Page 77 of Dare Me

Ugh…he seriously sounded like their mother, and it was almost enough to make her laugh.

“I’ve already had a few cups of coffee. I’m fine. Really.” It would have sounded believable if her voice hadn’t cracked on that last word.

It wasn’t until they were in the truck and pulling out of the parking lot that Liam spoke. “Ari, come on. It’s obvious this isn’t just about not getting enough sleep. What’s going on?”

With a loud sigh, she seriously contemplated just admitting everything right here, but…considering she hadn’t heard from Will and he didn’t answer his phone when she called him thismorning and he was already gone when she went and knocked on his door, she wasn’t sure what to think.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said instead.

“Why not? Seems like we’ve got an hour together and I’m not just going to ignore the fact that you’re clearly upset.”

“It’s…it’s guy troubles. There. Happy? Still want to talk about it?” As much as she tried to sound snappish, all that she managed to do was sound sad.

Good job…ugh…

“I didn’t realize you were dating anyone. Mom hasn’t been gloating over setting you up with anyone,” he teased, playfully nudging her shoulder.

“Mom didn’t set us up. Believe it or not, I can meet guys on my own.”

Now he groaned. “I stepped right into this one, didn’t I?”

“I said I didn’t want to talk about it…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…I get it, but now that it’s out there, I feel like we have to.”

“Um…we really don’t,” she quickly corrected. “Why don’t you tell me about work? How’s the project going?” It was a lame attempt to maybe hear something about Will, but luckily her brother didn’t know that.

“I think it’s going well. We’re supposed to talk with some contractors this week and land’s going to start getting cleared, but Will had to go out of town unexpectedly, so I’m handling it.” He shrugged and pulled into the diner parking lot. “He sent me some plans for the fishing cabins and I really can’t wait to…”

“Why did he go out of town?” she interrupted. “Is something wrong?”

Liam looked at her oddly before laughing softly. “Come on,” he said as he climbed out of the truck. “I know you’re on a time limit.”

She wanted to scream with frustration, but reminded herself to calm down as she followed him into the diner and to their booth. “So? You were saying? About Will…?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, some sort of situation back in California that he needed to take care of. I’m hoping he’ll only be gone a few days.” Picking up the menu, he scanned it and shook his head. “I know it’s stupid, but nothing compares to the pub menu. Any time I try to eat someplace else, I end up being a little disappointed. What are you going to have?”

Scanning the menu, she didn’t see anything that appealed to her either, but that was because her appetite was gone.

“No one does better burgers than us,” he was saying, “so maybe I’ll go with a turkey club. That’s hard to screw up, right?”

She smiled and nodded. “I’ll get the BLT.”

When their waitress came and took their orders, Liam did the honors and once she was gone, his attention was fully on her. Arianna took in his laid-back posture and the fact that he looked incredibly…happy, almost goofy.

“What’s going on with you?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you looking so chill. It’s weird.”

Laughing, he leaned back in his seat. “I guess I’m feeling pretty chill. I mean…things are just falling into place, you know? Everything about the business is coming together, I’m reconnecting with friends, and I’m looking to buy a house. All in all, life’s pretty good for me.”

It was hard to stay in a grumpy mood when she was so happy for him. Reaching across the table, she squeezed his hands. “I’m happy for you. It’s good to see you smiling. Normally you’re all serious and uptight. This is a good look on you.”

“Now we need to get the smile back on your face,” he said. “You mentioned a guy…?”

When she sighed loudly, he took the hint.

“Okay, fine. Tell me about your job. How’s that going?”

This she could talk about. For the next several minutes, she talked about some of the cases she’d been treating and how she was becoming a pro at handling all the equipment. “Plus, I’ve been getting a lot of callbacks from the positions I applied for west of here.”

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