Page 17 of A Place for Daydreams

“Before—well, I wanted to ask you.” All at once her expression became serious. “Are you sure you’re up for it? I don’t want to tire you out.”

Dean gave her a look.

She nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t say any more about it, and he was glad that he’d been able to communicate his feelings to her with just a look. He was grateful that his family wanted to take care of him, but he also didn’t want to be treated like an invalid, or someone who wasn’t able to make their own decisions properly. If he’d been feeling too tired to come to Alexis’s house to work on her technology, he would have told her so.

“Lead me to the device,” he said, smiling at her.

She led him into the charming, cozy living room, where the Roku device was set up underneath the TV.

“See what you can make of it,” she said with a sigh. “I hope it’s not just broken. Then we’ll have to go buy a new one.”

“I bet it’s okay,” he said, crouching down and beginning to inspect the small device.

“Hey, Dean!” Grayson appeared in the living room, also munching on one of the scones. “Good to see you. Thanks for coming over here to help us out.”

“You got it.” Dean grinned at him.

“We need you to save us, because Alexis never lets me try to fix anything.”

Alexis laughed and patted Grayson’s face fondly. “It’s just that I knew that Dean would know exactly what was wrong. It’s not that I don’t believe in you, it’s just that… well, you remember how long it took when our internet was down.” She shook her head wryly.

“Hey, I tried what the guy on the phone said?—”

Alexis lifted a brow at him. “Speaking of phone calls, isn’t your mother expecting a call from you?”

Grayson chuckled. “Very smooth.” He kissed his wife’s cheek. “You’re right. I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”

“I always need you.” She grinned at him.

“Except for when technology isn’t working, then you need your brother.”

“Nope, I still need you.”

Alexis and Grayson kissed, and Dean let out a cheerful, “Eew!”

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving.” Grayson laughed. “Good luck, Dean!”

“Thanks.” Dean smiled cheerfully from his spot on the floor. He was amused by how cute Alexis and Grayson were acting. Once Grayson had left the living room, he turned to his sister with a smile. “Things are going well, huh?”

She nodded. “With Grayson? Oh, absolutely. It’s wonderful having my husband back. He’s treating me like he used to when we were dating—no, actually, he’s treating me with even more affection than he did when we were dating.”

Something about the way she’d responded made him curious. “What about things other than Grayson? Is that all good too?”

“Yeah.” She hesitated slightly before answering. “Things are going well generally too.”

Dean stopped looking at the Roku device. He placed his hands on his knees and looked up at his sister. “Tell me what’s on your mind. I can tell that something is off. You can talk to me about it.”

She shook her head. “It’s really nothing.” She smiled at him. “Things are going so well at the pub. We’ve got happy customers, and Julia says the finances are getting better and better all the time. I feel so proud of what we’ve all accomplished since Dad passed. And you remember Judd McCormick?”

Dean pretended to shudder. “Who could forget the man who tried to bully our mother into selling the family business?”

“Well, the word on the street is that the McCormicks are extremely jealous of how things have picked up at TheLighthouse Grill. I mean, Judd was so sure that we weren’t going to be able to keep the pub because of Dad’s debts, but we overcame that challenge, and now the pub’s finances are doing better than ever before. I think it’s because Julia has been handling the finances so well. She’s practically a wizard at it.”

“I agree with you.” Dean grinned. “And I’m glad that Judd and his sons are jealous. That’s a one-sided rivalry, and we absolutely deserve to thrive in spite of them.”

“Why are they like that, anyway?” she asked, sitting down next to him on the floor. “Judd isn’t exactly mean-spirited, but he’s so entitled. Why did he act like he deserved to take our place just because he wanted it?”

Dean shrugged. “Some people are like that, I guess. They’re brought up to be selfish and they never learn how to be any other way. Although, the one McCormick son is different. Seth and Brady work for their father at the brewery, but Ryan works for a construction firm. I’ve hung out with Ryan a few times; he’s a good guy. He’s not like the rest of the family.”

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