“Oh, ummm, what does that mean?” I ask trying not to sound miffed.
“A woman who doesn’t play games… it’s refreshing. I like you Sabrina, more than I probably should.” The way that he says it makes me almost think that he doesn’t want to like me. “You invade my thoughts too. This week, seeing you every day was pretty great, it was truly the highlight of my week, and yesterday not seeing you, it sucked babe.” His voice is deep and rich and I melt a little, just kidding I melt like a lot hearing his deep voice call me babe and having him admit he had missed me. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for dinner all week and I couldn’t.”
“Why?” I whisper, almost in surprise. Mike wasn’t a wallflower or a shy man. No he was a man who exuded power, confidence and strength.
“You make me nervous babe.” He says genuinely honest and it catches me off guard. There were moments that he let me see more than I thought he even let anyone see, and it surprised me because he gave off this air that said he didn’t let many truly in.
“Why? I’m not like the other girls you date.”
“Exactly. Sweetheart you are fucking incredible, beautiful, sweet, funny. Your big brown eyes are branded in my mind. You have your shit together, and your priorities aren’t all fucked up. You don’t play games. To me babe, you are the total package.” His voice is a little gruff.
We stay quiet and I sit on the porch swing that looks out towards Penny’s wooden playhouse and the boy’s tree house that they built with Nick and my dad taking a deep breath. Sean would want me to try to reach for my happy, just how Emmi had said, I think to myself as I watch a bird land on the bird bath and look over at me instead of pecking into the cool water.
“So does that mean it’s a yes on Spaghetti and meatballs?” I ask and he laughs.
“Yeah, count me in.”
I give him the address and I tell him anytime after two would work. I put down my phone as I stared out to our cute little backyard. It wasn’t as big as our backyard in Berkeley had been. But it was well kept and peaceful. Thoughts of Sean drifted into my mind. Would have Sean liked Mike? I wasn’t sure, but I did. Wasn’t that what mattered? Wasn’t that what Sean would have wanted?
Sabrina
After brunch with the kids, I mentioned that Mike was coming over to talk about the potential of the mud run I had mentioned to them, and they were pretty unfazed. I went upstairs to get ready. Standing in my bedroom I look into the mirror, what the hell am I going to wear? I had said casual; casual at home for me was yoga pants and a hooded pullover sweater on my days off. He would think I looked like a hot mess, I thought to myself. Only thing is I can’t get all dolled up because then the kids will know something is off. I end up deciding on faded boot cut jeans that make my ass look great and a black camisole that has a lace trim to it and threw on a soft pink button up cardigan that I left unbuttoned rolling up the sleeves to my elbows. I threw my hair up in a messy bun, put on some lip gloss and threw on a pair of brown Reef flip flops.
My phone rings and I answer it as I look at myself in the mirror in my bathroom.
“Hello.”
“Is he there yet? What are you wearing? Did you shave?” Emmi asks sounding as excited as I feel.
“Not yet, jeans and a cardi, yes, and how did you even know he was coming over?” I ask laughing.
“Mark mentioned it to Danny when they talked on the phone. Danny saw him at baseball practice.” Danny was Emmi & Dan’s middle son.
“Did Mark sound upset?” I ask.
“No. He thought it was weird, but said that he had seemed cool… then told Danny maybe you would start dating.”
“Well Mark’s not the one I am most worried about when it comes to their reaction of me dating again.” I sigh.
“Chris?” Emmi asks.
“Yeah.” After Sean’s accident Chris has become inseparable and attached to my hip. He was the serious one, an old soul in a child’s body.
“He will be okay. Can I do a surprise stop by the house to see if he really looks as good as he did in his pictures?” she asks and I laugh.
“No, but we might go for ice cream later. We could bump into one another.” I suggest jokingly, but knowing Emmi she would take me up on the offer.
“Can’t, my mom is stopping by tonight.” She says sounding disappointed.
“Awe darn,” I laugh.
