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If her expression was any indication, Tabitha wasn’t fooled by the whole positivity thing. “But?”
“But I think you’d find this list more helpful if you had specific, achievable goals. Preferably with a time frame.” When Tabitha’s face didn’t change, Hobbs pressed on. “For example, this one here.Excel at massage.How are you going to do that? Are you going to study your bones for a half hour a day every day until the quiz? Are you going to practice massaging more? If so, how many and when? Be specific. And make the results measurable and achievable.”
Tabitha extended her hand and took back her journal. Then her face finally relaxed and she offered a small smile. “You’re right. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Coach.”
“I can help you, too,” Hobbs pressed. Anything to keep that smile on her face, or even make it bigger. “With massage, maybe. Are you good at massaging sad humans, too?” It occurred to him that this was not a good idea, but he couldn’t stop himself. If Tabitha had made the abused dog feel better, maybe she could make Hannah feel better, too.
“I’m not good with humans at all. Why?” Tabitha got a sneaky look in her eyes. “You sad?”
“Maybe.” Hobbs felt bad for lying. If there was one thing he wasnotover his father’s death it was sad, but Tabitha got anxious quickly and might not go for massaging a stranger. At least if she thought she was massaging him, there was a chance she’d say yes. “I was just thinking I could help out,” Hobbs said quickly. “I could be one of your guinea pigs and give you feedback.”
Tabitha lowered her gym bag from her shoulder to the floor, like it suddenly got too heavy.
“One of your very unspecific goals is to excel at massage, Tabby. You’re never going to get good unless you practice. And you can’t just keep massaging Red. You have to branch out.”
Tabitha stood there, frozen, saying nothing, until she finally drew a deep breath and said, “Yeah, okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, you’re right. But I don’t have a lot in my repertoire yet. I’m still first semester. I’m good at feet and necks and shoulders.”
“I’ll take it.” Anything to get her to come over. From there, maybe he could somehow work Hannah into the picture. Hobbs didn’t know much about massage, but he did know that Red was right—Tabitha had a gift for getting inside you and making you think and feel things you needed to think and feel, even if you didn’t want to. He didn’t like it one bit, but her superpower might prove useful with Hannah.
“You can be one of my people this week.” Tabitha collected her bag and slung it back on her shoulder. “But no jokes.” She pointed a finger at him.
“Never.”
There went that smile again—bright, genuine, lit up her eyes.
“Oh, and the part about the motorcycle.” Hobbs nodded at the journal. “I can help you with that, too. I haven’t ridden in ages, but I wouldn’t mind getting back on a bike soon if it meant giving you your first ride.”
Tabitha cocked her head to the side. “Oh, yeah? You’d do that for me?”
“I’d definitely make the sacrifice. I don’t have a bike but...”
“Delaney would let us borrow one, I’m sure. She’s always got bikes in the shop that need testing.”
“Awesome. We’ll just wait for a warm day. Virginia gives us plenty of those before January, but if not, we can wait until spring. Either way, it’ll happen.”
Tabitha’s smile infused her whole body now, her shoulders straightening and chin tilting up. She looked filled with sunshine. “Deal,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
“Deal.” They shook on it. “Now, go home and make that list more specific. Remember, short, specific, achievable goals with a time frame.”
“Oh, I’m going to.” Tabitha had a little swagger to her walk now as she headed out, Trinity trotting by her side. “You can count on it.”
