The Happy List (Better With You, #1)

by Briar Prescott

“We’ll cross the dungeons off our list. What are we talking about in terms of lighting? Skylights? Floor-to-ceiling windows? Projectors on every wall?” “Just… good lights. In the ceiling.” “That is technical,” Gray drawls. “No wonder you thought I wouldn’t get it. Hey, as a lighting expert, what are those things called in the ceiling of my office? I’ve been referring to them as little suns and asking the maintenance to fuel my tiny suns every time one of them burns out, and then I yell a star is born when it shines again in the morning.”

“No you don’t. Here’s a little mental exercise for you: What’s the worst thing that could happen if you go through with starting your own business?” I take a moment to picture the worst-case scenarios. There are a lot, so it’s difficult to only pick one. “Nobody wants to buy my stuff,” I eventually say. “I’ll end up with a boatload of, I don’t even know… chairs that’ll remind me of my failure for years to come. Eventually I’ll start conversing to the chairs because I’m so bitter and lonely, and before you know it, I’ll start treating them as my children, and you’ll start receiving Christmas cards from me and my family of chairs. I’ll die surrounded by my chair children, and you’ll have to transport them all to my funeral and set them up next to the grave, which is both sad and convenient because my human mourners, the few there might be, can sit on my kids.” Grayson just stares at me for a long time. “Well, that escalated quickly. Exactly how many chairs would there be? I might need a bigger car.”