Page 127 of Backup Plan

I shake my head. “No need. Our new house has all of it.”

“Liam Bradley, do not spoil the kids.”

I chuckle as I rock the stroller.

“What about Dad?” Sammy asks, and I had a feeling he’d ask.

“You can call him whenever you want,” she says softly. “You just won’t go over to his house every other weekend anymore.”

“So no more Heather?” Benji asks.

She shakes her head. “Nope.”

“Yes!” he says, and he punches the air. It takes everything inside me not to laugh at that.

“But…does Dad still love us?” Sammy asks quietly.

“Of course he does, baby. Of course. We’re just changing things up a little bit, and you’re going to be with me, Liam, and Liora all the time.”

“Li Li and Liam are coming, too?” Benji asks, using his little nickname for her.

“They’re coming, too,” Penny says, smiling back at me.

“Yes!” he says, punching the air again.

“And it’s okay to feel sad about leaving,” she tells them. “I know it’ll be hard to leave the friends you made in school, but you can keep in touch with them, and we’ll make new friends, too.”

“What about Grammy?” Benji asks.

“I think if we get Grammy to come visit, she’ll want to move there, too,” Penny says with a smile.

I just wish I could get Dolores to move there, too. But we’ll still have my place here in Chicago, and who knows what’ll happen in the next year? Maybe Penny will decide she wants to come back. Or maybe I’ll get signed for more time with the Storm.

It’s all part of the excitement of a future knowing one thing for certain: Penny, Benji, Sammy, and Liora will all be in it.

CHAPTER 41: Penny Wade

Lucky Penny

It’s no easy feat traveling with three kids, but Liam is beyond equipped to deal with this. It’s still new with him and the boys, so they’re at a point where they actually listen to him. The more comfortable Liam gets in his role with them, the more comfortable they’ll start to get around him, too—which means they’ll stop listening, and he, too, will have to tell them to brush their teeth thirty-seven times before they actually go to the bathroom to brush their teeth.

Also, snacks. Snacks save the day just about every time, and I’m carrying an entire arsenal for the flight to San Diego.

The boys lose themselves in their tablets, and I’m in between them in a single row with Liam on the end seat in the row next to us. We take turns holding the baby, and we’re both giddy as we make constant eye contact across the aisle.

This is bananas. My life imploded in October when Brent went viral for all the wrong reasons at a basketball game, and I never would’ve thought that nine months later, I’d be cradling Liam Bradley’s baby girl on an airplane as I take my boys to San Diego to move in with him.

Hell, a week or two ago, I was pretty sure that thought was off the table. But here we are.

After I told the boys last night that we’re moving to San Diego with Liam, I also confessed that Liam is my boyfriend.

They ooh-ed and ahh-ed over it. Sammy covered his eyes when we kissed.

But the truth is out, and I no longer feel like I need to censor myself in front of the boys.

I didn’t know that this kind of happiness existed.

And that happiness only multiplies in more ways I wasn’t expecting.