I set my cup down and crept down the steps. Careful to avoid broken glass, I walked to the very edge of the lot, reached in and pulled out a plastic bag filled with napkins. When I turned around, Dean was holding up the trash bag with a half smile playing on his lips as I dropped it in. “One small step at a time,” I repeated, then perched back on the stoop. “Have you asked folks what they might want to see here?”

He shook his head.

“I could help with that,” I said, my words tumbling out before I could snatch them back. “But only if you wanted the help. Or needed it. I totally, totally understand if I’d only be an annoying distraction.”

Dean’s fingers curled into fists at his side. “You’re not…annoying, Tabitha.”

I arched my eyebrow. “But am I a distraction?”

I was joking, as usual, but the slight flush in his cheeks had my own face heating up. We broke eye contact, me to drink coffee and him to twist the shovel into the sidewalk. I was probably still jet-lagged. Flirting with attractive people didn’t generally evoke this kind of fluttery reaction.

“You might be slightly distracting,” he finally said, eyes crinkling at the sides. I smiled at him, surprised and blushing everywhere now. But before I could flirt back, Eddie walked past us with Pam behind him, twitching her tail.

“Morning, how youse doing?” he grumbled, squinting at the shovel.

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?”