Page 54 of A Place for Daydreams

After she’d shut the window and was turning back to the main part of the kitchen, she noticed Grayson’s laptop sitting open at the table. The screen was facing the wall, and she hadn’t been able to see it while she was busy making the coffee.

The screen showed what looked like a website that was in the process of being made. The colors of it were beautiful—deep purple, sage, white, and navy. She squinted at the screen in confusion, wondering why Grayson would be putting together a website, especially a website that was constructed with such feminine colors.

At that moment, Grayson stepped into the kitchen. He saw Alexis looking at his laptop screen and hurried across the room.

“Let me just close that up,” he said, smiling briskly but looking flustered. He shut the laptop and swiftly tucked it under his arm.

“What are you up to?” she asked, her suspicions aroused by his behavior.

“Nothing.” He hurried over to the doorway that led into the living room and went through it. He set his laptop down on the coffee table and returned a few seconds later. “What are we making for breakfast? I was thinking blueberry pancakes, what do you think?” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big kiss.

“Oh, no,” she said. “You’re not changing the subject that easily, mister. What’s going on? Why are you acting so oddly about your laptop?”

“It’s just something for work.” Grayson stuck his head in the refrigerator and began to rummage around. “We do have blueberries, don’t we? I was sure I saw some in here the other day.”

“Those were unusual colors for a finance company to be using, weren’t they? Don’t businesses usually operate using more neutral colors?”

“Oh, not all the time.” Grayson’s voice was muffled because his head was stuck so far inside the refrigerator.

“I’ve never seen such a pretty business website before. That purple was really kind of a feminine color, wasn’t it?”

“There’s navy too. And sage.”

“Sure, but with the purple?”

“It’s just a website, not any kind of a big deal.”

She took him by the shoulders and gently yanked him back out of the fridge. “Grayson, I can tell you’re hiding something from me. I’ve never seen you burrow so far into the refrigerator before. You’d think you were trying to live in it or something. Come on. Tell me.”

He let out a long sigh. “It was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to surprise you.”

She frowned, confused. “Surprise me with what?”

“Okay, come here.” He took her hand and led her into the living room. He sat down on the couch and she sat down beside him, wondering what he was about to show her. He opened his laptop, revealing the website page that she’d gotten a glimpse of before.

“What you saw was a fairly unfinished page, but I’ve got most of the website basically ready to go.” He clicked a coupleof times, revealing a gorgeous home page. Across the top was a banner that read, “Designer Jewelry by Alexis Bennett.”

She gasped, clapping her hands to her mouth. “You—what—oh, Grayson, this is absolutely beautiful.”

He grinned, looking thrilled. “Do you like it? I know dark purple is your favorite color, and I wanted it to look like something that goes along with the color schemes you often use for your jewelry. I’ve been taking pictures of the pieces you’ve already made, and there’s a gallery page… here.”

He clicked again, revealing a beautiful page that featured several of her best jewelry designs. “So this page here is just to show people what you make. But if they click any of these links, here or here, it takes them to this page where they can order any of your pieces.”

Alexis leaned forward, feeling in awe of what she was looking at. Seeing her work portrayed in such a professional way made her feel significantly more confident in herself. Her jewelry really did look incredible. Grayson had been able to see that even when she couldn’t, and he’d believed in her. Now, her dream was about to become a reality because of the faith he had in her and her work.

“Thank you.” She took his face in her hands and kissed him. “This is… I don’t even have words, really. This shows me how much you care about me. It’s really wonderful. Thank you so much.”

“I do care about you.” He set the laptop down and wrapped his arms around her. “These are the kinds of things I do well, so of course I’m going to do them for my favorite person. I want to make sure that you have the head start you need to make your dream become a reality.”

“I wouldn’t even have dreamed of trying to sell my jewelry like this if it weren’t for you. You believed in me and made all this possible. Thank you so much, sweetheart.”

“Of course.”

For a while, they sat there with their arms around each other, and Alexis felt a surge of happiness.

“You want to see the rest of it?” Grayson sounded almost as eager as a schoolboy wanting to show off. “I’ve put in some cool things I want to show you.”

“Absolutely.” She laughed and nuzzled his nose.

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