Page 31 of On the Ropes
Dean grumbled back and I said, “Hello there, Pam.”
“She follows me now,” he said proudly. “Never saw a stray cat do that before, but she must like me.”
I crouched down and cooed as Pam rubbed her cheek against my leg. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Nah,” he said. “I’m heading to your dad’s diner. Meeting a few army buddies. You doing some shit with the lot, or what?”
I shot a bemused look at Dean. “You should ask Mr. Machine over here.”
Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “I am doing some shit, yeah. It’s time we make it better whether the city wants us to or not.”
Eddie nodded once, apparently satisfied. “I’ll help you with it.”
“Eddie,” Dean warned.
“What? I can still do things—or at the very least, me and Alice can cheer everyone on from the benches.”
“We can make that work,” I said brightly. I stood up and brushed the hair from my face. “If you could have it your way, what would that space look like to you?”
Eddie sniffed, cocked his head. Pam wound between his legs, purring. “That used to be Annie’s house. Annabeth was her name, but we all called her Annie. She was old as dirt when I was a kid, honest-to-god lived to one hundred and four all on her own. We all took care of her, of course, but that’s what you did for each other, ya know?”
I need to be filming this.I blinked rapidly, surprised again at the burst of inspiration.
“Annie didn’t have a lot of family here. Most were all back in Italy. But I know they appreciated us taking care of her. She used to throw parties…” Eddie whistled low under his breath, then grinned. “Man, I ain’t ever been so drunk in my life. She gave back though, cooked meals for people, volunteered with her church. Kept us all going when times were tough. We did the same for her.”
My stomach went hollow. Yesterday I was very aware of the many tiny ways this block was taking care of Eddie. I recognized the gentle—but forceful—methods his neighbors were using to make sure he had enough to eat. I’d watched my dad do it, had seen Kathleen do it for her siblings. Alexis and Eric had started a food pantry for the parents and guardians of their students that operated out of their classrooms.
And I’d witnessed this kindness on the road, in every town and community, right through my viewfinder.
“Watching that house of hers get so run down just about broke my heart,” Eddie continued. “She was so proud of it. Seeing it get bulldozed was pretty bad.” He waved at the lot behind us. “This is worse. She would’ve hated this.”
I swallowed hard, all of my complex memories of home zipping around, jumbled and confusing. “What would have made Annie happy?”
Eddie let out a sigh. “You should ask the others, especially Natalia and Martín. They’ve got kids—little ones—maybe they’d want a swing set or something. Annie would like that. Some trees. A little garden. Would be real nice for people turning onto this block to see a park instead of garbage.”
Dean trapped my gaze with his dark-and-mysterious one. My skin prickled with awareness. “That would be nice,” he said. “Especially if folks on the block wanted to do it with me.”
“This block?” Eddie said. “You wouldn’t even have to ask. You’d have more help than you knew what to do with.” Then he scooped Pam into his arms and shuffled off in the direction of my dad’s diner, tossing a wave goodbye as he did so.
“Tell my dad to bake more lemon squares,” I yelled.
Eddie barked out a laugh as he rounded the corner.
When Dean finally turned to me, I raised my eyebrows as in See? I told you.
His lips curved into a half smile that had my toes curling. “Still trying to blackmail your elderly neighbors into spilling secrets about me?”
I reached behind my screen door with a smirk and produced a tiny white box. Flipped it open to reveal four lemon squares, nestled in powdered sugar. “I swear it was a coincidence.”
His eyes flicked down, and his chest rumbled with soft laughter.
“Want one?”
“I’m good, thanks,” he said. “My mothers will take all four off your hands.”
He tapped the shovel up and down, striking the sidewalk with a gentle rap-rap-rap. His internal struggle was obvious, but I didn’t push. Finally, he said, “Would you like a secret?”
I bit my lip. “Sure. But I’m happy to offer up one myself if it’ll feel more even.”
