Too Close

Chapter Thirty Eight

"Is Miles here? I haven't seen him yet."

"Miles had some family things to cater to but he'll be here soon." He assured her before walking away.

Twenty minutes of actively participating in the convention passed before she heard a commotion by the doors. She figured it was Miles being swarmed in a grand entrance, and knew the attention would stroke his ego so much.

But then, she saw a man who resembled her father with PROUD UNCLE written in big and bold letters on his tee just above a throwback picture of her. She knew it wasn't anybody but her Uncle Giovanni.

Security came in to reduce the crowd that formed around the town's legend. No one expected to see him there, of all places. Since the next season would be his last, the love was only amplified towards him.

He walked to Gianna, his arms wide open and expecting her to run into them like when she was little. But she only walked into his welcoming embrace.

"No run and jump? That just broke my heart." Gianna laughed as Gio squeezed her shoulder, before pulling back to get a good look at her. "I can't believe you went from this to a grown woman." He pointed at the picture of them. She was still the same six-year-old flower girl from his wedding in his eyes.

"You did not lie when you said embarrassing." Gianna grimaced as she observed her little self that was smiling so big as if she'd had two front teeth to show.

"I see you with my number on too! Let me check you out, niece." Gio hyped her up as she spun in a circle, wearing a cropped version of his team's midnight green jersey. Her bottoms were a dark camo with Jordans that showed off her shoe game.

"You're still waiting on those Graye looks to come in, though. This ain't bad at all if you walk around like this every day." The family's traditional roasting sessions never ended, no matter how long it had been since the last time they'd seen each other.

"Wow, that's so crazy of you to say when you're Granny and Pawpaw's worst looking child." Gianna stepped back with one of her eyebrows raised.

"I know you don't think your daddy is the stunner when the mirror cracks every time he looks in it. You're lucky we share genes cause Gino sure ain't playing with a full deck."

He made her laugh heartily as she gestured for him to follow her back to her table. "Not too much on my daddy when he's not here to defend himself."

Gio laughed as well before seeing all the promotional things that surrounded her. He was beyond proud of his niece. More than the giant letters on his shirt could express. "Show me the goods, I'm ready to get to work." He rubbed his hands together, watching her dig into the box of books.

"Firstly, here's yours that is personalized as you requested." Gianna smiled, passing a copy of her book to him. "Let's take a picture for Granny and everybody." She went to grab her lip gloss out of her bag.

Gio agreed, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "Aye, my man, do me one and take us a picture?"

"Uncle Gio, there are people for that." Gianna looked up to see who she thought would be a stranger, not Miles finally showing his face. "Oh, hey, Miles." Gio watched how she smiled differently as she looked at this guy.

"Gio, Miles, Miles, Gio." She quickly introduced them to the other. "I know you have old man brain but some years ago I told you about his son who's a fan of yours."

Miles thanked him for that, remembering how excited Chase was to get a personalized package from an official NFL team. "Of course, I love the kids." Gianna couldn't help but grin as she watched them shake hands. That was one of many introductions down.