Page 65 of Dare Me

Looking around the apartment, he felt a small sense of satisfaction that it was a place of his own and definitely one that he was putting his own stamp on. But then he thought about Liam’s plan of buying a home and wondered if maybe he should have just done that too.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t do it,” he reminded himself. “One step at a time.”

For the next several hours, he worked on plans for the cabins and even started working on more detailed designs for future projects. He was in such a creative zone that he didn’t realize what time it was—or that he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch—until there was a knock on his door.

Standing, Will stretched and glanced at his phone and saw it was almost eight. Arianna had been gone for six hours and he figured that’s who was knocking.

“Surprise!” she said when he opened the door. She had a large covered plate in her hand that she held out to him.

“Hey!” Leaning in, he kissed her on the cheek. “What’s this?”

“This is dinner that Ryleigh was supposed to bring to you since you were working so hard,” she said with amusement.

“Um…thanks?” Stepping back so she could come in, Will watched as she happily made herself at home. “Was Ryleigh pissed I wasn’t there?”

Laughing heartily, she shook her head. “Definitely not. I think she was relieved. She tried telling my mother that the two of you hadn’t made any other plans together, but that just clearly meant she needed suggestions.”

Groaning, he walked to the kitchen and put the plate in the microwave. “So…what’s in here?”

“Lasagna with meatballs and sausage. It was very yummy. I think there’s garlic bread too.”

Nodding, he took the cover off and saw that it was a massive portion. “Good Lord. Was this meant to be just one dinner?”

“Will, you see the portions at the pub and you’ve eaten with us at home. My mother doesn’t know what a normal portion size is. You can easily split it in half and save the rest for another time.”

He considered it, but then his stomach growled loudly and he knew there wouldn’t be any leftovers. “Remind me to text her to thank her.”

“You know that’s just going to make her love you even more for my sister,” she teased.

Shaking his head, he looked at her pleadingly. “Can we please not talk like that?”

“You’re no fun,” she said as she sat down at his kitchen table. “So, did you get a lot of work done?”

“Absolutely. I hadn’t even realized how late it was until you knocked on the door. I feel like I’ve been on the go so much since arriving here with Liam that I haven’t had the time to hunker down like I did today. It was nice to get into the zone like that.”

“Can I see any of it?”

He remembered how they had talked about going by the properties, but that ended up not happening. “Sure. After I eat, I’ll pull up some of the designs.”

“Yay!”

As he ate, Arianna talked about all the conversations that happened over dinner. Patrick was looking into buying some abandoned building on the outskirts of town to convert into executive apartments, Jamie and her father were making plans for some updates at the pub, her mother was starting to make some noise about wanting to go on a cruise, and Ryleigh was meeting with the mayor of Laurel Bay this week to talk about updating the town’s website.

“So basically, another busy week in the Donovan family,” she said.

“Did you tell them that you moved?”

She shook her head.

“How come?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I kind of think that I’m enjoying having a little anonymity right now. So while everyone thinksI’m staying at Ryleigh’s, I’m flying under the radar and sort of feeling relaxed.”

“I really hate this for you,” he said around a mouthful of lasagna. “You shouldn’t have to live like this.”

She waved him off. “Please, you know most of it is in my own head. They’re all harmless. Annoying, but harmless.”

“It still seems unfair.”

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