Page 258 of Heart So Hollow

“You OK?” Bowen looks at me with surprise, as though I’m the one who’s done something unexpected.

He’s standing between the island and pantry door, still blocking my path. “I need to go upstairs. I need to get dressed,” I clip as I angle my shoulder toward him.

“Oh, yeah, go ahead,” Bowen smiles, but doesn’t move.

A silent conversation initiates and, in an instant, my kitchen turns into an interrogation room. This is now weird, and I need him gone. But he doesn’t budge, looking down at me with an eerie sense of amusement.

But I’m not going to be intimidated by him. “Please move,” I say firmly, locking him in a dead stare.

Finally, Bowen shifts his weight and steps to the side, not taking his eyes off me. I stare right back at him while I scoot past, as close to the pantry door as I can, and hurry down the hall and up the stairs.

For a brief moment, I don’t know if Bowen will actually leave. But when I hear his truck start in the driveway a few minutes later, relief washes over me and I rush to get dressed and get out the door for work, deciding to deal with this later.

I don’t get the chance, though.

By evening, Brett blows in like a tornado and leaves the shreds of our friendship in her wake. No matter how much I yell at her, she’s convinced I’ve done the unthinkable. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to talk to her about Colson, his mugshot, or the story Bowen told about him.

And, as angry as I am, I can’t blame her. There’s a reason she believes it, and after the bizarre interaction with Bowen in my kitchen, I know Bowen did something. I just don’t know what.

I send Brett messages on all her socials, but I know that’s useless. She’s so hit and miss, there’s no telling when she might see them. I debate having Katie or Emma talk to her for me, but I don’t know if that’ll make things worse, so I decide to hold off for now. There’s still a chance that things will cool down, isn’t there?

I’ve been on the phone with Katie for over an hour now. She’s my only connection with Brett at this point.

“Brett just sent me screenshots of the texts between you and Bowen,” she says disapprovingly, “what in the holy hell is going on? Why are your boobs on his phone?”

Jesus Christ. Everyone’s seen my tits and I don’t even know what picture they’re talking about.

I don’t blame Katie for being outraged. I would be, too—if I’d actually done it. Nothing about this makes sense. I don’t want to get with Bowen. I never have. Because the first time I met him was when he showed up at Calhoun’s and Brett was head over heels for him, which means he was off-limits from the get-go. I didn’t send him those texts and I sure as hell wouldn’t have sent him a nude!

“If you accidentally sent it to him, just say so,” Katie’s tone softens, “it happens. I mean, it’s fucking embarrassing, but it’s better than the alternative.”

“I didn’t!” I tell her, yet again. “There’s no way Bowen should have a naked picture of me.” Something is off with those texts. They shouldn’t exist, because I never sent them. “Katie, can you please send those screenshots to me? There’s something really weird going on.”

I wait impatiently until my phone starts vibrating as the pictures start rolling in.

ME (8:42PM): 824 Hibernia Hills

ME (8:42PM): The key is under the yellow flower pot on the porch

ME (9:02PM): (Attachment)

BOWEN (6:42AM): Barrett what are you doing?

ME (8:06AM): I’m going to tell Brett about this.

BOWEN (8:18AM): You should

“Oh my god!” I holler at my screen as soon as I see the picture of myself posing in my bathroom.

I recognize the picture immediately, and I remember exactly why I took it. I was going to send it to Anna’s friend, Harrison, who I’ve been texting with for a couple months. Luckily, I had a sudden moment of clarity and chickened out. But I kept it because, frankly, I look damn good.

All the same, it shouldn’t be on Bowen’s phone. And the more I stare at the screenshots, I realize there are quite a few things missing from them. My thumb flies over my screen, opening my text thread with Bowen and comparing it to the screenshots.

ME (8:42PM): 824 Hibernia Hills

ME (8:42PM): The key is under the yellow flower pot on the porch

BOWEN (6:42AM): Barrett what are you doing?

---