Crown's Chance at Love (43 page)

The weekend had ended a lot better than it had started
, I thought to myself smiling.

***

I watch Laney walk into my office the way that she always did on Monday mornings. She never looks frazzled, but rather always completely graceful and flawless. Looking at her always makes me think of Barbie dolls. She’s thin but curvy, taller than average, sunshine blonde with big blue eyes and like always her makeup is flawless. She always walks in with a real smile, never fake, and I like that about her.

“Hey,” Laney smiles at me sitting at the chair in front of my desk.

“Hey, how did the Anderson/Cruz wedding go this weekend?” I ask her trying to feign interest. I’m not sure when weddings started to feel monotonous to me, but they were.

“Fantastic,” she says still smiling. “They will be living happily ever after… at least until she cheats on him with his best friend and they get divorced,” she says cynically and I can’t help but laugh. Maybe Laney was starting to feel the same way?

“Great call on the caterer by the way. They loved him,” she tells me, commenting on a new last minute caterer I found for them because the one they had hired had accidentally double booked and let them know last minute about the mistake.

“Good I am glad. I knew Caleb could handle it. He is a genius.”

“So Edwards’ old lady committee called…” she starts to say and I couldn’t help groaning. As much as I love the idea of planning this charity event, the committee that I answered to was a tough crowd to please.

“They are holding a last minute meeting today, and they would appreciate it if you were able to show up.” I roll my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I look at my calendar and luckily swing the surprise meeting would fit without having to push anything back.

“Okay. Thanks for letting me know. It shouldn’t be a problem.” I tell her with a half smile donning my face.

***

The meeting was finally done.

As happy as I had been about landing the Breast Cancer Gala that Edwards Automotive threw annually, it hadn’t been what I had expected. They wanted everything, almost the whole event planned the same exact way. Their events committee was structured by volunteers. It was made up of mostly older women whose husbands’ worked for the company, like Mike’s mom Gail Crown, or for the other company’s that were huge contributors. The committee also surprisingly consisted of John, Mike’s best friend, and Holly. Mike’s ex.Not just ex-girlfriend, but ex-fiancee.

His ex and a group of three other women and together they almost reminded me of an older version of that popular group of high school girls I had always avoided.So far I had actually been lucky with avoiding this group, but was unlucky with having to deal with the older women who were set on criticizing and shooting down any idea I had brought to the table.

I had met John through a video chat when he was finishing up his time in London. He was handsome in classic type way. Almost as if he could have been born in the 50’s and fit right in. Dark hair and eyes with timeless looks. He could have easily been cast in Mad Men without having had to do much to make his looks fit into the era. When we had video chatted he had outrageously flirted and had made me laugh.

But as I packed my things into my hideously oversized bag once the meeting had ended, it seemed as if my luck had run out as Holly walked towards me. Something about Holly made me feel… inadequate. She always seemed so put together, flawless, almost as if she was about to go on a photo shoot at any moment. But it wasn’t just about how put together she seemed but also how incredibly beautiful she really was. She wasn’t plastic pretty, she was real, cover girl beautiful.

She had long blonde flawless hair, and legs that were smooth and so long they probably ended at her armpits. Her skin was like freaking porcelain, not a blemish anywhere it seemed. She was the reason photoshop had been created… so that every woman out in the world could only hope to look like her. Suddenly I felt extremely frumpy, no where even close to measuring up when standing next to her. She was willowy and lithe where I had curves. Where my waist was soft, she could probably crunch a soda can into an Origami figurine with her abs. I could try to blame it on the fact that I had three kids, but she’d had twins and still managed to look the way she did! Life was unfair, I sighed craving a cupcake.

Then my mind went there. I had put it off from the moment I had realized who she was when I had started working on the account, but now as she walked towards me with an unreadable expression on her face I let my thoughts go there. If Mike had been with her for ten years, what the hell was he doing with me?

“Hi,” she said extending her hand. The bad girl in me rolled her eyes and pouted at the fact even her hands were perfect. “I’m Holly Montgomery.”

“Hi. I’m Sabrina Miller,” I said smiling as I shook her hand trying to keep my cool, worried she would be snarky in some way.

“I really like your ideas. I’m sorry they haven’t been receptive to them,” she said sounding pretty genuine.

I laughed.

“They know what they like,” I added.

“Yeah. True. It would still be nice to change it up once in a while,” she said sounding sincere and happy to talk to me. I momentarily thought that maybe she didn’t know I was seeing Mike.

“I’m really hoping they will try to change their mind about the dessert bar. I have the perfect vendor for Venetian Hour,” I shared.

“That sounds good, I love sweets,” She said smiling and again the bad girl in me was rolling her eyes at the thought of her actually eating, much less eating something with sugar. Then she surprised me. “Any chance I can help you talk them into it?”

“Would you really?” I asked sounding a little surprised. If someone agreed with me during the meetings, maybe the Old Ladies Club would give in just a little.

“Of course! I’d love to,” she said her eyes bright. Then she bit her lip and her eyes seemed a little uncertain and she started to talk. “Look Sabrina, I’m not sure how to say this or what the etiquette on these types of situations might be, but I know you’re seeing Michael.”

“Umm…” I started to say but she shook her head, putting her arm out.

