Page 109 of The Wedding Engagement

Something was definitely wrong. “No need to apologize. I don’t expect you to be at my beck and call.” The fact that she’d answered, and was okay, was a huge relief. But the knowledge that something was bothering her needled him. What if she’d realized how he felt and she didn’t feel the same way?

He rubbed at his chest, remembering her story about Dean. How she’d wanted to back out just as he was getting serious.

So, she’d ghosted him.

His breath caught in his throat, the hollow feeling splitting wide open. “Are you still coming over tomorrow? Or I can come to you?” He clamped his mouth shut, worried that he sounded a little desperate.

There was a second’s silence. “You still want to meet?”

It was getting harder to ignore the sinking feeling. “Why wouldn’t I?”

She was quiet again. As if she was expecting him to say something. But what was he supposed to say? “Liv, if something’s up, I wish you’d tell me.”

She cleared her throat, a pointed tone to her voice. “Yeah, that’s how I feel too.”

Arran rubbed his face, his brain a complete mess. His heart too. It sounded as though she was going to say something more, but then there was a noise in the background that sounded like someone calling her name. Maya, perhaps?

“Listen,” she said. “I need to go. But I’ll still come over tomorrow so we can talk about this. Okay?”

Talk about what? He still didn’t know. “Okay,” he managed to say.

“I’ll be over tomorrow.” She ended the call.

—

“Liv,” Maya called through thebathroom door. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Just coming.” She unlocked the door and came out, and Maya enveloped her in a hug.

“I take it that was him on the phone?” Maya asked.

Liv nodded against her friend’s shoulder.

“Come on. Let’s go to my room. Well, my old room. Don’t suppose I can call it mine now that I live with Sam.”

Maya took her hand and led her to the bedroom, where she made Liv sit back on the pillows, covered her in a fleecy throw, and then put a teddy in her arms.

Liv laughed. “Thank you.”

Maya gave her a soft smile, sitting next to her. “Did he mention Jess?”

A lump rose in her throat. “Nope.”

“Did you ask about her?” Maya asked, lifting the throw to get under it with her.

Liv screwed her face up.

Maya sighed. “And you tell meI’mthe conflict-avoidant one.”

“It’s not that,” Liv said, inadvertently cuddling the soft teddy. “I wantedhimto be the one to bring it up, you know? I didn’t want to back him into a corner. I wanted him to be open and honest.”

Maya was silent for a moment. “I suppose I can see your point. Are you sure we shouldn’t call Sam?”

“No,” Liv replied quickly. “I don’t want to cause trouble. Let me speak to Arran first. If he doesn’t bring it up tomorrow, then I’ll ask him about it.” She leaned back into the cushions. “Sorry for barging in on you and your parents, by the way. I didn’t mean to gate-crash your family time. I needed to tell someone and didn’t feel like that should be Sam, or Mum and Angus. Or Elise. Goodness knows that woman has enough to worry about.”

Maya eyed her. “Do you really think they slept together?”

“No. Maybe.” She took a deep breath, the idea of it making her sick to her stomach. “I really, really hope not.”

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