’ll still be hard for you.” She cut her eyes to the ground. “I never told my family this, but I spent my first week of freshman year at UCLA sobbing into bowls of cereal in my dorm room. It’s not—” She paused. “It’s not that it’s easy to leave. But you have to make the right choice for you over what anyone else might want.”
That first night we’d bumped into each other, when I’d asked her if she missed home, there’d been a forced quality to her answer. I travel light, but it lets me go pretty far. It was at odds with how happy she seemed here. How comfortable.
“When you move to Austin, if you ever need a…a friend. You can call me, Tabitha.”
I was grateful for the dimming twilight. Could feel the heat in my face.
Her reply came in the form of a genuine smile that made me think of stars and planets again. “Thank you. The same goes for you too.” She pointed at my water ice with her spoon. “No matter where I’m living, when I see any place selling Italian ice in the summertime, I get horribly homesick. John’s is my dad’s favorite, of course. After he and my mom got divorced, Alexis and I would make him go there with us every summer weekend. It was a surefire way to get him to laugh a little. Seeing all the families and the kids. Running into old friends. It used to be if we could get dad to laugh at John’s, it would be an okay week.”