“So have you told Nick about Mike?” she asks curiously and all I can do is roll my eyes. My mom, sister and even Emmi had been convinced that something would happen with Nick and I, and for some odd reason wouldn’t let it go. Nick and I are extremely close, but at the end of the day I was like the sister he never wanted and he was the other brother I had needed.
“No, he is still in Hong Kong on business. With the time difference, it’s been tough to catch up. He is coming into town next week though.”
“He is going to be so broken hearted,” Emmi said teasingly. I think she was finally realizing that all Nick and I were were friends thankfully.
“Oh God Em! You know that isn’t true! Nick is a serial dater. Trust me we would never have worked. Plus we are like family.”
“Come on. All those nights he stayed over? Nothing ever happened?” she asks and I laugh, but make it a point not to answer. Something had happened one night over a year ago. But it was so minor, so slight and so completely awkward that Nick and I promised never to speak about it to anyone.
“Oh Emmi I better go” I say and immediately freeze where I am standing in my bathroom when I hear the doorbell. My heart pounding furiously in my chest, “I’ll call you later. I think he’s here.” I say sounding serious.
“It will be okay. Just breathe and be yourself, okay?” Thankfully she had dropped the whole Nick thing.
“Okay. Love you Em.”
“Love you Rin.” We hang up and I look at myself in the mirror one last time before heading down the stairs towards the door.
I reach the bottom of the stairs of my two story home and am slightly amused at the sight of my three kids standing at the door staring up at Mike.The kids looking up at him reminded me of how deliciously tall he was and I try to shake the damn thoughts out of my head.
“Hey guys invite Mike in will you?” I say and Mark signals a “come in” wave and they step aside still staring at him.
“Hey Mike,” I say, his eyes on me smiling shyly, “Sorry about them, they don’t get out much.”
To this Mike laughs; his laugh is wonderful and does something to my insides. His face is softer and kinder and even sexier when he laughs.
“Mike, this is my daughter Penny,” I say pointing to her.
“Hi Penny” his deep voice silky and kind, Penny nods and smiles.
“The tall kid is Mark, you remember him from the park.”
“Hey Ace.” Mark says as he nods, and Mike smiles and waves.
“And this little guy is Chris.”
“Hey Chris.” He says and Chris only waves at him, his little face completely serious.
“Okay guys, let him in,” I say trying to make things as casual as possible, “Would you like something to drink Mike?”
“Water would be good.” He says slightly smiling sounding very amused.
“Okay follow me, we can talk about the mud run in the kitchen.” I say walking towards the kitchen. I turn back and the kids are just staring at him… maybe having him over wasn’t such a great idea. By the end of this he will walk out and I won’t be hearing from him again.Thankfully the kids stay in the living room and I can hear them moving around, tv blaring.
I open the fridge and I look over at him. He looks even bigger in my house, and damn if he doesn’t look even sexier. He is wearing faded jeans that fit just right and a baby blue t-shirt that stretches across his broad shoulders and loosens at the waist, the color somehow bringing even more attention to his eyes. I look down and notice he is wearing black Chuck Taylors, most men his age would look pretty ridiculous wearing them, but he pulls it off seamlessly.
I hand him a cold wat
er bottle and our fingers barely skimming the eachothers, yet I feel an electrically jolt. His are warm to my cold and all I can do is look at him and smile.
***
Mike
She hands me water and our fingers touch. Her hands are cool and soothing, while I feel like I am burning up.
“Sorry about how they were… I guess I over estimated the idea that they knew how to behave in front of people, ”she says light heartedly; her face brightening when she smiles.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I had promised myself that after I let her go that day at Starbucks, meeting her face to face, I would just walk away, and just keep an eye on her from far away.
But for some weird reason that same night I met her I couldn’t resist and I called her. Then I couldn’t resist calling her again the next morning and asking if she wanted to meet up for lunch, and much to my surprise she had agreed. We had met up every day since except for yesterday, when she’d had to work. Then this morning I had called to see if I could take her to dinner. My plan had been easy. Go to dinner and act like a jerk, make her want to stop talking to me, since it was obvious I couldn’t do it on my own. But every step I took she seemed to surprise me, catching me off guard.
