Page 1 of Born to Make You Smile

ONE

I liked to pridemyself on being a strong, independent woman.

Brave.

Fearless.

Able to conquer the world.

But right now, I hid under my covers like a little girl, the racket outside my window making me wish I didn’t live on my own.

A loud thud on my roof, followed by the crash of glass breaking caused my heart to pound.

Oh my God.Someone was definitely trying to break in.

A bout of courage came over me, knowing I had to protect myself and this house.

Channeling my inner Kevin McCallister, I climbed out of bed and tiptoed down the creaking stairs to the kitchen. With slowheaving breaths, I slipped Jean, my ten-inch chef’s knife, out of the wood block.

Blood pulsed in my ears as I walked to the side of my house toward the rustling coming from the garbage bins.

Just an animal.

Probably a stupid raccoon.

I sighed in relief.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in the dim moonlight. A large man. All the hairs on my neck rose to attention, and I let out a scream, holding up my knife with a shaky hand. “Don’t come any closer! I have a knife!”

My eyes darted to the two chubby raccoons scurrying away, then back to the intruder.

“Grace. It’s me,” the intruder proclaimed.

My shoulders fell as the adrenaline rush in my body leveled out.

Not an intruder. Just my next-door neighbor.

“Holy shit, Gavin,” I said, panting. “I thought you were trying to rob me.”

“I apologize for the scare.” His eyes widened. “But that is one mighty large knife you’ve got there.”

I looked down at the oversized knife in my small hand. “Yeah. Jean. My ten-incher.”

“Ten-incher,” he repeated, his jaw open. “Yikes. Remind me never to cross you.”

I carefully laid the knife on the AC unit and placed my hands on my hips to catch my breath.

Gavin walked up to me, adjusting his glasses. He had tousled hair and was dressed all in black in a loose T-shirt and lounge pants.

“I heard wild noises from my bedroom window.” He gestured up to his house. “So I came to see what the commotion was about.”

I’d never realized our bedrooms faced one another before. We were close enough to hold up large hand-printed messages on paper, like some kind of sweet Taylor Swift music video.

I shook my head. “Just the damn raccoons.”

“Bloody hell. You should see what they did to my garden the other day. They ate all my green beans.”

No. Not the green beans.

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