The sound of an oven timer and the instrumental opening to “Loving You” came from the device the moment he handed over the phone.
“Someone’s popular this morning,” Matt said, grabbing a slice of toast.
“It’s my brother. He’s probably coming up this weekend and wondering if I’m around to paint,” Liv said before answering the call.
Damn. He should’ve told her about the pictures circulating on social media as soon as he came upstairs.
While it could be a coincidence that Owen was calling now, Matt’s gut told him Liv’s brother had seen the photos and was calling with questions.
“Hey, Owen. What’s up?”
“You tell me.”
Okay, that wasn’t the response she’d expected.
“How long have you and Matt been together?”
Liv choked on the coffee she’d just swallowed, and across from her, Matt cringed.
“For a few weeks,” she said once she could speak again.
“And when did you plan on telling me?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want Owen to know, but since she’d assumed Matt viewed their relationship as a temporary diversion while in town, she’d seen no reason to tell her brother or anyone else.
Usually, she could gauge Owen’s mood. Right now, she couldn’t tell if he was angry or annoyed. Liv momentarily considered making something up. But if he was furious, saying she’d planned to tell him the next time he visited wouldn’t help.
“I don’t know. Maybe….” Liv paused as she fully processed her brother’s question. The only person she’d told about Matt was Emma. And while Emma and Owen were more than acquaintances, they didn’t speak unless they happened to run into each other. Even if they did communicate regularly, Emma never would’ve told Owen that Liv was involved with someone.
“Hold on a minute. How do you know about us?” she asked.
Across from her, Matt raked a hand through his hair and frowned.
“You’re really asking me that? Half the world knows, Liv. Pictures of you together are trending on CHAT.”
Closing her eyes, Liv rested her head against the headboard.
“There are pictures of us on CHAT?” Her brother wouldn’t lie, but wouldn’t she have noticed if someone had been taking pictures of them yesterday?
“Yeah, someone posted three. I don’t know if there are any on other sites.”
Crap. She’d known this would likely happen if they went somewhere together. However, she hadn’t expected it to happen the first time they went somewhere public. Although she didn’t know why. From a logical standpoint, it wouldn’t matter if it was their first time out in public or their one hundred and first.
Her phone alerted her to another text message, reminding her she’d received one right before she answered the phone.
“Can I call you back later?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She knew before she even checked that at least one of her recent messages was from Emma. She wouldn’t be surprised if she also had some from Phoebe.
Liv found five missed text messages. As she’d expected, she had one from Emma and two from Phoebe. The last two were from college friends.
Since it was the oldest, she started with Emma’s message.
Emma: In case you didn’t know, the cat’s out of the bag.
Liv: I know. Just talked to Owen.