This morning, when she had laid her cards on the table, I knew I was in trouble. She was like a breath of fresh air. The women I was use to dating all played mind games, always trying to stay a step ahead of you so that they could keep the upper hand. Even at the end, Holly had been this way as well. I hadn’t even realized it till I met Sabrina. It was like some unspoken mind game like Chess, but there were no written rules. Not Sabrina though, and damn me if there isn’t something about her that made it impossible for me to stay away..
“Don’t worry about it. They’re cute.” I say taking a big gulp of the water.
“So I guess I should try to sell you a little on the mud run idea?” she asks raising an eyebrow, a sneaky smile gracing her lips. Something about her was so damn adorable.
“Honestly?”
“Yeah… I do prefer honesty….let me guess? Your board has decided to stick with Spark?” She is still grinning not one ounce of surprise on her face.
“Actually they have, but you expected that?” I ask tilting my head, finding myself a little surprised at her intuition.
“Yeah, and honestly I am a little thankful. The 5K is in the middle of the busiest time of the year for us.” She says with a soft laugh.
“Then why bid?” I ask. Damn if she isn’t intriguing to me.
“Because I didn’t lose anything by trying. Putting Ritz Events name on your board’s radar is smart, especially if…
“If Spark doesn’t deliver?” She is a genius. Damn it! I shouldn’t like her as much as I do, I think to myself.
“Exactly, but I honestly am interested in the Breast Cancer Gala in October. I think it’s a great event, even greater cause.” I nod, because she is right.
“It’s one of my favorites.” I chime in.
“You probably have to go to a lot of them throughout the year.” She says as she starts taking out ingredients from the fridge.
“Yeah it’s usually just the same people different cause. They get pretty boring.”
“So why is the Breast Cancer one your favorite?”she asks her head in the fridge.
“My grandmother started that Gala and then later she was diagnosed,” I say, trying not to remember the day she broke the news to me.
“Oh I’m sorry… were you two close?”
“Yeah, my mom wasn’t your typical mom waiting at home for you with homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk, but it was okay because I had my grandma. She was always there for me. She actually started the Gala because her friend was diagnosed and at that time it was a death warrant when you were diagnosed with Breast Cancer. People didn’t like to talk about it. Then a couple years later she was diagnosed… stage four, it had already spread,” I say and she looks at me, her eyes looking even bigger.
“I am really sorry. I am glad that you got to share so many good memories together though.”
“Yeah, she was a wonderful lady, a real spitfire. She was never afraid of speaking her mind. She was hilarious,” I say and she smiles brightly.
“That’s great… so you and your siblings were close to both your grandparents or were you just close to your grandma?”
“Both actually, they were a very solid couple. I uh… have one half brother, but we are twelve years apart, and we weren’t raised together so we aren’t really close,” I say quickly.
“Older?”
“Younger actually… one of those family secret type things. My dad cheated with his secretary, she got pregnant… you know like a bad country song,” I try to joke around, not really sure why I am divulging so much information to her. I have never been as much of an open book like I am right now with her.
“I’m sorry. That must have been difficult to understand as a twelve year old,” she says and I keep being surprised by her. She didn’t make it a big deal, she didn’t press me on anything.
“Do you have any siblings?” I ask trying to get the focus on her and away from me.
“Yeah a brother and a sister. My brother Jake lives in London and my sister, Cara and her husband live in Newport.”
“Are you guys close?”
“My sister and I are. Her husband Jerry and her are saints! They help me out a ton with the kids, they actually took the kids to Disneyland yesterday after Mark’s game.”
“What about with your brother?” I ask curiously. I knew about her sister and her sister’s husband; they had come up on the file my PI had given me. They were extremely close to Sabrina and the kids, and were expecting a baby soon, but I didn’t know anything about her brother which surprised me.
