Page 59 of On the Ropes
Dean
Later that night, I stood on the sidewalk and stared at a bare space that had been a stinking, trash-filled lot a week ago. The dumpster had been taken. The neighbors had cleared every last bit of debris. All that was left were a few rough-looking bushes and some patches of grass. The street was hushed compared to the noise and activity of today.
Everything ached. I stretched my neck from side to side. I’d been sweating all day and still hadn’t showered. I heard the sound of Linda’s door opening and shutting. Then Tabitha appeared, scratching the top of her head and yawning. Her hair was still wet. She wore a giant shirt that fell almost to her knees. And nothing else.
“Hey,” she said sleepily, holding out a Yuengling. It looked ice cold. “Wanna sip?”
I reached for it. My fingers slid through hers. “Feels like all of your surprises are food and/or drink.”
One eyebrow raised. “Is that a complaint?”
I smirked around the bottle as I took a swig and handed it back to her. It was ice fucking cold and exactly what I needed right now. I wondered when Tabitha had started being able to make such accurate predictions of what I wanted, when.
I hoped she had no idea how badly I wanted her.
“I highly recommend a long, hot shower and then falling asleep immediately, which is what I plan on doing,” she said.
My eyes skated up her outfit. “You’re not heading uptown to hit the bars?”
She laughed. “I only have ten days left at Linda’s house and way too many shirts with Jon Bon Jovi’s face on it to rotate through.” She took another sip and passed it to me. Our shoulders brushed together. When I placed my lips where hers had been, I remembered brushing my thumb there. Plump and soft. Her breath on my skin.
“It was a really good day,” I said, nodding at the lot.
She gave me a big, toothy smile. “It was the best. Doesn’t this look like the site of a future pocket park to you?”
I crossed my arms. “Paint me a picture. I’m not the artist.”
“If you insist.” She took a step forward, reached her hand out to point. “Eric sent me the designs they used for the garden at their school. So you could have raised beds there. And there.” She moved her finger along the right side and back wall. “Flower gardens too. If you threw in grass, there could be benches there, like the one you built for Eddie and Alice. I’m sure Aunt Linda would let you hang string lights from her back patio. I talked to Natalia today, and she requested a swing set too. You could place that right in the middle.”
Images flooded my brain. Summer beers and fall tailgate parties. Alice hanging her ridiculous Christmas decorations on the back wall. Mom and Midge planting in the garden. Lía and Marco on the swings.
And another one—sitting on that bench with the beautiful woman standing next to me. My arm around her shoulders, my lips in her hair, listening to her tell some funny story in her usual spirited way.
It was a fantasy as pointless as all the others I’d ever had about Tabitha. Made my chest tight for some reason.
“What do you think?” She was looking at me over her shoulder with bright eyes.
“I love it,” I said hoarsely. “Now that the initial problem is gone, I can see it now.”
She stepped back to my side. “I got a ton of great footage from everyone. Eddie and Alice should probably have their own talk show. And I finally tackled those back weeds and tore them out of the ground. Even have the wounds to prove it.”
She extended her right forearm. It was covered in scratches. I acted on instinct, reached for her arm and swiped my finger gently down her skin. She shivered. “You’re okay, right?”
“I’m fine. They don’t even hurt.” Her voice trembled. I reluctantly released her. “I should be able to get a lot of the segments I shot today edited down pretty quick. Get you guys some money before I head to Texas. Especially if some aspects of the park get worked on before I go and I can get footage of it. Though, um…” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Maybe I’ll ask Alexis to take pictures of the finished product, whenever it’s done, so I can update my followers on your progress.”
I worked on rolling my shoulders back. “I might not be here either when it’s finally done. I could be in Vegas.”
Her eyes widened as she drank her beer. “That’s wild to think about.”
Wildwas one way to describe it.
“Have you told anyone else yet?” she asked.
Anxiety beat like wings inside my gut. “Rowan’s swinging by in a sec. We’re heading to family dinner tonight. I’m gonna tell them while we’re eating. Not that it’s definite or anything. They should still know that I’m considering it.”
A beat of silence followed. Tabitha’s hand landed on my back, but gently. Her fingers pulsed, just once. “When I told Dad and Alexis I got into UCLA, it was really hard. They were both very excited for me, excited I was following a dream. But you and I don’t come from families that leave Philly. Ever. My house growing up was two blocks over from my grandparents’ house. Until I moved, the farthest my family had been was up to the Poconos or down the shore.”
I huffed out a short laugh. “And I bought a house on the same side of the street as my parents.”
