Page 10 of Where We Fall

"Hey." I smile as I hold my hands up. "I never promised to be a perfect gentleman. But seriously, how can they expect to put high school girls in those shorts andnothave the boys go crazy?"

"True. It was unfortunately something we dealt with at our high school. So, you played football?"

"I did. But my true passion was baseball. I was a pitcher."

"Ah. I can see you being a baseball player. You have the build for that."

Huh, I wonder if that's her telling me she's noticed my body. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable though, so I keep my mouth shut.

"It was my world for the longest time. I played in college until I got injured. My plan was to make it to the MLB, but fate had other plans."

She looks at me, holding my eyes with such sincerity that I almost need to look away.

"I'm really sorry that happened to you."

"It's nothing." I shrug.

"It's not nothing. You had a dream, and it got taken away from you. Why would you say it's nothing?"

Why am I acting like it's nothing?

"I don't know. I guess I think I'm supposed to say that. My alternative turned out to be pretty great. I'm living a life most people could only dream of."

"Still doesn't mean you should shrug it off like it didn't affect you."

Our food shows up while we are talking. I realize either the chef is working magic back there, or I was so into our conversation that I haven't realized how much time has passed.

I take a bite of my parmesan garlic fry.

"It definitely affected me. I fell into a pretty deep depression for about a year. Drank my entire senior year of school, almost didn't graduate."

"Well, I'd say you landed on your feet."

"I'd say so. What about you? When did you know IT was your world?"

She thinks about her answer as she chews. I can't help but watch her.

"My sophomore year in college. I was going down the direction of Finance, like most people do when they have no clue what they want to do. I happened upon an IT course for business and loved it. I realized I was good at it too."

"You are good at it. I'm constantly amazed at how your brain works. You have so much patience. The way you can sit there for hours looking at a bunch of jumbled up letters and numbers, I'd go crazy."

She covers her mouth as she laughs. "I like your description of my job. A bunch of jumbled letters and numbers."

"Thanks." I smile. "Feel free to steal it and use it on your resume. Not that I want you updating your resume."

Shit, that's not what I meant.

"Don't freak out over there. I knew what you meant."

She smiles so genuinely at me. It feels like we've already taken a step towards being more comfortable with each other.

The rest of the meal passes by quickly. By the time I've paid, I realize we never got around to planning our story for Saturday. I guess we will while we shop.

We park at the mall near the restaurant and start to head inside. I have a personal shopper waiting for us at the department store. I want to make sure Lexi has the help that she needs and feels comfortable.

Once I give the woman at the nearest counter my name, we are escorted to a private changing area. There's a large couch with a mirror that takes up one of the walls. There's a curtain across from the couch, presumably the changing room.

"Mr. Giannelli?" an older woman, maybe fifty, says as she walks into the back room.

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