CHAPTER 19 Liam Bradley
Loyalty Program
I head back to San Diego for OTAs in the second half of the week. I spent a lot of time with Tanner and Jonathan Thomas, the third-string quarterback, in meetings with Coach Quentin, the quarterback coach affectionately nicknamed Coach Q.
We talk plays and watch film. We review formations and offer feedback on what we’ve done in the past. We do some walkthroughs as the coaches call plays, and we practice timing and passing.
It’s not quite where we show what we’re made of, but it’s a start.
There’s no contact, but this is where we study and learn the playbook and start to see what the team chemistry will look like going forward.
And it’s where I start to get to know my teammates. I spend a lot of time off the field with Clayton Mack, one of the wide receivers who is close with my older brother, Madden, and one of the few players on this team who’s single.
Although I’m not really sure if I’d put myself in that category anymore.
We scrimmage without pads on Thursday, still with no contact, and stepping onto the field, lining up behind the center, taking snaps…it feels like I’m home again.
Even though it’s a new team. Even though I’m living out of a hotel.
I’m starting to find a rhythm here, and I can’t wait for the season to begin.
Except…I don’t want to be a backup.
I’m so goddamn sick of being a backup.
It’s hard to be ready to go at any given moment but know I might not take any snaps. It’s hard to be a leader on the team when I never get to play. It’s different when you’re slotted as QB1. It’s your team. You’re in control.
I’m just the understudy, and I have to be ready to step in at any time.
I’m ready.
I just don’t know when I’ll get the chance.
I return to Chicago with plenty of time to spare before Everleigh and Maverick’s wedding on Saturday.
The wedding isn’t until sunset, and I don’t need to get dressed for another couple hours. Madden, Dex, and I are meeting at the bar around the corner from my house for a late lunch, and I arrive first.
I’m sure Madden will have some news about our father since Dad is staying at Madden’s place for the time being.
To be honest, I was kind of shocked that he offered his place up for dear ol’ Dad, but with the mansion under construction and his trial set to start next month, he needed a place to live.
Despite Madden’s anger over our father’s alleged crimes running underground casinos that he tried to pin on his children, he felt a sense of compassion toward our father.
I’m lost in these thoughts as Izzy stalks across the bar toward me.
She’s the girl who served Penny and me the night we first connected here. I remember it was twenty-four days until the wedding back then, and I couldn’t have possibly known how much my life would change in those twenty-four days.
I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Penny.
I signed a contract with San Diego.
I’m moving there next week. We’ve tentatively agreed to try the long-distance thing.
It’s been a whirlwind twenty-four days, but we’re at the tail end of it as we celebrate the wedding tonight, and it’s going to be a difficult evening keeping my hands off the maid of honor and pretending once again in front of my family.
Tonight’s not the night.
But someday…maybe.
Izzy stops in front of me and offers a glare. “I need to talk to you.”
I’m trying to come up with a diplomatic way of saying that I’m not interested when the door opens and Dex walks in.
“Sup, bro?” he says, and he fist bumps me. “Table for three, please,” he says to Izzy, clearly having no clue that she has something to say to me.
“Right this way,” she says, grabbing three menus and probably assuming I’m going to corner her and find out what she wants to talk about. Spoiler alert, I’m not.
Izzy isn’t our waitress, thankfully, and we place our orders, have a few drinks, and eat some lunch.
“We have a new loyalty program,” our waitress says as she drops off the check. “Just write your phone number on the bottom of your receipt, and start earning points for rewards today.” She offers a smile before she walks away, and I pull out my credit card to treat my big brothers.
“Ain’t no loyalty program,” Dex says.
Madden shakes his head in agreement. “She wants your number, bro.”
I laugh them off as I write my number. I may be paying for this meal, but both of them make a hell of a lot more money than I do. I’ll take a free burger every fifth visit or whatever the offer is.
I head home, and Penny’s already gone, off somewhere with my sister to get ready for the wedding. The boys are at Brent’s, and it’s weird walking into a quiet condo.
I find myself actually missing them. I guess I got used to them being here. I grew up in a house that came with the noise of seven siblings, and having Penny and her boys here brings me back to that simpler time.
Though I guess my childhood was never really all that simple.
