Page 27 of On the Ropes
“Your grandmother is a menace to society.”
“That’s for goddamn sure,” he said. He handed me his phone. “She hasn’t learned how to text not in all caps, so it always seems like she’s yelling at me.”
I studied the screen. Pinched the bridge of my nose. “Jesus Christ.”
“I know, dude.”
Starting at 4:45 in the morning, Rowan had received a dozen messages—DID YOU KNOW TABITHA TYLER IS BACK HOME SHE IS FAMOUS ON THE INTERNET NOW and I JUST SAW DEAN FOR COFFEE. WHY ARE YOU ABANDONING ME?
“I’m supposed to bring you by for dinner, by the way.”
“I should know better than to let two or more days go by without seeing her.” He dropped his phone back onto the desk. “But seriously. Tabitha’s living next to you?”
I shifted on my feet. “Isn’t there a gushing leak that you need me to fix right away?”
“Nah, it can wait,” he said, eyes darting to the clock on the wall. “Though I do have a meeting in ten minutes, so we’ll have to do the real deep dive before dinner tonight.”
I hesitated, felt my neck seize up again. I needed to calm down before I gave myself a migraine.
“Tabitha is back home until the end of the month and staying at Linda’s place. We bumped into each other at Benny’s. She’s a videographer now, but freelance. She moves around constantly.”
“Ah,” Rowan said. “That’s why my grandmother is convinced Tabitha is an internet celebrity.”
“Something like that, yeah.”
His lips quirked up. “This is a very exciting situation you currently find yourself in.”
I lifted a shoulder. “Nothin’ exciting about it to me.”
He pinned me with a discerning look. “It was always easy for you to talk to Tabitha.”
“Easy? She scared me shitless.”
“But you still talked to her,” he pointed out. “Because unless she’s changed a ton, she was one of the nicest people we knew. Nice in a real way. She always liked you.”
“She likes everyone,” I said. “She was out this morning with Eddie’s cat on her lap like no time had passed at all. And what’s your point anyway?”
He raised his palms up. “Don’t come for me, big guy. I just want to know what you and Tabitha could get up to while being neighborly for the next few weeks. The kind of no-strings-attached situation I think would do you some good.”
I frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means please, for the love of God, go get yourself laid this summer.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry I’ve been inconveniencing you with my dry spell.”
“You’re only inconveniencing yourself,” he shot back.
I tried not to laugh but couldn’t. “You’re such a pain in my ass.”
Rowan picked up a clipboard and a mug that said Philly Underdogs. “You should go for it, dude.”
“She’s way out of my league.”
“Based on my grandmother’s all-caps messages, Tabitha only had eyes for you this morning.”
I scoffed. “No offense but Alice is full of shit.”
“Tabitha is single,” he replied. “My grandmother confirmed it.”
