With a brownie entering my mouth, my response about her trying to get herself double brownies is muffled.
“What’s up with Dec?” she asks when her own mouth is empty.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
She rolls her eyes. “He seems weird, more weird than usual. He was a bit arsy when we picked you up.”
I give her a look that I hope will encourage her to expand on that. It doesn’t.
“I threatened to punch him.”
“What?”
She waves her hand at me, dismissing my question.
“Anyway, he went from that, to back to normal and then, you and him in here…” Her voice trails off.
“What? Me and him in here, what?” I don’t understand what she means by that because as she said herself, her and Mase are no strangers to being caught out and Mase has caught us in various stages of undress.
Liv looks awkward. “I dunno. I mean, you were kissing and whatever else you were doing, but it was weird.”
“Weird?” I am unsure if I am beginning to feel a sense of judgement from her or whether I am simply becoming offended by the aforementioned judgement.
“Yeah. Don’t look at me like that! Not bad weird, just weird as in, clingy.”
“Clingy?” I am definitely leaning towards offended at the inference that I am clingy.
“Yes, bloody clingy. Dec doesn’t do clingy, and yet when I walked in, he seemed clingy and needy.” She shudders. “This is not a side of Declan I am familiar with, and I just don’t know what to do with that.”
I laugh, no longer offended when I realise that she has noticed the change in Dec and is in no way judging me or my relationship with him. The only one she is judging and not in a negative way is Declan.
“I thought I was imagining it, but he is different, isn’t he?”
She nods, another brownie disappearing into her mouth.
“Girls, here you are?” Charlotte appears behind us and immediately spots Liv with possibly only half a tray of brownies now. “Hungry?” she asks but wears a huge smile.
Liv looks uncomfortable, then I remember that her pregnancy is still a secret, so maybe she doesn’t want to fake hunger when she had earlier blamed her baby’s need for food.
Charlotte moves closer and pulls Liv in for a huge hug. “I am guessing this is a secret, but I knew the second I saw you today and this…” she points towards the tray of brownies, “This just confirms it. That and the fact that Mason is fit to burst.”
Liv laughs. “I hope you don’t mind that we didn’t tell you first.”
Charlotte looks towards me, then back to Liv. “I assume Auntie Anita is in on the secret, and Uncle Dec?”
Liv nods looking guilty.
“Of course I don’t mind. I’m just thrilled for you both and to be having another grandbaby on the way.” She hugs Liv more tightly before grabbing my hand and pulling me in to join their little hug fest. “But unless we want Mason to have some kind of episode, I won’t ask you to carry anything out there for me.”
Charlotte is already gathering trays of drinks and snacks.
“Let me,” I offer, happy to help and glad to have a distraction from Dec’s change in mood.
“Thank you.” Charlotte replies with a grin for me and then pauses. “Declan likes you.”
I am like a rabbit caught in the headlights, unsure what Dec has told her about us, if anything, and more unsure what to say in response.
“Come on then, before they all follow us in here.”
