Page 67 of Backup Plan

“Yeah, I will. Have you seen Penny?”

“She’s up in the bridal suite. Why?” he asks.

I rush toward the stairs. “I need to talk to her.”

“Dude, you can’t go in there,” Madden warns, but he doesn’t really have jurisdiction here.

I knock on the door to Everleigh’s old bedroom, which I assume is the bridal suite. I luck out when Penny herself answers the door.

She’s wearing a wide smile, and she blurts, “Is it time?” before she sees me standing there with anxiety written all over my face. Her brows dip, and her smile fades. “Liam, what’s wrong?”

I nod toward the hallway, and she steps out, closing the door behind her.

“Is it Mav? You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

I shake my head. “No, it’s not Mav. It’s…well, it’s me. I need to talk to you.”

Her brows pinch together more tightly. “Can it wait? We need to head down right—”

I shake my head, cutting her off. “Izzy just called me. She’s pregnant. I don’t know what to do.”

“Izzy?”

“The waitress from Boulevard Tavern. She said it’s mine.”

Understanding seems to dawn in her eyes.

“She said she’s going to give it up for adoption,” I say, and my voice breaks. My voice fucking breaks as I say the words, shocking me down to my very core.

“Oh, Liam,” she whispers. She glances around, sees we’re alone, and wraps her arms around me. I’m trembling, but I feel immediately comforted with her back in my arms.

“Do you…do you want to be with her?” she asks carefully.

I shake my head. “No. We were never more than two people who slept together a handful of times.”

She bites her lip as if she needs to feel pain elsewhere aside from her heart over the idea of me sleeping with someone else. “What are you going to do?”

I blow out a breath. “I don’t know.”

“I need to get back in there,” she says.

“I know. I just…I don’t know. I had to see you. Had to…”

“I know,” she says softly. She tilts her chin up, and she presses her lips softly to mine. “I’m right here, okay? I’m sorry I need to get in there. I want to talk this out with you. To be right here for you.”

“I know you do. I get it,” I mumble.

“Liam,” she says softly, and her voice is very nearly a command. “Hey. It’ll be okay. Whatever you decide. However I can support you. I’ve got a little experience when it comes to kids, you know.” She offers an ironic smile, and she’s right.

She does.

She has kids.

She knows what to do with kids. Not just getting down and acting like a dinosaur and building a climbing wall in the living room to make them feel comfortable in a new place, but like feeding them and changing diapers and raising them from babies into little humans.

I do not have the first clue about any of that.

Izzy said she was giving it up for adoption. Could I really let her do that?