Page 99 of Backup Plan

Maybe we’ll find our way back to each other afterward, but somehow I doubt it. I never said it was my intention to try, and I’m not even sure if it is. Maybe a clean break is easier for both of us as I start a new life in a new town with a new baby.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that telling her to move to be with me was both a plea of desperation and probably something she never wanted to do.

But then why did she ask the judge if she could move to California?

She has options. She could work for Everleigh.

She could follow her dreams and do whatever she wants.

But she’s tied to Chicago because of Brent, and as I prepare myself to become a father, I can’t help but think about how lucky I am that Izzy is willing to give me our baby.

I’m nervous. I don’t know how to take care of a child. I’ve never changed a diaper. Hell, I’m the second youngest in my rather large family of siblings. I never really even took care of a kid younger than me…until Penny moved in. Until I fell for her kids in a totally unexpected way when I saw how they were an extension of her. Until I fell harder for her, seeing her in the role of mother, seeing her as a businesswoman, seeing the way she clutched the sheets as she moaned underneath me.

Fuck.

I really fucked it all up, and my thoughts are absolutely uselessly circular at the moment as I circle back to the fact that I fucked it up, but I didn’t see any other choice.

I did it because I love her. I did it because I wanted to protect her and her kids.

I did it to protect my family from more scandal.

I finish my bottle of beer and line it up beside the others. I grab another from the fridge, pop the cap, and settle back in at my seat at the kitchen table. It’s Benji’s seat, the one he claimed when he lived here. It has the best view of the television, and Sammy fought him for it, but when Sammy kicked his little brother during the fight, the little brother won.

Maybe I have a soft spot in my heart for little Ben since I was the little brother who got kicked and pushed around by his four older brothers. They weren’t bullies, to be fair. It was typical big brother stuff, the kind of shit almost all of them try to get away with and usually probably do.

But honestly, I have a soft spot for Sammy, too. The way he looks out for his little brother—but only when he thinks nobody’s looking. The jokes he cracks. The way he’s just a natural leader.

I stick my feet up on the table and cross them at the ankles as I tip my bottle back. I think about how Penny would scold the boys for sitting like this, and I very nearly take my feet down just at the thought of it.

But I’m half-drunk, half-depressed, and half-sure I did the wrong thing.

The silence roars still louder when I get a call from the front desk letting me know that someone is here to pack up Penny’s personal items.

“Send them up,” I mutter.

It’s a small crew of a few men, and I direct them to the correct rooms as I help them pack. I tell them to pack up all the Lego sets. What the fuck am I going to do with them?

If she’s staying at her mom’s place, there won’t be room for all of it.

“I’d like to take care of your fee,” I tell the dude who seems to be the lead.

“It’s already paid for,” he says.

I wonder who paid for it. It’s a small crew and not that much stuff, but it would still set Penny back a few hundred bucks. It feels like something Everleigh would do to help her best friend. She’s the one who told me where Penny’s been staying.

“Refund the original form of payment. I’ll pay you double.”

“Whatever you say, man.”

I call Dolores, and she picks up right away.

“Everything okay, Liam?”

“Yes. I need your help renting a storage garage for Penny’s extra things just in case she moved in with her mom,” I say.

“What did you do?” she demands.

I sigh. “Don’t make me rehash it.” Even I hear the pain in my own voice.