Page 89 of Backup Plan
Penny presses her lips together, and I think we both realize that I’ve been putting Izzy off because I’ve been prioritizing Penny and the boys.
But I can’t. I won’t have that option once the baby is here, and I know this is my chance to step up and do right by the woman carrying my baby.
The week passes quickly. Minicamp is a success. I get the chance to learn from the best in Tanner Banks, and I get the chance to practice with a new team. I find a rhythm with my receivers especially, and for the first time in my career, it feels like while I’m still the backup, this is my team, too. I’m not just the backup. I have an important role, and I need to be warmed up and ready every single moment in case I’m sent in.
I’ll be ready. I can feel it in my bones. This is my chance, and I’m not going to let it slip away from me.
By the time I get home on Friday, I’m achy and exhausted. There’s nothing I want more than to curl up into bed with the woman I love, but she’s still in her room next to the boys, already asleep by the time my late flight gets in. I stop into her room and plant a soft kiss on her temple, but it doesn’t wake her.
I peek in on the boys, too, both sound asleep.
There’s something special about coming home to a house filled with the people I love.
I hate that we’re going to be apart. I get the next few weeks on and off here with them, but then once training camp starts, I’ll be in San Diego full-time until the season ends.
And in the weeks I’m here in Chicago, a baby is going to be born, one that will come with me to San Diego and that will maybe have my eyes or my nose or my smile.
Life is going to change, and I have no idea what that’s going to mean for Penny and me.
I don’t have a chance to meet Izzy at the bar until Saturday morning, and she slides into the booth beside me. I pull out my phone and open my Venmo. “What do you need?” I ask.
She tucks a piece of curly, frizzy hair behind her ear as her wide, brown eyes look up at me. She looks younger than she is, and nearly innocent—something the round belly says she isn’t.
She sighs. “I don’t want it to be like this. But I felt like it was the only way to get you to talk to me.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right.”
She sighs. “I’m sorry this happened. I just…I can’t take care of a baby. I live in an apartment with three other girls, and it’s all I can afford from what I make here. I need to finish school and start my life, and this just wasn’t how I wanted my life to go. I know I’ll always regret it, but I can’t give this kid the life you can.”
“Hey, Iz. It’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything. What’s your Venmo?” I ask gently.
She tells me, and I tap in a thousand dollars.
“Let’s start here.” I send her the money. “I’ll send you a thousand a week on Mondays until the baby is born. And upon the birth, I’ll wire you a hundred thousand. And that’s it. Deal?”
Her wide eyes grow somehow wider, and she nods.
I tap out a text to her detailing the agreement, and I send it to both her and my lawyer.
Once that’s sent, I look at her expectantly.
“It’s a girl.”
Tears fill my eyes. “It’s a girl,” I whisper.
I’m having a girl.
* * *
We spend the weekend doting on the boys with video game challenges and movie nights with popcorn, and I think about going to my father’s trial on Monday, but I decide to let Madden handle it only to get a call from him letting me know it’s already been messy.
“It’s been continuance after continuance. Nothing is getting done. And we just found out that one of Dad’s lawyers has Covid, so we’ve got a week until we’re back in court.” He sounds frustrated.
“Thanks for taking one for the team,” I say. I’m not sure what else to say. “How does this affect our scheduled date for testifying?”
“No clue. I’ll let you know if I hear anything about the date changing.”
I thank him again, and instead of going to court since it sounds like it’s not happening anyway, Penny works from home. We spend the day together, fucking on her breaks and prepping with her new lawyer for her pretrial hearing set for tomorrow.
