Alex has such a pure smile, I instinctively smiled back at her.“Hi.”“Hi, Mr. Kane. How’s it going?”“Good. Everything okay with you, Alex?�...��“Why do you ask?”“Well, you’re at my house. And it’s pretty late. And I don’t see any other car here so I’m assuming you walked over here. Also looks like you’ve been crying.”“Wow, you’ve got a good eye, ha-ha.” She was deflecting.“Alex. What is going on?”I sat down next to her and waited for an answer.“I took your advice and told my parents I didn’t want to. We hung out for a bit before deciding to head back to the city. The two hour flew by. Melissa slept most of the way and I was lost in my thoughts the whole way. So much had happened that night, it was going to take me a long time to wrap my head around everything.One thing was clear, the trajectory of my life and changed, at least in terms of certain lifestyle choices. I gained an understanding of what Melissa wanted and needed from men like Tayshaun and accepted that I couldn’t provide that. " She has a boyfriend too," Bobby said. "Thanks for signing this."He ran up the steps to the seats after the ballplayer had run towardsthe clubhouse to get ready for the game. Rachael turned red as the boyrepeated their conversation word-for-word. She then looked at theball, and saw that Jose had written 'For Bobby, best brother in theworld: Jose Bautista.'"Well he got that right," Rachael said. He had also made a fan forlife with the young 10-year-old. Bobby was on his feet cheering everytime. “But I can tell him you gave up all those girls for me. Maybe that will help.”“I think at this point, not much will help. Are we going to be able to talk on the phone?”“He said I could call to tell you. I don’t know about after today,” she said, starting to sob.“Let’s just take things one day at a time. Maybe your mom and I can talk tomorrow, when your dad is at work? And do you think Joyce can talk to you?”“Maybe. He mentioned only letting me go to church activities and only talk to church.