Page 72 of Backup Plan

“Okay. I need to be in San Diego tomorrow. Are there any labs open today?”

“No, but I saw a brochure for a mobile paternity test at my doctor’s office. They come to you and do it on site,” she says. “It costs more, I think. I’m not sure.”

“Okay, well, money’s not really an issue, so book it,” he says.

Money’s not really an issue.

It’s a reminder how we come from vastly different worlds.

I’m trying to figure out where I can live on my meager paychecks with two kids, and he’s tossing around money’s no object like it’s candy.

“What time?” she asks.

He glances at his watch. “It would either have to be right now or about two hours from now.”

“Fine,” she says. “I’ll see what I can get.”

“Thank you, Iz. I’m sorry this is happening,” he says softly, and he’s baring his vulnerability for her, too. But she doesn’t appreciate it the way I do, and I think maybe that’s why they never would’ve worked the way we do.

“Yeah, well, me too.” She hangs up, and a few minutes later, a text comes through. He shows me the screen.

Izzy: Come to Blvd Tavern at 1:30. They’ll do it in the parking lot.

Classy. A DNA test right there in the bar parking lot.

It is what it is, though, and he agrees.

“You don’t have to come with me. Stay with Ev. She’ll expect you there, anyway,” he says.

“I want to be there for you,” I say quietly.

He pulls me into his chest and hugs me fiercely. “I want you there, too. But if we’re hiding from Ev, we need to take separate cars anyway, and I’ll be okay on my own.”

I nod, and I look up at him. He’s already nervous, and I know this brunch is going to be torturous for him.

And if it is for him, it will be for me, too.

Because that’s just how things go when you love somebody.

CHAPTER 21: Liam Bradley

A White Van

Rather than focus on what’s coming after brunch, I decide to put my energy into my family.

We’re here to celebrate my sister and her new husband, and all of us are gathered in the main dining room at the Bradley Mansion. Some cleaning service came in between last night and this morning and transformed the place, setting up for a big family brunch. Everleigh planned every last detail down to the caterers who have a large buffet spread waiting for us when we walk in.

I arrive a little before Penny, and Everleigh is waiting at the door to greet me. She pulls me into a hug.

“Congrats, big sis,” I say.

“Thanks, little bro. And I could say the same. I heard about your news. You doing okay?”

I press my lips together. After I let Dex in on it last night, somehow everyone else knew within ten seconds. “I’m doing okay. Actually, I just talked to Izzy, and I’m meeting her in a couple of hours to do a DNA test.”

“Izzy, that’s the mother?” Ivy asks, appearing as if out of thin air. Great, so now my two sisters can both grill me.

I nod.