Free Crown's Chance at Love by Mayra Statham, Nicole Louise

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