Page 20 of Dare Me

Liam rolled his eyes before coming to his feet. “Okay, things got a little out of hand earlier and I’ll admit that I wasn’t particularly gracious about the whole situation. All I knew wasthat I offered the room to Will and then you said you were living here. I hate that I’m kind of throwing you out…”

“It’s exactly what you’re doing,” she replied with a pout. “But I get it. I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did so…sorry.”

Walking over, Liam pulled her in close and gave her a fierce hug. “I missed you, kiddo, and I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“It’s my own fault. And, like I said, I’m packing now. I’m going to stay with Ryleigh for now and I’ll start looking for a place of my own. No biggie.”

For a moment, Will was certain his friend was going to agree with her and just let her go, but…he didn’t. Instead, Liam looked over at him as if to ask if he was sure, and he nodded.

“Listen,” Liam said softly as he took a step back from Arianna. “It’s not ideal, but…yeah. It feels wrong to throw you out tonight. Will says he’s okay with sleeping on the sofa tonight, so…stop packing and we’ll figure this all out tomorrow, okay?”

Arianna glanced over at him before putting her focus back on her brother. “Are you sure? Because…earlier it seemed like…”

Laughing, Liam ruffled her hair before turning and sitting back on the sofa. “Can we please just let it go? I already left one house because of all the arguing. I’d really love it if we could just sit and relax and catch up.”

Once again, she glanced at Will and he knew she wasn’t totally comfortable with this turn of events, but she wasn’t going to argue it either.

“O-kay…” Stiffly, Arianna sat down beside her brother. “So, um…how does it feel to be home?”

Again, Liam laughed. “Dinner was fantastic, but I could have done with a little less drama.”

This time, she laughed. “Seriously? Is there ever a family dinner without drama?”

Will sat back and observed their dynamic for several minutes and smiled because this was something he had never had. Asan only child, he never really got to see firsthand what this sort of thing was like. The Donovans were definitely loud and opinionated, but as he watched his buddy listen to his little sister talk about her career and her life, he realized he was almost like a fly on the wall. Neither of them seemed to notice he was even there because they were so caught up in talking to each other and he found it oddly sweet.

“Will’s a brilliant architect,” he caught Liam saying. “It took me a full year to convince him to take on this project with me, but I still think he might be a flight risk. I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to prove to him that Laurel Bay could be his new home.”

He briefly caught Arianna’s eyes, but quickly looked away and grinned at his friend. “Well, your mom’s cooking was a good start, but all the family drama afterwards?” he said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure what to do in that situation.”

“You get used to it. Just ask Ari. We can all be yelling at one another one minute and then laughing and hugging it out the next!”

“Yeah, um…that sounds exhausting,” Will said as he walked over to the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

“He’s making himself at home, so I’m taking that as a good sign,” Liam teased. He looked ready to say more, but his phone rang. Picking it up, he grinned. “It’s Patrick. He said he was going to go home and look up some properties for me to look at, so…” Standing, he grinned. “I’m going to take this inside.”

Once he was gone and Will and Arianna were alone, he felt himself relax.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” she said quietly.

“Do what?” He sat back down on the loveseat opposite her.

“Offer to sleep on the couch so I wouldn’t have to leave tonight. I was really okay with going to my sister’s.”

He shrugged and got comfortable. “I don’t mind. The last thing I wanted to do was make this whole situation worse for you.”

They were speaking quietly and part of him wanted to sit beside her, but he had no idea how long Liam would be out of the room.

Leaning forward, he sighed. “I’d really like the opportunity for us to talk…you know…privately.”

She glanced around as if to say they could do that right now.

“I have no idea how long that phone conversation is going to last and I’d like the chance for us to actually finish a conversation.” He paused and looked at her sadly. “I know I messed things up, but I need to know that you understand.”

The joyful, chatty, and confident woman he’d spent the day with so long ago was gone. The one looking back at him now looked sad and unsure of herself. When she finally spoke, it wasn’t to say anything that he wanted to hear.

“Believe it or not, I do understand why you thought you were doing the right thing, but the bottom line, Will, is that I don’t forgive you.”

“Arianna…”

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