After being jilted at the altar, Amber Gardner finds herself in a small beach town and stuck rooming with an unlikely person: her childhood nemesis Cameron, the man she is supposed to hate.
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Amber Gardner and her fiancé were together for two year...
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"SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK?"
Seated across from Cam in Lilith's café, I surveyed his expression after showing him the end product of the website. I momentarily released the touchpad and tucked my hands between my legs to ease the tremble. I'd presented my work to our executives countless times with pride, but I didn't remember being nervous like this.
It didn't help that he'd been silent the whole time I walked him through the website, how it worked, and the small details I'd added to make it stand out. I worked hard on this—put in my heart, blood, and sweat—and I didn't realize how much it'd hurt me if he didn't find it enough.
Making a website wasn't a huge fuss, of course; I considered offering my services as a side job to make more money, but Cam's website was my first serious side project. A convenient way to apply all the trends and techniques I'd learned and seen over the years. I wasn't confident, but I finally started to believe that I was an expert at what I did.
It dawned on me that if Cam said he didn't like it, my confidence would be in shambles again. And it had no correlations with this being my first serious side gig. Even if it was the hundredth, his approval meant much more to me than any executive.
Cam leaned back in his chair, touching his lips with his fingertips like he was thinking. His gaze was solely on the screen before him as he tapped against his mouth. I wanted to tell him to speak up—just say a fucking word. Then, he finally sighed. "I can't accept this for free."
It took me a few seconds to register his words. I was expecting a compliment, and he said he couldn't accept it for free? I pushed my chair slightly to angle it toward him. "You're joking, right?"
Cam narrowed his eyes. "Of course, I'm not. This looks so professional, Amber. When you told me you'd make me a website, I thought you meant a shell of it. This is—this is beyond a website; you created an online business for me with digital marketing tools."
"There are easy website-making tools if you want to make something simple, Cam. Of course, I didn't mean something that simple. I told you; you need a cool, outstanding website to make your mark in this business." I held his hand to get his attention while his eyes were attached to the screen like he was looking at something great—all the compliment and payment I was looking for. "Besides, this was a cool practice for me, too. I want to make this a side job."
