Page 89 of Dare Me

“Oh, my sweet brave girl,” Kate said as she caressed Ryleigh’s face. “It’s okay to be mad. Your sister stole your husband from you!”

“I didwhat?”

“She didwhat?”

Arianna was pretty sure she misunderstood. “Ma, what are you even talking about?”

“Your sister was going to marry Will! They were perfect together!”

“Um…”

“Wait, who’s getting married?” Jamie asked as he walked over and soon Liam and Patrick were standing there too.

“No one’s getting married,” Arianna said to the group as a whole.

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” her father said as he walked over after locking the pub doors. His expression was grim, and he looked at her with disappointment.

Great.

“Shane, tell your daughter she should be ashamed of herself! She stole the man Ryleigh was going to marry!”

Behind her, she heard Jamie snicker and she elbowed him in the gut.

“Oof!”

“Idiot,” she murmured under her breath.

“Arianna,” her father said. “I can’t believe you would do this to your own sister! She took you in and gave you a place to live and this is how you thank her?”

“I didn’t…”

“She’s older than you!” her mother practically wailed. “She deserves to get married first! And you robbed her of this!”

Looking at her sister, they both seemed at a loss for words.

“What is happening right now?” she whispered while her mother carried on about how she brought shame to her family.

“Okay, I think we’ve sort of had a miscommunication here,” she said when her mother finally stopped carrying on. “I didn’t steal anyone. That’s not what happened.”

“They went on dates, Ari!” her father interrupted. “We all heard about them! The cruise, the movies, scuba diving…”

Looking over at her sister, Arianna was at a loss because by admitting the truth, it meant she was essentially dragging her sister down with her. Ryleigh was the last person in the world she wanted to hurt, and she silently begged her to tell her what to do.

“I’m so disappointed in you, Arianna. You talk about being mature and then you go and do something like this,” her mother was saying. “It’s a sad day in the Donovan family when a sister betrays a sister.”

“Okay, that’s it! That’s it!” Ryleigh shouted before stalking over to the booth and tossing her purse down. She rounded on all of them with a confidence she’d never seen before. “Will and I never went on any dates. Ever! And do you know why?”

“Because your sister…”

“Because Arianna and Will met over a year ago in San Francisco!” she said loudly. “They met and fell in love and then didn’t see or speak to each other for a year, and do you know why?”

Beside her, Jamie slowly raised his hand and Arianna wanted to slug him. “I swear to you…” she threatened, and he lowered his hand.

“They lost a year of their lives because of this!” Ryleigh said, motioning to all of them. “Because you’re all stuck on some twisted and outdated notion that we cannot make rational decisions about our own personal lives and shame on all of you!” Walking over to the bar, she whispered something to Uncle Ronan and he immediately poured her a shot. After drinking it, she slammed the glass down on the bar and came back over and motioned for Arianna to speak her piece.

“Yeah, so…Will and I met last year on the day before I was due to come home. We had the absolute greatest day of my entire life and I knew he was the one for me.”

“But…why didn’t you say anything?” her mother asked. “You didn’t mention him at all when you got home.”

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