Page 38 of Where We Fall

He giggles. "More. More."

"Hi, Ma. Hi, Pa," I shout as I hear them talking from the kitchen.

Pa strolls into the room with a beer in his hand then takes a seat next to Gabe. Alexis must be in the kitchen with Ma.

"Hi, son."

"Hey, Pa. How's it going?"

"Nothing worth complaining about."

My Pa was a masonry. He worked hard all his life and earned each penny with the sweat on his body. He never complained once. I've always looked up to him. I know he has a little back trouble from all the manual labor, but he never says anything.

To this day, he won't take any money from any of us. He's a proud man. Too proud if you ask me. His children make a lot of money and could set him and Ma up with a great lifestyle now that they're retired. But we've all learned to keep our mouths shut about it.

"Where are Savannah and Luke?" I ask as I notice they aren't here yet.

"Savannah's pretty beat from the trip. They're going to stay home tonight," Gabe tells me.

"Makes sense. She was up later than usual last night."

Ma calls all of us into the kitchen for dinner. Mia and Alexis are helping her bring the plates to the center of the table when we walk in.

"There he is," Mia says with a smile. "Good to see you finally arrived."

"I've been here for a while loser," I say as I tousle her hair.

She backs away emphatically. "Hey, what did I say about the hair?"

I laugh. "Get over yourself, Mia. Just because you now pay a grand for your haircuts, doesn't mean I'm gonna stop messing with you."

Ma gasps. "Mia! You pay a thousand dollars for your hair?"

Mia scowls at me as she takes a bite of her meatball. "No, Ma, I don't. I just lied to Marcus. It was an attempt to get him to stop doing that. An obviously failed attempt."

Sitting down with them is already becoming my much-needed escape.

Joey starts to eat his spaghetti and meatballs with his hands. I watch in fascination as he gets every other bite into his mouth.

I chuckle when the next piece falls. He clearly decided he didn't have the patience for utensils tonight. Alexa introduced him to a fork and spoon earlier, so I'm used to seeing him eat pretty well.

"Is nobody gonna tell Joey to eat with his fork?" I step in when his face is covered in sauce.

Alexis sighs. "He's refusing to use them lately. I don't know what phase he's in, but I can't wait until it's over. He's always a complete mess after he eats now."

By the end of dinner, Joey is covered from head to toe in pasta sauce, wearing half of the noodles he had on his highchair tray.

I snap a picture and can't resist making it my home screen on my phone. That'll definitely be something to make me smile every time I use it.

Ma takes him out of his highchair and insists on giving him a bath before they go home. Mia gets up and asks to join, always the helpful aunt.

By the end of the evening, I'm feeling better. I don't know what will come with me and Lexi. I do know we need to talk about what happened, but I can handle it. Can't I?

I'm walking back from the breakroom with a fresh cup of coffee. I haven't seen Lexi yet, but I'm sure we can work this entire thing out. The more I thought about it last night, the more I realized that this entire thing is a bad idea.

There's clearly an attraction there, but it's probably for the best that we don't act on it any further. I made the mistake with the kiss and led her on. I just hope she understands and agrees with me.

I take a sip of coffee as I approach my office. Just as I'm about to walk in, Lexi walks out of her office.

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