Page 63 of Waiting for Acceptance (Nashville Nights #5)

LAUREN

Fitz could hardly stop smiling during breakfast this morning.

Whatever he has planned for today he must be really excited about.

Which is making me equal parts anxious and excited.

We went to the cutest little café just a couple of blocks away from his place, and the breakfast sandwich he ordered for me was heavenly.

He was practically dragging me out the door before my coffee was even half gone.

The outfit he picked for me to wear is simple, comfortable, and honestly, I’ve never felt this cute.

I’m wearing a navy blue, short-sleeved, T-shirt-style mini dress with a plaid button-up flannel wrapped around my waist, a pair of white sneakers, and my hair clipped back.

I assumed he wanted my hair clipped like this when I saw the matching blue claw clip right above the dress on the bed—sitting right next to a key to his apartment that I’m trying to stay calm about.

It’s safely attached to my keyring, but I want to get him one to my place too before I say anything about it.

“I know, but for one, you’re not spending a penny while we’re here, I’ll buy you whatever you want, or whatever I want you to have if you won’t pick something.

Two, the one thing I know I already know I’m getting you, won’t be anywhere near a taco…

trust me.” I glare up at him and roll my eyes, protected by the sunglasses I’ve slid on my face since getting out of the car.

I sigh in defeat. “ Okay. You’re in charge.”

“Mmm. I like the sound of that,” he growls in my ear, making me smile. We walk through the doors of Bergdorf Goodman, and I have to consciously ensure my mouth doesn’t fall open as I take in the massive store. “Come on, Trouble. The fifth floor awaits.” I look up at him and my brows pinch together.

“What’s on the fifth floor?”

He smirks and leans down to whisper, “Shoes.” I can’t even deny how excited that one word makes me.

I expected us to browse through the shoes until I found something that caught my eye, but instead, Fitz walks with purpose to a certain display.

I immediately fixate on a pair of black pumps that look just like the ones Ginny chewed up and I finally allow my mouth to pop open.

“See something you like?”

“These.” I point to the pair I’m looking at. “They’re the exact ones I had that Ginny chewed up.”

“You’re joking.” He laughs. “When I came here last Christmas, I saw these exact shoes, and the first and only thought I had was, I need to see Lauren in these shoes .” I look at the shoes again and process the timeline.

Realizing he’d only just come to Coleson, and we were still in… unfriendly territory.

“Are you serious? We didn’t even really know each other back then,” I say quietly, still fixated on the shoes. I can feel his eyes on me and look up.

“Maybe so, but from the moment you snapped at me about being on my phone during a meeting, I knew that I wanted to.” He winks at me as an associate approaches us.

“Hi there. See anything you’d like to try on?”

“These, in a size seven. Thank you,” Fitz answers, making me blush over the way he speaks with such confidence.

Remembering my shoe size, insisting on buying me a replacement pair of my favorite shoes—whether he knew that before two minutes ago or not, still means a lot to me.

“Do you see anything else that you like?”

“What? No! These shoes are a thousand dollars, we’re leaving after this.” I argue, catching a warning look from him.

“Sweetheart, I’m just getting started spoiling you. Why do you think I picked your most comfortable shoes for you to wear today?”

“Vince, you don’t need to do this,” I whisper, and he takes my face in his hands.

“I know I don’t need to. Which is exactly why I want to.

Please just let me spoil my girl. Just for today.

Then we can go back to Nashville and thrift everything else we ever buy if that’s what you want.

” I’ve never had someone spoil me. Or call me their girl.

Or offer to thrift for themselves just to make me happy. Who the hell am I to tell him no?

“Fine. You can spoil me. But I reserve the right to remind you whose fault it is if you ruin me and I remain spoiled afterward.”

“I can live with that. Let’s get to shopping. This is only stop number one.” He wags his brows and I’m suddenly much more worried about what is coming after this.

“Fitz, there is no way this is all going to fit in the trunk of the car.” I look at the associates who have their hands full of shoe boxes and bags of clothes—well half of it is actually lingerie, but the other half is a mix of work and weekend clothes.

