We just love these two!

Sometimes romance reveals itself in funny ways. Such is the case with Reba McEntire who has her longtime boyfriend Rex Linn saved in her phone in a very specific–and very cute—way.

McEntire has been friends with Linn since 1991, when they met on the set of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. The two Southerners discovered they had a mutual friend and both grew up in Oklahoma, but that was that.

The two were friendly, but when they reconnected in January 2020 the relationship changed. It started when McEntire was a guest star on Young Sheldon and Linn invited her to what turned out to be a very pivotal dinner. Sparks flew, but the world went into lockdown soon after and the new couple was kept apart. Linn was in Los Angeles and McEntire in Oklahoma so the two built up a special bond by “talking and texting every morning, afternoon, and night,” McEntire told us.

While the two have “been pretty much inseparable since June 16th, 2020”, according to McEntire, because their relationship started via the phone when they were miles apart with no chance of seeing each other, it has played an important role in their romance. So it’s not incredibly surprising that McEntire has held on to a sweet memento from that time. Specifically in the way she has Linn’s contact information saved in her phone.

McEntire told TODAY that she still has Rex saved in her phone as “Rex Linn, long-distance boyfriend.”

“I haven’t changed it since 2020,” McEntire explained. While the couple are starring alongside each other in the new sitcom Happy’s Place, apparently McEntire likes to keep a little reminder of how it all began.