“It’s… complicated. He lives in London, so with the time difference and other things, its tough to keep in touch,” she says, but I feel like she is holding back a little but I don’t push it. “My parents live like fifteen minutes away and my best friend Emmi is literally walking distance from here, so the kids have tons of family around them. Plus, my best guy friend Nick fly’s in frequently from Denver,” she shares.
I watch her as she moves flawlessly around her kitchen gathering all sorts of things from the fridge and pantry. Nick Riley was another one of the people the PI had noted was always around. Even though he lived in Denver, he frequently visited Sabrina, usually staying there with them. I had thought that maybe there had been something going on between them, but maybe they were just friends?
“That must be helpful with the kids,” I chime in.
“It is,” she says as she places a heavy looking cast iron pan on the stove and starts to preheat it.
“Can I help with anything?” I ask and she looks at me mischievously.
“If you want… I mean meatballs can be messy,” she says smiling and I can’t seem to help myself around her. I go over to wash my hands and once I’m done I go stand by her. She looks up at me and damn if it isn’t sexy how she looks looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She seems tiny standing next to me, and all I want to do is shield and protect her, something I have never really felt around a woman.
“Do you think I don’t know my way around a kitchen?” I ask smiling. “You insinuating I don’t know how to cook?”
“Hey you said it, not me…” she says laughing and I bump her with my hip.
“Okay Rachel Ray what do you want me to do?”
“She doesn’t like Rachel Ray… Mom would be more of a Giada or younger version of Paula Deen,” Penny says as she walks in, her ponytail swinging back and forth. Her hair is the same shade of Sabrina’s maple brown hair, only in wild curls.
***
Sabrina
“Penny…” I start to say.
“It’s true. Mom can make you any Italian or Southern food with her eyes closed,” Penny says smiling. I’m not really sure what she is up to, but she’s being cute and sweet so I let her stay.
�
�Is that true?” Mike asks his eyes filled with amusement.
“When I have time I guess you could say that,” I say shrugging off Penny’s compliments. “Here why don’t you mix all this together?” I tell him and he smiles and nods at me.
I watch his big strong hands go into the bowl, and even though he is only mixing ground beef with a couple of ingredients, he is incredibly sexy.
“Mom can we go get frozen yogurt later?” Penny asks as a lightbulb turns on. I figured out why my girl was being sweet and throwing the compliments right and left.
“We’ll see okay babe.”
“Do you like FroYo Mr. Crown?” she asks politely, and suddenly I think she is up to more than just scoring icre cream after dinner.
“Call me Mike, and yes I like FroYo,” he says as he works mixing up the meatball mixture.
“Mom, Mike should go with us. I mean if you want to go. The place we go to, you get to add all your own toppings and stuff. It’s really good.”
“I’d like that,” he says quickly and I look at him a little surprised. “It’s ready, should I start rolling?” he asks me.
“Umm.. Yeah sure, want help?” I ask as he catches me off guard. Not sure what I was most surprised about, him wanting to help roll and cook meatballs or him wanting to go with us to get frozen yogurt. I decided not to think too much about it and go with the flow.
“Sure… Penny want to roll meatballs with me?” he asks and she beams nodding as she goes to wash her hands. I feel like I have no idea who this little girl is in my kitchen, especially because Penny hates helping in the kitchen. I walk over to grab a pot for the pasta.
“Mom! Mark keeps changing the NFL Network and they are having a special on the Harbough brothers!” Chris yells from the living room.
“Mark, come on bud, Chris was watching first,” I shout back, slightly cringing at myself for yelling in front of Mike. I turn to look at Penny and Mike roll and start to cook up the meatballs on the cast iron pan.
“Yeah but the Giants are playing mom!” Mark yells back and I take a deep breath.
“Giants?” Mike whispers, “What kind of kids are you raising? Traitors?” Penny and I laugh.
Crown's Chance at Love Page 6