“You underestimate my ability to make things fit.” My mind goes somewhere else at the statement and he moves past me to start loading the car.

No matter how much money Fitz just spent on me, I smile knowing he’s still the same guy I fell in love with, working with the Uber driver to get everything placed in the trunk of the car, high-fiving him when they get it all in and the trunk closed.

“Told you.” He lets out an exhausted sigh and I laugh.

“A modern-day hero.” He walks over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist, kissing me before looking at his watch.

“We even have enough time to get all of this stuff dropped off before we have to be at our next stop.”

My stomach is completely empty after shopping for the last three hours, and it’s on the verge of growling louder than the traffic behind us. “Please tell me that our next stop involves us getting lunch?”

“You think I don’t know when I need to feed you, Trouble? Of course it does.”

We pull up to the front entrance of our next stop and if I had a million guesses of where we were going, I would have gotten it wrong every single time.

“We’re going to a baseball game?” I look over at him in surprise.

“Not just any baseball game. The Dodgers are playing the Yankees today.” I smile when I see how excited he is as he slides his Dodgers cap backward. “Now I know baseball isn’t everyone’s thing, but just give it a chance? For me?”

I shrug when I answer. “I can’t tell you no today, right?”

We walk through the gates and immediately the smell of ballpark hot dogs and popcorn fills my senses.

The announcer on the loudspeaker is informing everyone about things happening around the park, kids are screaming while they play, and people are laughing in every direction you turn.

I breathe it all in, loving every single second.

“Burger, hot dog, or nachos?” Fitz asks, pulling his wallet from his pocket as we stop at a concession stand.

“Hot dog, french fries, and a beer, please.” I smile up at him and he kisses my nose, reminding me of the way Pops did the same thing with Gran.

I’m so glad he grew up around them.

“Yes ma’am.” We make it to our seats, which are so close to the dugout you can practically smell the sweat and sunflower seeds, just as the teams are starting to warm up. I scan the field carefully, watching as each player exits the dugout when Fitz’s voice brings my attention back to him.

“Are you disappointed?” My head snaps in his direction, seeing the guarded look in his eyes.

“What?! No. Why would you ask that?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. This isn’t—” Something catches my attention on the field and I gasp embarrassingly loud when I look over and see who just ran out of the dugout.

“Fitz, shut up. Look! It’s Shohei Ohtani!” I slap his arm and watch as he begins warming up with the rest of the team. After a minute, I remember that Fitz was in the middle of saying something to me and I look back over at him. “I’m so sorry. I interrupted you. What were you saying?”

“Um. What the fuck, Trouble? You…I. I don’t even know what to say.” My head falls back with laughter, wishing I had a picture of his face right now.

“You’re not the only one full of surprises, babe.” I bump his shoulder with mine, lowering my glasses to wink at him.

He laughs, sitting back in his seat like he’s actually needing a minute to process. “So…you like baseball then?”

“Yep. I dated a guy in high school who was on the baseball team, and that’s when I first got into it.

After we broke up I stopped going to the games, obviously, and wound up missing it more than I thought I would.

So I started watching college and pro games instead.

” He shifts in his seat like he’s too excited to sit still.

“Do you have a favorite team?” I scrunch my nose while I think.

“Not really. I’m more of a fan of the players than I am of a specific team.

I feel like that limits your support. Like, for instance, Yadier Molina was one of the greatest catchers of our time, and you won’t change my mind about that.

He was damn near impossible to run on. Then you have Barry Bonds, one of the best hitters ever, even naturally he’s one of the hardest batters to pitch against. Then, of course, my guy Shohei.

He’s a great pitcher but as a DH? Forget about it.

Love him.” I pop a French fry in my mouth and look over to see Fitz with an unreadable look on his face.

“I think I just fell in love with you again.” I laugh, rolling my eyes at him and he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling my ear closer to his lips.

“I saw that, Trouble.”

Lucky me.