“No, please hear me out. I promise I’m not trying to cause waves or rock the boat, really I’m not.” Her voice and face sincere she continued, “Michael and I… well it wasn’t ever going to work, but it was on both of us. We didn’t want to lose the friendship we had. I want him to be happy. For the past three years he has been flailing in the wind and if I’m honest with myself it’s been longer than that. From what I have seen with him seeing you, he is happier than I have ever seen him… and I have known him for a lifetime,” She said in such a sincere way that I smiled. I believed she only wanted the best for Mike.

“I’m not sure what umm…”

“I want to be your friend,” she said easily. So easily I smiled at the situation. His ex wanted to be my friend, and for some reason I was okay with it.

“I’d like that,” I said smiling at her. I continued putting things into my bag and she still stood there. Looking up at her, at how incredibly pretty she was I wondered again what he was doing with me. Remembering what he looked like on tv with that actress, self-doubt crept in.

“So John told me you have kids?” she asked in what I guess is her trying to get to know me.

“Yeah three.”

“Wow. Umm divorced?” she asked and I smiled shaking my head.

“Widow actually.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to put my foot in my mouth,” she said blushing slightly with embarrassment. Then I saw something in her face. She had connected the dots and now she knew. They had been together when everything happened, and she knew now who I was.

“Oh… You’re Sabrina Miller,” she said softly almost in a whisper. The look on her face was a bit of shock.

“Yeah.”

“Wait… You know?” she said raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“That Patrick is Mike’s brother? Yeah,” I said trying to avoid her stare.

Then Holly totally caught me off guard. She pulled me into a hug and I awkwardly stood there until I heard her sniffle, then I hugged her back. I wasn’t sure why she was crying but no one shouldn’t get comforted when they cried.

“Hey you okay?” I asked and she nodded pulling away wiping her face gently.

Holding my hand she looked at me, her blue eyes warm and full of emotion.

“I could see you were good for him. But this… Wait does he know?” she asked, slightly distracted with the details of our relationship. I wasn’t sure why I was just blurting things out around her.

Then I laughed at the irony; she would think I was the one lying.

“Yes. I didn’t find out until last week actually.” My eyes widened at my admission to his ex. She frowned and cute little lines formed at her forehead. If anyone else did that those lines would not be considered cute at all.

God what was he doing with me?

“He lied?” Holly said so softly it was almost whispered out. All I could do was nod. Then almost as if realizing something, she smiled her face softening slightly.

“You forgave him…. I like you,” she said, smiling bright. Holly was regularly really beautiful, but standing in front of her as she smiled brightly, she was more than beautiful.

I laughed.

“This makes it go full circle for him. He needs someone like you in his life,” she said seriously with a half smile.

“Like me?” I ask, almost expecting a mean girl moment from her, as she smiled brightly.

“Yes. Just like you. Beautiful, independent, strong, and kind. He can be somewhat of an idiot at times but he has a good heart. We should go get coffee. This vendor you were talking about for  the Venetian Hour, do they have a storefront or is it special order only?” she asked, almost in a whirlwind.

“They have a storefront,” I found myself saying.

Holly clapped her hands and smiled. “Let’s go.”

“Like right now?” I ask, surprised at how nice she seemed to be, and how she really wanted to get to know me.

“Yeah. Oh wait, do you have meetings or other clients you need to meet with?” she asked looking a little disappointed. I smiled as brightly as I could trying to hide my nerves from being around her.

“No now works. I can drive us,” I offered, partly not believing I was about to go have coffee with Mike’s ex fiancé per her request.

“Drive you where?” A familiar deep voice said and we looked at the doorway of the conference room.

Mike stood at the doorway, his red tie loosened at his neck, white dress shirt rolled up at his forearms, black slacks that fit him like a dream. He looked like he could have just walked off a photo shoot as well. Looking back and forth from Holly to Mike, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he was doing with me.

“I asked Sabrina to go have coffee and check out this bakery we are going to try to talk the committee into trying, and I want to get to know her,” Holly said as Mike frowned at her.

“Holly…”

“Michael…”

They stared one another down, each of them, and I took in what a beautiful couple they must have made.

“Honey, Sabrina might not feel comfortable…” he started to say and for a moment I was torn between feeling relieved that I had a way out of getting to know his ex now friend, and a tiny bit jealous he’d called her sweetheart.

“Actually it had been my idea,” I said raising my chin and I noticed Holly bite away a smile as Mike scowled at me.

“I was hoping we could go for lunch?” He said looking at me and I sighed knowing I was being petty and working myself up over nothing. He cared about me. He was my boyfriend now. We had spent such a great weekend together, no more lies or secrets between us. I was being dumb.

“Let’s all go!” Holly suggested and I heard Mike mumble something and I laughed.

We ended up having lunch at a small deli across the street of Izzy Tizzy’s. To say Holly was funny was an understatement. Mike had driven us, making me sit in the front seat with him as he held my hand the whole time. He didn’t shy away from touching or kissing me once we were at the deli either.

I enjoyed watching them interact with one another. They were what I imagined Nick and I looked like to the world. Familiar and comfortable mixed with a lifetime of knowledge of each other. The jealousy I had felt faded away, but the feeling of not measuring up hadn’t.

We walked over to the small bakery, and I asked the girl at the counter if I could speak with Tess or Liz, the owners of the bakery.