Page 46 of Shelter
An unexpected surge of impatience hit my bloodstream like an injection. I wanted her attention. I couldn’t help it. I stepped closer. “Speaking of presents, I have something for you.” I watched her eyes widen as I drew the box from behind my back. “So you can be a proper business woman.”
Elise blinked at me. “What?”
“Open it,” I said, shaking the box in front of her. Bewildered Elise was really cute, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she opened the phone.
Eyeing me with her familiar look of suspicion, Elise slowly reached forward and took the box from me.
“I promise, it’s not a snake or a box of spiders.”
She arched a brow at me. “That would be too predictable,” she muttered under her breath.
I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to laugh at her jab. She wasn’t afraid to give me shit, and I loved it.
Elise tore through the wrapping paper and gasped at the iconic black box. “An iPhone!” Her amber eyes shot to mine. “You didn’t get me an iPhone.”
I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, I did.”
“You did not.” Her voice had gone breathless with disbelief.
Laughing harder now, I took the box from her hands and opened it, revealing the sleek silver device. I’d chosen the silver one because it reminded me of Elise’s jewelry.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
I held down the side button until the screen lit up with the Apple icon. “There’s something else,” I told her. I dropped into a squat beside her, opened the Safari app, and typed in the URL to her website.
When the home page came up, Elise sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, my God,” she said again. “This is too much!”
“No.” I shook my head. “I owe you a lot. Just think of this as a thank you for helping me and Ava over the years.”
Her eyes met mine, and I could see my words meant something to her. I’d never thanked her. Not once. And the look in her eyes made me wonder what the hell had taken me so long.
I swallowed and cleared my throat. “It’s WordPress, so it’s really easy to use. I took a few pictures of some of your jewelry Ava has, but you can replace them if you want—”
“These are great,” she said, her eyes gleaming. She looked up from the screen. “Cole, no one’s ever done anything like that for me.”
Yeah, the late night working on the site was totally worth it. The way she was looking at me made me feel like I could do anything.
“I set up an email address for you, and I sent you an email with all the logins and passwords so you can access everything.”
She tapped the email icon at the bottom of the screen, and I watched her read the text once. Then twice. Then she arched a brow. “Colerocks2009? That’s my password?”
I shrugged innocently, fighting my grin. “I figured it was easy to remember. You can change it.”
She looked to be on the verge of laughter, but then her smile sobered. “Thank you. I don’t know what else to say.” Elise shook her head. “And I don’t have anything to give you in return.”
“You’ve given me plenty,” I reminded her. Then I nodded to the project in front of her. “But if you want to humor me, tell me about Flora’s gift here.”
“Sure.” Elise carefully placed her new phone back it its box and set it behind her. Then she scooted closer to the dresser drawer. “When the paint dries, I’ll screw these little crystal drawer pulls I bought at Guidry’s Hardware onto this part,” she explained, tapping the bottom of the drawer. For the first time, I noticed the pre-drilled holes. “And she’ll be able to use those to hang necklaces. And then I’ll run a line of steel gauge wire across the top here — like a little clothesline — for her earrings.
“What about her bracelets?” I asked, knowing that Flora always wore one of Elise’s beaded creations on her wrists.
The question won me a smile, and Elise looked up at me. “I’m going to use two little towel hooks here,” she said, pointing to a pair of larger holes on the left side.
As always, she’d impressed me. She’d envisioned a complete design that would be both elegant and functional. I wondered if she knew that not everyone could do something like that.
“That’s really cool,” I said. “She’s going to love it.”
Elise’s bow-shaped smile grew, and her color rose higher on her cheeks. Then her eyes fell to my chest again, as though she couldn’t help their movement, and I watched her shut them and give her head a little shake.
