“I am leaving tomorrow,” she said with a false cheeriness. “But I’ve been known to work a few miracles.” She scooped up her purse and quickly neatened the pillows on the couch where we’d slept. Where she’d taken care of me. Where we’d had sex so intense I’d almost said something stupid after like I’m in love with you. The sight of her removing any trace of us out of politeness ratcheted up those nerves. “Good luck at your meeting. If you can’t find me, I’m sure I’ll be around a kiddie pool trying to convince Alice not to commit an act of violence against that truck parked there.”

She crossed over to her stoop and slipped inside her house with a wave. With a curse, I yanked my own door behind me and strode down the sidewalk. To my left was the pocket park, being measured by a couple contractors to determine its value. It hadn’t looked like much two weeks ago. And yeah, it didn’t look like much now—a couple benches. A few garden beds. Supplies stored in the corner. There wasn’t any grass yet so parts of it still resembled a jagged scar. But because of Tabitha, I knew what it could have been for the people on this street. Maybe something like this wasn’t gonna change the world, but Tabitha had shown me that stuff didn’t always have to be on some dramatic scale as long as what you did was helping a little.

I glared at the lot as I walked past, no different now than the night Tabitha had fallen into my lap. The reality was settling in as I turned the corner toward the coffee shop. The disappointment. The loss. The embarrassment. If I’d been walking to this meeting with Rowan, I know what he would have said—to bail, big time. That I was too angry and much too distracted to put myself back into a professional athlete’s mindset.

But he wasn’t here. By the time I was shoving open the door to the shop a minute later, I didn’t want to talk about boxing at all. I wanted to tug on my gloves and punch the ever-loving-shit out of whatever surface was closest. It must have showed too. I rolled my shoulders back as I approached Harry’s table, and I swore I saw him gulp.