“Absolutely not.” Up ahead, the trees parted, and I could see the clearing where we’d parked. “Hey, Liam?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to come to my place for dinner? I promise I’m better at cooking than I used to be.”

He chuckled, and the sound warmed all of the hidden recesses of my soul. “You couldn’t have gotten much worse, but yeah, I’d like that.”

“Great.” I was so pleased, I didn’t even grump at him about the potshot at my cooking skills.

The drive home seemed to take less time than it had to go in the opposite direction—perhaps because I was trying to decide what to cook for Liam. While I was much better than I used to be, I was also far from perfect, so it was best to take anything fancy or time consuming off the table. I tried to recall what was in the cupboards at the cottage. By the time we arrived, I’d thought up a menu.

“Come on in,” I said, grateful I’d done a quick cleanup before leaving that morning. I was generally pretty tidy, but Blair and Tyler had spent much of yesterday in my living area and still hadn’t got the hang of leaving rooms as they’d found them. I glanced at the other cottage, relieved to see that the windows were dark. The boys must be out somewhere. Hopefully they wouldn’t turn up and give me a hard time about inviting Liam back after our hike.

“You can sit over there while I cook,” I told him, waving toward the sofa.

“Nuh-uh.” He rubbed his palms together. “I’m not sitting around while you do all the work. Just tell me how I can help.”

“If you’re sure.” I wasn’t going to turn down assistance. I went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of baby tomatoes. “Chop these.”

“Yes, chef.” His wink made my tummy flip.

While he cut the tomatoes, I boiled water on the stove and measured out a portion of pasta. I added the pasta to the water and retrieved the container of pesto sauce from the fridge along with a bag of mozzarella chunks.

“What now?” Liam asked, finishing with the tomatoes.

“Can you do the same with the olives?” I handed him a jar. “I’m going to grill a few strips of capsicum.”

We worked well together over the next fifteen minutes, and when we were done, we had a Greek-style pasta salad. I served the meal onto two plates and packed the rest away for tomorrow. We sat side by side on the sofa while we ate.