Page 67 of Off the Mark
“Most of them are, but ours is privately funded. Grants, donations.” I shrugged. “We just lost our biggest grant funder, so we’re scrambling at the moment, trying to keep our doors open.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s a damn shame, Rowan. I’m sorry to hear it, especially given how tough your jobs must be, working in Philadelphia of all places.”
“Aren’t you from here too?” Dean asked.
“No, no, born and raised on the Main Line, about an hour northwest. I don’t know Philly well but I watch the nightly news.” He waved his hand sympathetically, like Dean and I had recently come back from a war. “All the trash. And the, you know, all the violence and crime. It’s a damn shame too, since Ialwaystold people on the Main Line that Philadelphia could have really been something.”
Dean and I shared another look. His jaw was locked, brow pinched in annoyance. We were used to taking intrusive questions from strangers about our injuries. We were also used to taking half-formed opinions from suburban folks who knew about as much about our neighborhoods as I knew how to walk on the goddamn moon.
I swallowed a whole lot of my pride and said, “Dean and I come from South Philly, and we’d do anything for our city. Because it’s done so much for us. I know what’s on the news. I also know my neighbors better than the news does. Know that Philly’s like anyplace else. A lot of good folks, trying their hardest to make ends meet, all shoved together close in row homes. We’re all we’ve got. But that’s a helluva lot. We see it every day at the rec center, how people take care of one another. Show up for each other. Give extra when they have it. That’s why I come to work every day.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, where I felt hot and a little bit itchy. But also relieved that Steve had shown up again—I’d been kicking myself nonstop about letting him slip through my fingers without evenmentioningthe center. It was surprising how easy talking about this place was starting to become.
I hadn’t said anything that was untrue. Hadn’t said anything that I didn’t know, personally, from showing up day after day. Steve was either gonna get past some of that rich-suburban-dude bias about my city…or he wasn’t. Didn’t mean I couldn’t speak my mind about it.
Steve frowned, like he was mulling over what I’d said. “That’s great. Truly, it is. And I’m not saying you and Dean don’t do necessary work or aren’t needed. It’s more that…and I don’t mean to offend you…but I feelsorryabout what you deal with every day. So much of that city is a lost cause now.” He showed us his hands with one of thoseI’m just telling it to you straightfaces. “Yes, I’m notfromthere the way you and Dean are. But even out on the Main Line, we can see what’s happening. And it doesn’t give us a lot of hope right now.”
“And how often do you come to Philly?” Dean asked in a clipped tone.
“Not much anymore, frankly. Though it’s been okay to be in that downtown area, near the convention center for the championship events.” He gave an overly dramatic shudder and a cheesy smile. “Maybe I’m just not a city guy like you two are. I’m a man who needs a backyard and a grill.”
He laughed, rubbing his hands together, then said, “Oh look, the riders are getting lined up at the start gates.”
I slipped a business card from my pocket and held it out to Steve with the last shreds of my willpower. “If you ever want to come one day and see what we do, give me a ring and I’ll set something up. Might give you some hope after all.”
Steve brightened, but it was still patronizing. Raising money was necessary, but that didn’t mean the rec center and the people who used it deserved to be pitied while it happened. I gritted my teeth together but fixed my smile in place.
“Why thank you, Rowan. I might take you up on that offer. Now, I need to head to the front because some of the sponsors have extra-special seats, me included. I’ll wave to your girlfriend for you,” he said, starting to move back through the crowd. He was gone in an instant, and I wasn’t sure whether I’d done a better job or a somehow worse, shittier job.
Dean squeezed my shoulder. “Well. You tried. You really want to get money from that asshole?”
“I do,” I said—and meant it. “We need it, and whatever he gives us I’ll use to help all thoselost causeswe see every day.”
He chuckled. “He can see what’s happening in Philly even from an hour away. Must have some kind of miracle vision.”
“Or he’s just a sanctimonious dick.”
“That too.”
Dean bent to pick up a sign. “I feel bad messing with you about Charlie now that I know you have to deal with guys like that to get us money.”
I tossed an arm around him and pulled him toward the front. “Be for real. Is there a time in the almost twenty-three years that I’ve known you that Iwouldn’thave messed with you about making thirty handmade glitter signs for a girlfriend?”
“Fake girlfriend.”
“Yeah,fakegirlfriend. That’s what I meant.”
I avoided eye contact until we’d made our way closer to the front. The air smelled like dust and bike grease and sticky summer humidity. And there was a pre-race charge, that moment-before-a-lightning-bolt energy that still made me feel like I needed to go find my mitt before running out to a bright green baseball field. Dean must have felt it too.
He nudged me. “It’s nice sometimes, to remember what all of this was like. How addicting it was. Though it’s even nicer not to be the ones putting our bodies on the line.”
I rubbed my shoulder, the bumpy ridges of the long scar from the surgery that didn’t fix a damn thing.
“Do you think Steve’s going to donate?” Dean asked.
“I’m not sure.” My fingers curled around the edges of the sign. “Charlie said he’s fairly philanthropic, but both times I’ve talked to him he hasn’t seemed interested.” I nudged Dean back. “It’s probably a good thing that Luciana told me yesterday they’re starting the process of looking to hire for Elaine’s position. There’s gotta be someone in South Philly who can fundraise thehellout of guys like Steve better than I can.”
It’d been a somber couple days at the center, with Luciana coming by a staff meeting to let us know that after Elaine’s medical recovery, she’d be officially retiring. According to Luciana, she was starting to feel a lot better, but the scare had done what it does to a lot of people—made her reconsider her priorities.
