Page 24 of On the Ropes
Dean
Islowed to a stop before turning the corner onto Tenth Street. Hands on my head, I tipped my face back. Breathed heavily for a full minute. It was barely 7:30 in the morning and the air was sticky, the sky bright blue. I didn’t need to run home after my workout. But I wanted to. Anything to burn through the excess energy buzzing through my limbs.
My trainer was a neighborhood institution everyone always called Sly—in his seventies now, he was tough as an old tire, brusque, and constantly under-impressed. He’d worked with me from the first day Mom and Midge had taken me to his gym. And he understood, more than most, what my career-ending concussion had cost me. He’d been around long enough to know how to keep me in fighting shape without the damaging side effects of real fighting.
Sly’s workout this morning had kicked my ass from one side of the gym to the other. Everything hurt, but the way it used to. The normal kind of hurt. Not the daily pain that came with competing in the ring—the broken teeth, the cracked ribs, the migraines. I’d been out for three years and I still hadn’t healed right in some places. I didn’t miss the scars that came from having my cheek split open or the constant ringing in my ears.
I did miss the power. I had more of that than I knew what to do with.
Wiping my forehead with the end of my shirt, I fished my keys out from the pocket of my running shorts. Refused to notice Linda’s house. Tabitha Tyler’s house, at least for the rest of the month. Halfway through the door, my phone beeped with a message. I scooped it up from the table but got distracted by the sounds of laughter down the street. The kind I recognized.
Standing in the open doorway, I read the message from Rowan on my phone: The kitchen sink at the center is busted again. You got some time this morning to fix it?
The South Philly Rec Center on 8th and Federal was housed in a falling-down building the same way most rec centers in the city were. I did as much work for Rowan as he requested. Anything to help.
Yeah, give me fifteen, I sent back. Then I ditched my phone back on the table and glanced toward the sounds of laughter. I scrubbed a hand down my face, sure I was seeing things.
Nope.
It was Tabitha, lounging in a lawn chair next to Eddie like she’d never left home at all. They were drinking coffee with my parents while Alice swept the sidewalk.
Give me thirty instead,I texted Rowan.
I shut the door tight behind me, giving Natalia a wave as she walked with Marco and Lía to the bus stop. As soon as I was in full view of Tabitha, I rolled my shoulders back. Stretched my neck from side to side. I didn’t linger on her long, smooth legs or the tank top she wore, one strap sliding down her shoulder. Her red hair looked messy, and her black eyeliner was smudged.
She raised her large coffee mug, brown eyes flicking to mine. Her pink lips curved into a smile that slammed into me like a goddamn upper cut.
I blinked. Stars, again.
That fiery energy snapped through my veins, every muscle going rigid with anticipation. Last night’s sleep had not been restful. I usually had time to mentally prepare before matches, to scrutinize attacks, counterattacks. To memorize every physical quirk and surprise jab. Instead, I had Tabitha sharing a wall with me. She’d woken up in a warm bed right next door, with wild hair and sleepy eyes, looking like every dirty fantasy I’d ever had.
“Now there’s my favorite son,” Midge called out. Up went a chorus of greetings from the usual crowd. As Eddie stubbed out his cigarette, I noticed that his cat, Pam, was asleep on Tabitha’s lap. “Did you know Tabitha was home for the month and staying at Linda’s place? We were so surprised to see her walking up the street looking pretty as a picture.”
“And she brought us bear claws from her dad’s diner,” Eddie said with a crooked smile of appreciation.
“She’s famous now, you know,” Alice mused. “Did you know there are so many videos of her on the internet, Dean? And on all kinds of websites.”
Tabitha was staring down at Pam, smoothing her hand over her fur. But I spied her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
I gently took the broom from Alice so she could sit down on the bench. As I swept along the sidewalk, I said, “Is that true? So many websites?”
“You’re making me sound quite salacious, Mrs. O’Callaghan,” Tabitha said, tossing a wink at me. “But I’m not famous, I promise.”
“Just don’t get too fucking fancy for this place,” Eddie grumbled, slurping his coffee. “Pam might not recognize you when you come back.”
“We can’t have that now, can we?” Tabitha said, tapping Pam on the nose. “I’m happy to trade homemade diner fare for hot block gossip any morning that you’d like while I’m home.”
“Deal,” Alice and Eddie said in unison.
“Or secrets about my new neighbor Dean.”
My mothers laughed innocently, but I didn’t take my eyes off that pair of troublemakers. “Secrets, baby pictures, old report cards,” Midge said. “We’d do a lot for a fresh bear claw.”
I leaned the broom against the brick. “You’re selling out your only son’s secrets for donuts?”
Midge shrugged. “Am I proud of it? No. Am I still gonna do it? Yeah.”
Mom hugged my ribs, too short to reach any higher. “She’s only teasing, sweetheart. Unless Drew Tyler starts baking those lemon squares I love, and then all bets are off.”
