Page 52 of Meet Me at the Grand

Liam dropped his hand. “Guess I’ll get back to work. Thanks for the water.” He started back toward the pantry.

“Liam.”

Liam turned. “Yeah?”

“You going to the bonfire tonight?”

“The bonfire?”

“It’s kind of last minute, to celebrate the nicer weather. Don’t tell me nobody’s invited you.”

“I haven’t really talked to anyone today.” Liam shoved his hands into his pockets.

“You should come.” Cody grinned. “I have it on good authority that Dani will be there.”

“I don’t think she wants to see me.”

“And I think you owe it to both of you to see if compromising is an option. That is, if you’re willing.”

“I’m not sure what that would look like. Or if she’d even be willing.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

“And what if she just ignores me?”

“She might. But she loves Jill’s peanut butter cookies. Haven’t you ever heard that the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach?”

Liam crossed his arms over his chest. “Pretty sure that’s dudes.”

“You must not have had Jill’s cookies yet.” With a wink and a light punch to the shoulder, Cody sauntered out of the galley.

Huh, okay. Liam had never used cookies as a persuasive tool before, but there was a first time for everything.

Although, maybe Cody had a point.

Maybe it wasn’t so much about persuading Dani over to his side of the table but figuring out a way to meet her in the middle.

ChapterTen

Her brilliant plan to find another developer was going swimmingly.

Not.

“You really don’t know anyone else?” Wood piled high in her arms, she trailed Uncle Seb from the side of his house toward the pit where he, Cody, and some of the men of the town were preparing for the bonfire. It was the perfect night for it—a darkening velvet sky, slight glimmers of the northern lights playing coy with them all, and cold enough to need blankets, cocoa, and a fire, but not so freezing as to make them miserable.

But as much as Dani loved community events like this—when the town came together with food, songs, and laughter—tonight she had other things on her mind.

Like how to get another developer in here, stat, since she’d maybe fired Liam too quickly.

She’d tried doing research on her own all of yesterday afternoon and today on top of her other town duties, but she just simply didn’t have the contacts that Uncle Seb did.

When she got to the firepit, she dropped her pile of wood and dusted her hands off on her jeans. “Please, Uncle Seb. Try to think.” She tried to keep her voice low because townsfolk had already started to gather around the pit with their camping chairs. Children ran across her uncle and aunt’s expansive lawn, through the grassy knoll, and onward toward the shore in the direction of the lighthouse.

As new families pulled their golf carts into the yard, women and men carried Crockpots and trays up the front porch steps. There would be quite the spread tonight, and with nothing else going on, there would be a lot of townsfolk in attendance.

Not Liam, though. There had been at least three ferries out since their meeting at the park yesterday, and no doubt he’d been on one of them.

Seb frowned and tugged the knit cap from his head. He scratched behind his ear. “Dani, I’m sorry. I exhausted my contacts during our first round of searching. I told you, we were lucky to get the Stones’ firm.” He replaced the cap on his head and took off for more wood.

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