Page 27 of Meet Me at the Grand

Liam stood in the doorway, a large pizza box in his hands, a frown on his lips.

“What? Nothing.”

He placed the pizza box on the edge of the table and strode toward her. She barely had time to notice he’d discarded his suit jacket and tie, that his sleeves were rolled to his elbow, before he stopped right in front of her and placed his hand on top of the pile of papers. “Didn’t look like nothing. It looked like you were trying to see my plans before they’re ready.” His eyes bore into hers, squinting, and wow, he was standing close.

She wanted to look away but held his gaze instead. “It’s just…” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“I thought we agreed you were going to trust me, Dani.” The words were softer than she’d expected, and her jaw loosened.

“More like you told me I should, but since then, you’ve given me nothing to go on.” And maybe she just needed to ask again. “Are you sure you can’t give me a small glimpse at what you’re planning?”

“That’s not how my process works.”

“I get it. You prefer to work alone.”

“It’s not that.” Liam took a step back, cleared his throat. “It’s just that the creative juices can’t flow when I’ve got too many voices in my head.”

“But shouldn’t the main voice in your headbethat of your client? The whole point of this is to make the plans something the council will approve.” She placed her hands on her hips. “And how are you supposed to know what they’ll approve if you haven’t listened to what they want?”

He blinked, then nodded. “You know what, you’re right.” Liam moved toward the end of the table and opened the pizza box, turning it so Dani could see the golden crust, bubbling cheese, and pepperonis inside. “Why don’t you join me for dinner and tell me all about what to expect from the council? Let’s hammer out some of the details so I can foresee any obstacles. Because it’s important to me to get this approved too. Believe me, there’s a lot at stake for both of us.”

She narrowed her eyes, even as the aroma of garlic and onion filled the room. “What’s at stake for you?”

“Simple.” He picked up a slice of pie, nestled it onto a nearby napkin, and sat in one of the chairs, propping his feet up on another. “My dad is doing this project as a favor for Seb, and he’s staking his reputation and a lot of his finances on this. It can’t fail.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

“It does. And that means we both want the same thing.” He gave the pizza box a little push toward her and picked up his slice, taking a bite, chewing, swallowing. “So what do I need to know about the council?”

Well, if she wasn’t going to get a look at the plans, she supposed the next best thing was helping Liam create a foolproof strategy.

Sighing, Dani grabbed a piece of pizza and settled into the chair that was next to Liam’s footrest. “Okay, well, obviously you know Uncle Seb. He’s the mayor, but that doesn’t really give him any more power than the rest of the council. For the purposes of this revitalization project, he’s just another vote. He leads the meetings and sets the agendas, but he has to do his best to balance out the interests of everyone.”

“He’s probably very invested—being a Jonathon on Jonathon Island and all. How long has he been mayor?”

“He’s in the first year of his second term. But even before he was elected, he was viewed as a leader around here—and not only because he owns a large majority of the land and shops on the island.”

“So he’s got even more of a stake to make all of this financially successful than I thought. Smart guy.”

Dani raised a brow. “Heissmart, which is why he’s making this a town-wide effort and not just doing all of this privately with the property he already owns. Having the council involved will help the naysayers who claim he’s got too much power, especially since this project has the potential to effect so much change on the island.”

“Small towns are so fascinating.” Grabbing a fresh napkin from his stack, Liam wiped his mouth. “So on the council, I notice we’ve got two Kelleys. I’m surprised they were both elected. People don’t think that’s a little unfair?”

“Probably only the Harts.” Dani chuckled, but at Liam’s raised eyebrows, she continued. “Remember the fudge wars I told you about? That was between those two families.”

“Ah. And Cody’s part of the Hart family, yes?”

“Yeah, although if you remember, some of the Harts were into fishing, not fudge. His dad used to own a commercial fishing boat, and Cody worked on it. There was a terrible accident a few years back. My cousin Mia’s husband, Troy, and Troy’s father, Steve, both died. Cody…” Well, Liam didn’t need to knowallof the town’s dirty laundry. Just what was relevant to the topic at hand. “Anyway, back to the Kelleys. Patrick and Martha—who are siblings-in-law, by the way because Martha is married to Patrick’s brother, Frank—are some of the only local business owners left on the island after the economic downturn, and they’ve both lived here their whole lives, so it’s only natural they both have a stake in the council. They can’t really stand each other, though, so people definitely won’t see them as being in cahoots. But it might cause trouble for you, because you’ll have to sort of balance their interests. Though we only need a majority to get an approval.”

“Good to know. Patrick seems cool, though I only talked with him briefly when I picked up the pizza tonight. I met Martha the other night when I ordered a sandwich to go. She was…”

“Pushy? Loud? Opinionated?”

Liam laughed. “Yes to all three. Told me that Seb had spoken highly of my skills, but she wasn’t holding her breath that some city boy could understand the inner workings of a special small town like Jonathon Island. She didn’t know I have a secret weapon—you.” He glanced at Dani and winked.

“Oh.” Dani’s cheeks heated, though she didn’t know why. She picked at one of the pepperonis on her otherwise untouched piece of pizza. “Well, like you said, we want the same thing here.”

“Absolutely.” Liam polished off the crust of his pizza and brushed off his hands. “Okay, so that’s three of the council members. Anything I should know about Tara or Janine?”

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