Page 62 of Backup Plan

Everleigh lands on Sunday afternoon, and she’ll be staying at her place in the city where Ivy has been staying since my guest room is not currently vacant. Everleigh scheduled a dinner for anyone who can make it.

Penny’s mom said she’ll watch the boys so she can go to Ev’s dinner, so she drops them at her place on Sunday afternoon. When she arrives back at my place, I’m standing in the living room, completely naked as I wait for her.

She laughs. “What if I brought Everleigh back with me?”

I shrug. “Then I would’ve had some explaining to do. But you didn’t, so why don’t you join me by taking off all your clothes and lying on the couch?”

She pretends to think on it, and then she says, “Deal.”

We spend the next hour in naked bliss together, and then we’re forced to get dressed so we can go to Everleigh’s dinner.

It’s painful to sit through dinner and pretend like I’m just friends with the woman seated beside me.

We’re more than friends, but I can’t say for sure exactly what we are. Is there an actual title for my sister’s friend-slash-roommate who I like to fuck and feel myself developing feelings for?

It’s even harder the next day when I join her as we make our way to the boys’ school to watch Benji’s kinder promotion. Sammy’s already there, and he saved us both seats.

He pats the bench on one side for his mom, and I move to sit beside her, but Sammy shakes his head and pats the bench on his other side. “No, you sit here.”

I can’t help a secret smile. The kid actually seems to like me.

Everleigh shows up and slips into the small space between me and the person next to me, and Penny leans over Sammy and me to say hi.

The ceremony starts, and we watch little Benji walk across the stage to accept his certificate that he has officially graduated kindergarten. The class sings a song about sunshine, and then they’re dismissed to find their families.

Benji runs straight for Pen, and he clings onto her legs. “Where’s Daddy?” he asks.

She glances around, and I do, too.

There are only twenty-two kids in his class. Maybe a hundred or so people here in the gymnasium to watch this ceremony. And neither of us spots that worthless sack of shit anywhere in the room.

“I’m not sure, honey. He probably couldn’t get out of work.”

She’s so much nicer than me. I get protecting them from the truth, but let’s call a spade a spade. From what I understand, he owns his real estate firm. All he has to do is make time, and he didn’t bother.

We have donuts and lemonade, and then the kids head back to class and we head to the car.

“Brunch?” Everleigh asks, falling into step beside us.

“Brunch,” Penny echoes, a confirmation that I wasn’t aware of, and the tone of her voice makes me think she was also not aware of it. “But I need to be quick. I told Stuart I needed ninety minutes max.”

Everleigh lifts a shoulder. “I told you to come work for me so you don’t have to deal with Stuart. I’d always let you out for kid stuff and brunch.”

“Come work for you?” I interrupt. “What fresh hell are you trying to sic on her?”

She turns a glare on me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I love you, sis, but you can be a bit…how do we word this nicely? A bit of a badass boss bitch.”

Her glare deepens. “That was the nice way of wording it?”

“It was nicer than calling you a controlling micromanager, yes.”

She gasps in horror, and I can’t help but laugh at the absolute theatrics of it all when it’s absolutely the truth.

“I am not a micromanager,” she protests.

“Says the woman who would have me living at the mansion just to ensure construction is on schedule if it were up to her,” I mutter.