I take a shower and get dressed for the wedding. I navigate toward the mansion where I grew up, and I pull up to the curb where a valet they hired hands me a ticket and drives my truck somewhere to park it.
And as I’m walking toward the front door, my phone starts to ring.
I step off the cobblestone path that leads up to the door and onto the grass, getting out of the way of other guests who are arriving, and I see the incoming call is from a Chicago number.
I assume it’s one of the vendors Everleigh gave my number to as a local point of contact, so I answer without doing any research into the number.
“Hello?”
“I told you I needed to talk to you,” a voice says. It’s vaguely familiar, but I can’t seem to place it.
“Who is this?”
“Izzy from Boulevard Tavern.”
My heart beats a little faster, and not because I’m excited she’s calling. I get the sudden feeling that I never should have left my phone number on the bottom of that receipt.
What kind of loyalty program calls you the same day you signed up?
“Oh, hey,” I say.
“Yeah. Hey.” She clears her throat, and I audibly hear her suck in a breath over the phone. Eventually, she blurts out the reason for the call. “Liam, I’m pregnant.” She pauses. “It’s yours. I was only with you and one other guy around the same time, and I did a DNA test. He wasn’t a match.”
My mouth flaps open and closed as I try to come up with what to say.
Okay…so I’m starting to understand the loyalty program is not an actual program but more of a friend being loyal to another friend by scheming a way to get my number.
“I wasn’t going to tell you at all…” She trails off and sighs.
“And then I decided to, but I didn’t know how to get in touch with you since I never had your number.
So Rachel helped me. Anyway, I’m planning to give the baby up for adoption.
I can’t be a mother. I’m twenty-fucking-one and a waitress at a stupid bar putting herself through school.
I guess I just…I don’t know. I thought you should know that in less than two months, there will be a kid out there that’s half you, half me. ”
My mouth continues to flap open and shut.
“Say something,” she urges.
“What do you want me to say? Thanks for letting me know you’re pregnant?”
She huffs out a sigh. “This was a mistake. Forget it.”
“Forget it?” I repeat. “Forget that you’re growing a child that’s possibly mine?”
“Not possibly, Liam. Definitely.” Her voice is adamant.
“And I’m just supposed to take that at face value when you admitted you were with someone else? Come on, Iz. Be real.”
“I am being real. If you want a DNA test, fine. If you want me to give it up, fine. I don’t really care what you decide, but if you think you can give a kid with your blood a better life than strangers, then it felt like the responsible thing was letting you know.
” She hangs up after she says those words.
Fucking hangs up, like she didn’t just drop a bomb on me two seconds before I was about to walk into the mansion where I grew up to celebrate my sister’s wedding.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
Penny.
I need Penny.
I need to talk to her, to see her, to feel her arms around me telling me that this is going to be okay.
I walk into the house and bypass whoever is standing there. It’s all a blur. The house, the flowers, the decorations…all of it, including the people as I zero in on finding her.
I walk out into the yard, and my brother is there. Okay, to be fair, three of my brothers are there, but it’s Archer who I spot first, and his arm is around a woman I’ve never seen before.
“Hey,” I say to Archer.
“Liam, this is Millie. Millie, Liam.”
I nod at her, and my eyes dart around the yard looking for Penny.
“What’s wrong?” Archer asks me.
I glance at the door, and I clear my throat. “I, uh…” I trail off as I debate how much to tell Archer. This feels like the exact wrong place to admit any of this to anyone. “I just got a phone call I wasn’t expecting.”
“Is everything okay?” my brother asks.
I bite my lips and shake my head. “I’m, uh…not sure.”
“What’s going on?” It feels like he’s prying, and I can’t do this. I need to find Penny.
The only thought in my mind is finding her. She’ll know what to do. She’ll tell it to me straight.
And this moment seals something big for me. Something important.
Big news or small, she’s the one I want to turn to.
Fuck.
I still can’t find Penny, and I study Archer for a beat as I wonder if he knows where she is. If I should ask him. If it would be giving too much away. If…
I don’t know.
“Not here,” I finally say, and I walk out of the yard and back into the house. I pass by Ford and Tatum as they make their way into the yard, and I nod a quick hello even though I haven’t seen my brother in months.
I head upstairs and run into Madden.
“Bro, go take a seat. We’re about to get started,” he says, walking toward the stairs to go down.
“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.