Page 47 of Backup Plan

“The elevator buttons,” Penny clarifies.

Ah. Of course.

“If you fight over it, I get both,” I tell them.

Two little heads whip in my direction, both with jaws dropped, and Penny laughs.

“Going up, Sammy gets inside. Going down, Benji gets inside. Deal?” I ask.

“That’s a great idea, Liam,” Penny says.

I chuckle, but it’s the confidence boost I need. I’ve never really dealt with kids before, and I have two wins in the last fifteen minutes. I can’t fool myself into believing it’s some magical power or anything. It’s clear they’re only listening to me because they don’t know me, and it won’t always be this easy. But I’ll take the W.

We head up to my place, and I open the door, allowing Penny to enter first, followed by the kids. I head up the rear, and I hear Penny’s gasp when she walks in and looks around.

My head whips up, and I see why she’s gasping.

Dolores went a tad overboard.

The entry is normal, and so is the staircase to my left. But the formal living room that’s open to the entryway has been transformed into the ultimate kids’ playroom.

A television always adorned the wall, but the console is new. Now it’s an organized wall unit of cubbies presumably filled with toys, and beanbag chairs have been added to the décor. A small climbing wall has been attached beside the television, and a small ninja-type course has been added in one of the corners. There’s also a table that’s kid-sized and has brand-new boxes of Lego sets stacked on top, with one stack that’s appropriate for kids ages five-plus and the other appropriate for seven-plus. In the center of the coffee table is a huge basket filled with snacks of all kinds, including bags of chips, popcorn, pretzels, and candy—with both types of Doritos and Nerds gummies, of course.

“Liam, oh my goodness! This is way too much!” Penny says.

Oops.

“This is awesome!” the boys yell at the same time.

Okay, so it’s another W from the kids.

“Let’s check out your room,” I suggest, a little nervous about what the hell Dolores might’ve done in there, too.

“Which room?” Penny asks, and I point down the hallway.

“First door on the right.”

The boys scramble down the hallway.

“Wait, which way is right?” Sammy asks, stopping in front of a door.

“That one,” I say, nodding where he’s standing, and he peeks in the room first.

And then he punches a fist into the air. “Yes!” he cheers.

Benji is right behind him. “Whoa!”

I pull a face at Penny, cringing a little.

“What did you do?” she demands.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

She moves toward the doorway and looks in, and then she turns back to me. “You made it so they’ll never want to leave,” she murmurs.

I tilt my head and lift a shoulder. “Is that such a bad thing?”

She narrows her eyes at me, and we both walk into the room.