Perhaps that’s from knowing I’m making the right choice. I might not get the prize. I don’t have a safety net. But I hope there’s a better prize waiting for me. The best prize.

When I look back on this moment five years from now, whether I’m with Flynn or not, I’ll know I took the chance my heart was telling me to take.

Even if your heart has been broken, it doesn’t mean you have to put it on ice forever. It can thaw. Mine did, and sometimes it’s worth taking the leap without a net.

Flynn is that leap.

He’s worth it.

There’s no what-if about it.

My finger hovers over the send button, ready to fire it off, when a new message pops up in my inbox.

It’s one from Mr. Galloway.

It startles me, and I actually jump. I look behind me. It’s as if I’m being watched, which is a ridiculous thing to think. But there it is—the thought in my head.

Maybe he already knows.

Maybe Kermit got to him.

I click to open the email.

Dear Sabrina,

Could you please come in tomorrow morning? We can discuss the piece then. It’s quite good. But there are some things I need to talk to you about.

Sincerely,

Bob Galloway

I wait for the note to hurt. I wait for the fear.

It doesn’t come.

Whatever he has to tell me, I can handle it. I’ve made my choice. I chose love.

I save my note to him in my drafts folder. Some things are better said in person. I will tell him tomorrow.

Tonight is for me.

I slip into an emerald-green dress I finished a few days ago, pop in two pairs of angel-shaped stud earrings, clip one side of my hair in a silver ladybug barrette, and head to what I hope is the first of many dates with Flynn Parker.

27

Sabrina

The wrought iron gates loom before me.

Tall spires let me peek into a world I’ve never entered.

Not just this park but what it represents: wealth, privilege, money.

A walkway cuts across the land beyond the locked gate, and gloriously high trees, bursting with bottle-green leaves, wrap their arms over the grounds, shielding those rare few who have access.

I breathe it in. It’s an enclave. A private square for the privileged.

I’ve been on the outside looking in, even though I never longed for this much. I’ve never been a girl who wanted riches showered on her. I simply wanted better choices.

Or really, I wanted choices, period.

But in the end, I wouldn’t do anything differently.

I stand by all the decisions I’ve made, including the one that brought me here tonight.

Shoes click on the sidewalk. It could be anyone—a businessman, a father, a hipster. This is a city of millions.

But what if it’s him?

I turn, and he takes my breath away.

Flynn Parker is so handsome. He’s lean and tall, and his hair flops deliciously on his forehead, and his green eyes twinkle with excitement when he sees me.