Page 1 of Where We Fall

Chapter One

Lexi

Thisdamncodingisgoing to be the death of me. I've been sitting here for hours trying to determine the disconnect between the two systems. It's clearly a coding issue, but I've been at this for so long that my brain seems to have given up on me.

The dark sky illuminates my screen in my office, just another reminder that I should be at home, not sitting here alone trying to figure this out.

My eyes are starting to see double on the screen.

I push my chair away from the desk.

"Okay, Lexi," I say to myself. "When you start to go cross-eyed, you need a break."

I stand up, take off my glasses, and stretch my arms over my shoulders to work out the stiffness. Leaning my head to one side, I try to work out the kink in my neck. A loud sequence of cracks echoes through the room.

I need a massage. Endless hours spent behind a computer do a number on me.

My phone lights up on my desk. My friend Grace's name flashes across the screen.

"The kids must be in bed," I say after I answer.

She groans into the phone. "Girl, they took longer than usual tonight. Matt had to work late again so I was on my own. Layla came out of her room like twenty times when I was trying to put Addy to bed, which just got Addy more wound up."

"It's like they know it's just you at night, so they make it ten times harder."

I sympathize with her. Matt is an attorney and has many late nights in his office trying to find his angle to work for his cases.

Grace and I went to high school together. We've been friends ever since, even though she's in Chicago where we grew up, and I moved to Cleveland for work.

"Don't get me started. I tell Matt that all the time. He thinks I'm being paranoid. He doesn't think the girls are old enough to be that manipulative."

I laugh into the phone. "He doesn't know how young that starts. Or he just doesn't want to think of his sweet little angels being anything but perfect."

"He's screwed when they become teenagers."

"Completely," I agree.

"What are you up to tonight?" she asks.

Now it's my turn to groan because I know what's coming.

"Alexandra Miller," my best friend scolds. "Tell me you're not at the office at ten o'clock at night."

"Fine. I'm not at the office."

"Liar," she responds to my sarcasm.

"Well, I need to get these two interfaces talking correctly so our orders can continue to run smoothly. It's actually an emergency this time."

"Uh, huh. That's what you always say. When was the last time you went out and had fun…or went on a date?"

I roll my eyes as I sit back down in my computer chair. "Let's not have this conversation again. I've already told you I'm focused on my career."

"I wonder why," she mumbles.

"I heard that."

"Yeah, well, maybe I wanted you to hear it. You're twenty-eight, you don't have forever to find someone. I just don't want you to wake up one day and realize your time to have kids has come and gone. You know, men aren't the enemy. Despite what your mom says."

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