“It was my dad’s share,” Penny explains. “But it hadn’t really been his in years, so I thought it was time to sell it.”
Leah makes a small sound. “That’s… a lot of security to walk away from.”
“It was never security,” Penny says with a shrug. “It was obligation.”
I wipe my face with the towel and glance over her shoulder. Stacey’s a few feet away, and her expression shifts as she busies herself with her phone.
“Well,” Leah says, patting Penny’s arm. “It sounds like you did the right thing selling it.”
“Me too. And—” Penny gestures around at all of us, her eyes catching on mine. “Look how much richer I am for it now.”
Remi steps into my space a second later, arms folded across her chest like she’s about to say something she doesn’t particularly want to.
“She been turning up?” she asks, chin flicking subtly toward where Stacey stands near the aisle.
“Yeah. Late, but yeah.”
Remi’s mouth tightens. She’s known me since my first month in Maplewood, before Stacey and I were even talking about kids. She’s seen the whole messy arc in real time, and she’s had my back through it all.
“She still looks…” Remi exhales through her nose. “Temporary.”
I gulp down some water from my bottle. “We’ll see.”
Remi watches Elle for a second. My kid’s wedged between Penny and Leah now, explaining my goal with exaggerated arm movements.
Remi shifts her weight.
“If Penny needs a break,” she says, tone deliberately casual, “I could take Elle next weekend for a few hours.”
I look at her, but she doesn’t meet my eyes at first
“So she doesn’t have to…” She gestures vaguely toward Stacey again. “Deal with that solo.”
“You sure?” I ask.
She snorts. “You know I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”
“It’s just right now, with Sta—”
“I will body slam her before I let her anywhere near that baby angel without you.”
I choke on a laugh, and to the side of us, Stacey shifts. My eyes flick back to Remi, and I clear my throat and nod.
“Yeah, that’d be good. I’ll let Penny know. Thanks, Rem.”
“Cool.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal when it absolutely is. “We’ll sort it.”
Remi showing up for me isn’t a surprise. She’s always been that person. She and Colt have seen every version of me that had to figure out how to be a father without a net.
She trusts me, and I trust her.
The noise swells again, and we all turn to see Colt trying to lift Herb for absolutely no reason. Leah’s laughing, and Penny’s crouching down, tickling Elle as she shrieks with glee aboutsomething nonsensical. Nobody thinks twice about Penny being here. Not Herb or Leah, or any of the boys. Not Remi, and definitely not Elle or me.
Stacey stands at the edge of it all, phone still in her hand. Always ready to go, always with something else tethering her away.
I rejoin the guys, and Fletch immediately pours a beer into the plastic trophy and makes me drink from it. He pours another one over my head, and by the time I’ve shaken my hair out and glanced back over, Stacey’s gone.
Chapter twenty-four
