She lifts a shoulder and shakes her head. “Nothing.” She blows out a breath. “Enough about all that. What are you thinking about San Diego?”
I shake my head. “No, Pen. Not enough about all that. Where are you living?”
“The same house we shared. I can’t afford to buy him out, and he isn’t bending.”
“I can buy him out,” I blurt, and she laughs.
“You’re just like your sister. She said the same thing. Truthfully, Ihateliving with him. We built our life there. Our family. And he burned it all to the ground. He can have it. But I don’t have anywhere to go. I can’t afford to buy in the area, and it’s almost the end of the school year, so I’m sort of sticking it out for now.”
“Is he living there, too?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah. It’s been…awful, honestly. Especially since my lawyer has advised me not to talk to him. I stay at my mom’s house every other weekend when he has the kids.”
“Where are you located?”
“Lincoln Park. About a mile and a half from here.”
I have no idea why the next words blurt out of my mouth, but I’ve always been the kind of guy who wants to help out where I can. I never know how to say no. It’s why I’m the one always dealing with my dad. Why I’m the one who was running on fumes from Pittsburgh to Chicago when my mom was sick.
And this seems to be a place I can help. “Move in with me.”
She gasps. “What? No, Liam. I couldn’t.”
“Why not?” I counter.
“I have two kids, for one thing.”
“So? I have a four-bedroom place. We could get you out of that house.” I don’t mention that two of my three extra bedrooms are currently not set up as bedrooms. I have one guest room that’s storage for all the shit I took home from Pittsburgh, and my sister Ivy is supposed to be moving into it when she graduates next week. Another is a room with some training equipment in it, and the other is an office. But all that’s fixable enough.
She laughs. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to live with kids?”
“I grew up with six siblings. I have some idea.”
“Sure, but, like…it’s different when it’s your siblings. They’re my babies, but they’re also messy and loud and basically totally out of control. They know their dad and I are having problems, and they’re scared about what that means for them.”
“You know what’s best for your kids. But eventually you’ll move out, right? They’ll adapt. They’ll adjust. I have to imagine it’s better than living in a house with all that tension.”
She sighs. “It’s sweet of you, Liam, really. I absolutely couldn’t impose, though. Everleigh offered up her place here in the city, too, but it’s so far from the kids’ school. With traffic, it would be an hour each way plus the commute to my office.”
“Which is why my place just works. Come on, Pen. Let me help you out. I’ll be traveling anyway. I’ve got this San Diego visit, and maybe more lined up after that. It’s honestly not imposing.”
She gives me a look like I’m nuts. Maybe I am. But this is Everleigh’s best friend, and she’s in a bind. I have space. Why not let her and her kids hang here temporarily—until her divorce is final and she can figure out her next move?
Izzy brings over Penny’s new glass of wine and our sliders, breaking up the moment.
I don’t get a chance to mention how lonely it’s been since my season ended. I don’t get a chance to tell her that maybe I want this a little for me, too. To have someone to talk to. To have some noise in my place. I went from the total chaos of my dad being indicted and my mother dying mid-season to…silence. My father is awaiting trial, laying low at Madden’s place in the city. My mother is gone. My siblings all scattered back to their lives.
I was let go from my team.
It’s awfully lonely on this side of things, and maybe this is the kind of change I need in my life, too.
* * *
Start the BRADLEY LEGACY at the beginning with MAD RIVALS!
A steamy Pro Football, Business Rivals, Enemies to Lovers Romance from Amazon Top Ten Bestselling author Lisa Suzanne.
Pro football legend Madden Bradley was never supposed to be anything but my enemy. With one season left on his contract, he’s set to take over his family’s empire, and I’m his business rival. Forced into a partnership we both resent, the last place I should be is tangled in his sheets.
