She made a sound of agreement followed by a breathless oof sound. When I looked up, she was attempting to lift a heavy, water-logged box. I closed the distance between us and took the box gently from her hands. I hid a grimace, not wanting Tabitha to see. It wasn’t that heavy, but the space between my shoulder blades lit up with pain, the echoes of past muscle tears and a rotator cuff injury that had never quite healed right. Whenever I found myself missing boxing the most, my body was more than happy to remind me of all it had endured.

“Oh, thanks so much,” she wheezed, blowing the hair from her face. “I swear it looked lighter on the ground before I tried to valiantly lift it. I tend to leap without looking, as my sister always says. Too impulsive.”

I hefted the box into the bag. “Rowan would say I overthink everything. That I’m too restrained and never have any fun. I never leap because I look too long.”

Tabitha tapped her chin. Stared at me like I’d given her some award-winning idea. “That’s an interesting concept.”

“What is?”

“Hear me out. What if the two of us had some fun together this summer?”

Her hands in my hair. My mouth, hot and open on her slick skin. No thoughts, only pleasure.

“Sorry, what?” I was glad my voice didn’t crack like a middle schooler’s.

She stepped right up to me. “You and me. Having some spontaneous, impulsive, unrestrained fun. Fuck all the people who took your Saturday nights away from you. They suck, and if you pointed any of them out to me, I’d dump a pitcher of beer all over their heads.”

I rubbed the back of my head, torn between amusement and hesitation.

“If you need a friend to help you out with this”—she indicated the hanging row of trash bags—“then I need a friend to enjoy Philly with while I’m home for the next two weeks. Getting water ice at John’s. Eating a cheesesteak like a tourist. Running up the Rocky steps at the art museum, something I’m sure you’re quite good at, Mr. Machine.”

I laughed. Her enthusiasm was contagious. “I’m…sufficient at that, yeah.”

“Sufficient?” She whistled under her breath. “Okay, I’m amending my statement. You and me? We’re racing to the top of the Rocky steps now. And don’t think I’m letting you off the hook for dancing.”

I gazed around at the garbage nightmare we were standing in. “I do owe you for agreeing to do this with me.”