Tiger Time

Tiger Time

Alaskan Tigers Series: Book One

Marissa Dobson

Chapter One

Tabitha Leigh staggered up the steps to her cramped studio apartment. A plain white envelope was taped to her door. The envelope piqued her interest, but not enough to truly care. She was just too tired and her body too sore. Licking her dry lips, she realized the fever of a hundred and one was taking its toll on her body. Her weak muscles barely carried her up the steps, a clear sign of his tired she felt.

Even with her mind wrapped in exhaustion and her aching body making her miserable, she couldn’t sleep. Night after night, she lay in bed glaring at the ceiling. Deep inside she felt a desire to move, to start over somewhere new. When she thought about where she wanted to move to, the only place she could picture herself living was Alaska. Odd, since she hated the cold weather and snow more than anything else. Beside her bed hung a beautiful picture of Alaska with the aurora borealis lighting up the sky. It was the last thing she saw before going to sleep at night. Her coffee table was littered with travel brochures and Alaskan travel books.

She grabbed the envelope from her door, planning to toss it on the table to deal with later. The moment her hand wrapped around it, however, a weight lifted from her shoulders.
Insane
. In that instant, her plans changed. The steaming hot bath she longed for could wait a few minutes. Plopping down on the couch, she tore open the envelope. The stationary weighed heavy in her hands. It had a soft quality to it. As she unfolded the page, the manly scent of cologne hit her nose, rich and fragrant.
Not from the landlord then.

Dear Tabitha,

I was a friend of your father’s and I need to speak to you immediately.

Please meet me at Tony’s Bar & Grill tomorrow night at seven o’clock.

It’s important.

Sincerely,

Ty

With the note in her hand, a bunch of questions ran through her head. Had he really known her father? Maybe he could answer some of her questions about her parents and why she was left in the state’s care.
Even if Ty answers some of my questions, I don’t know him or what he really wants.

Foster homes had made her cautious of others and made it hard to form any type of friendship with people. Too many people were out for themselves.

She wouldn’t go. She wasn’t much of a risk-taker, and this was too big of a risk.
As she laid aside the letter and reluctantly went to take a bath, her brain told her she was doing the right thing. But her heart wanted answers.

* * *

Ty Reynolds had been in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for three days now, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get in touch with Tabitha. She didn’t have a phone number listed, which shouldn’t surprise him. Most people were ditching landlines for cell phones. He’d stopped by her apartment three times already, but there was never anyone home.

What he had to say to Tabitha had to be done in person. He couldn’t write it in a letter or tell her over the phone. He’d made the trip from Alaska to break the news to her gently.

With no answer at her apartment, he was glad he’d come prepared. He taped the letter he brought to her door and silently hoped she would meet him. Tomorrow would be the test.
If she doesn’t show up tomorrow, I’ll sit outside her door until she comes home.
Time was running out, and he had to see her.

* * *

Relaxing in blistering hot bath water with lavender bath salts and a touch of vanilla scented bubble bath normally eased the tension from her body. Tonight, though, she was on edge. The letter’s contents kept running through her head.

Saying he was a friend of her dad’s wasn’t something that would make her want to meet him. She knew next to nothing about her parents. They could have been murderers for all she knew.

No, they weren’t murderers. The caseworker had informed her that her parents had died in a car accident when she was a year old. Not that she remembered any of it. Thanks to a very nice police officer, she had a picture of her parents with her that was taken a month before they died.

The Polaroid was the only treasure she had from the family she was supposed to have as she moved from foster home to foster home. She sank deeper in the tub, remembering the day the police officer gave her the picture. It had become her most cherished item, even now kept next to her bed.

A year ago, everything changed. On her eighteenth birthday, she aged out of the system. Her caseworker, Bev, handed her five hundred dollars and told her to leave.

Tabitha dunked her head under the water as the memory of how exciting and scary that time had been came flooding back. On one hand, she wasn’t tossed from home to home like some unwanted pet. But on the other hand, she didn’t have anywhere to go, though the fleabag motel she ended up living in allowed her to save every dollar she could. The worst part was not being able to find a job. It was an endless cycle. No one would hire her without an address, and she couldn’t get an apartment without a job.

She was getting desperate when a little mom-and-pop family restaurant hired her to clean tables and wash dishes. She didn't care what work she did as long as she did something to keep a roof over her head. The day after she was hired, she found a little, rundown apartment two blocks from work and thanks to Alice, her best friend and fellow foster child, she was able to rent it without a deposit. It wasn't much—only a studio—but it came furnished, and that's what mattered. The day she moved in, she had nothing but a suitcase full of clothes. She didn't need much, just a roof over her head and a place to lay her head.

The bubbles were gone and the water grew cold. Tabitha wasn’t sure how long she was lost in her memories, but it was time to move on. Grabbing a towel off the rack, she wondered if she would ever find her place in the world.
What is my purpose? Why Alaska?

Chapter Two

Tabitha woke when the sun shining through her curtains hit her eyes. The bedside clock showed it was just before six in the morning. Three hours of sleep—not much to the normal person, but she was grateful for any sleep at all. Maybe taking it easy would help her get over the flu or whatever she had. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on in the condition she was in. She was constantly tired and her body ached all over. She struggled through the days, exhausted, but laid in bed unable to sleep.

Unlike most people, she wasn’t a coffee drinker in the morning. She preferred a cold glass of iced tea to push away the fog of sleep. The bed was only ten steps from the refrigerator, not far to go. But she didn’t make it before someone pounded on her door. Whoever was knocking would a put wrench in her plans for the day. It was too early to be a social call, and at this time of the morning, it must mean something awful had happened or was about to happen.

“Tabitha, are you in there? Please, I need your help. Open up.” Her neighbor and best friend, Alice, called from the other side of the door.

Yanking it open, she was ready to be a grouch. She wasn’t a morning person. “Alice, what's…?”

Alice fell into Tabitha’s apartment and landed on the floor with a loud
thud.
Covered in blood, Alice had black and blue marks forming. Her short brown hair looked black from the blood matting it.

Tabitha stood back, appalled at the state Alice was in.
How could someone do this to another person?
Anger had her trembling as she examined Alice. She wanted to comfort her, but she couldn’t see an unmarked spot where she could put her hands.

 “I took your advice and told him I’m pregnant.” Alice let out a pitiful sob before she could go on. “He beat the crap out of me and told me it couldn’t be his. He doesn’t have any children. None of his other girls got pregnant, so I must have cheated.”

Tabitha listened to Alice ramble on as she grabbed her cell phone off the stand by the couch. The phone was the only luxury she could afford. It was an expensive thing to keep up, but walking home late at night by herself in Pittsburgh…she needed it just in case. Tabitha dialed 911, hoping an ambulance could get there in time to save Alice and the baby, and maybe the police could arrest the creep.