Page 23 of Revenge Brunch and Other Disasters

Which meant she had to sell it.

She adjusted her posture, subtly leaned in, and gently touched Rhys’s arm in a way she hoped said “we kiss sometimes” and not “please pretend we’re in love before this implodes.”

Rhys startled like she’d just proposed on live television.

Darcy, sipping her wine with the serenity of someone who delighted in chaos, narrowed her eyes at the arm touch.

“How long have you two been together?”

Linda opened her mouth. Rhys opened his.

Two different numbers came out.

“Three months.” / “Five weeks.”

Silence.

Linda nearly choked on her water. “Three months since we decided we were brunch soulmates, five weeks since we started dating. Uh. You know. Exclusively?” She tried to fix it.

Rhys made a noise that might have been his soul trying to escape through his nose.

Darcy arched a brow. “Brunch soulmate?”

Rhys’s voice cracked. “It’s a, uh, joke. Office thing.”

Linda nodded vigorously. “Yes. Very inside. Very HR-compliant.”

Liv turned to Linda with a look that could skin a man emotionally. “So… have you met Mom yet?”

Rhys looked like he might spontaneously combust.

Linda, determined not to let his"client dinner"unravel into a coming-out-while-fake-dating moment, smiled sweetly and lied like a woman possessed.

“Not yet! But I’ve heardsomuch about her. From Rhys. All the time,” she added, with the panic of someone who had no idea what his mom’s name was and had committed to the bit anyway.

Darcy blinked. “That’s weird. He never talks about her with his girlfriends. Must mean he’sseriouslyinto you.”

Rhys coughed.

Liv wasn’t done. “Do you love him?”

Linda blinked. “What?”

“Do. You. Love. Him.” Liv said it with the kind of casual menace usually reserved for mob bosses and HR complaints.

Linda’s heart did a weird, traitorousflop.

Rhys, wide-eyed, looked like he was trying to will himself into invisibility.

Linda forced a laugh. “It’s early days yet. But, I really like him. I hope we can see where this leads.”

She was trying to protect him.

He was gay. (Right?)

This was a kindness.

It wasn’t real.

---