Page 92 of On the Ropes
Tabitha
Idragged my pack out from against the wall and set it on its side. I’d been avoiding starting this task all week. But now I only had forty-eight hours left before my flight to Austin.
I couldn’t delay any longer.
I focused on the task at hand—folding every single bit of laundry I had and shoving it into this pack where it would immediately get wrinkled again. My hand landed on the pile of new things I’d be bringing with me—a sweatshirt from the Broad Street Diner. Drawings that Juliet had done for me. The novel being read next month in Kathleen’s book club.
So much for packing light.
I tried to swallow around a lump in my throat that wouldn’t go away. I’d spent a lot of time with my family over these past five days. I cooked brunch for Alexis and Eric while Juliet ran around the kitchen. I had a hilarious spa day with Kathleen. Last night I’d sat at the counter in the diner, chatting with my dad during the slow periods and editing videos about the park on my laptop during the rush.
I had stepped back into their lives—back into my life—so seamlessly I’d gone and gotten attached again. But I also spent those moments with them embroiled in a slowly twisting guilt, tightening like a screw. It was a reminder of what I was missing. And a reminder of everything I could lose if I spilled my secrets. So I kept my smile cheery and hoped my mental tap dancing wasn’t noticeable.
My laptop pinged twice with incoming emails. It was open on the coffee table next to where I knelt in front of a pile of laundry that had somehow gotten bigger since I arrived. I leaned over and checked it.
One was from Meghan, summarizing our meeting yesterday and checking in on my first few working days in Austin. The team’s loving your ideas, the message said. Can’t wait to get started!
The second email was a confirmation from the hotel I’d be staying in for the first week. As soon as I arrived, I needed to find a place to stay, figure out my next contract, and learn a brand-new city where I knew no one and no one knew me.
The realization that my time home was essentially over hit me like a literal ton of bricks. I’d taken my own relationship advice—stay in the present, don’t think about the future—to such an extreme that I was boarding a flight to Texas in two days and had done nothing but dodge it like it was a monster under the bed.
I only had myself to blame for my lack of preparedness. I’d been suspended in a state of Dean bliss. Spending time with him had become seamless too. Every moment together felt as intoxicating as it did normal—the way he blushed every time our fingers touched in the dirt when we planted seeds. The careful attention he paid to his neighbors when they wanted to add something to the park. The stack of cat food he left on Eddie’s stoop one morning when he thought I wasn’t looking.
I had no boundaries or limits that could suitably encompass a man like Dean. Every night we had sex so hot it melted my brain. Every morning I woke to the sound of Dean’s heartbeat. And the contentment melted my brain in a different kind of way.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
Butterflies sprang to life inside my rib cage. I’d become finely attuned to the sounds of Dean. Biting my lip, I stood and stepped around the leaning piles of clothing.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
I peeked out through the curtain and saw him pacing on the sidewalk with a rigid posture. He wore jeans, boots, and a black T-shirt, which was about as fancy as he got. With a smile already forming on my face, I pushed the door open and hung out the side of it.
“You know you’re very cute when you’re pacing,” I said.
That lopsided grin appeared on his face, but I could sense his nerves from here. I hooked my finger into the collar of his shirt and dragged his face close so I could kiss him.
“I know I promised you company,” he said.
“You did.”
“Do you have plans for dinner?”
“My plan was laundry and takeout,” I admitted.
He rocked back on his heels. “I’m on my way to family dinner. Would you like to come with me?”
Now I knew why he was nervous. I’d spent the past two weeks casually spending time with the whole of Dean’s extended family on this block. I’d accidentally gotten drunk with Midge and Maria my second night here.
This was different. His outfit, his nerves. The way he said would you like to come with me like he was asking me on a date. I knew, this close to leaving, the more emotionally attached I got the more painful it would be. If I’d truly wanted to hold Dean at arm’s length though, I shouldn’t have begun opening my heart in the first place.
Those dark-and-stormy eyes locked with mine, and a “Yes, of course,” tumbled from my lips before I could even think to protect myself. Not once, since moving in next door, had I been able to resist this man.
He raised a brow. “Are you sure?”
I looked down at the pajamas I was wearing. “Abundantly sure, but I should probably change, right? You look so handsome.”
“I know it’s not the calendar-model look you usually go for.”
