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She gave me a thumbs-up as everyone laughed. I kept an eye on the twins, who were running around the yard without looking at any of the adults or Ben.
While I ate a hot dog, Maddox and Leo both came up to me. “You’re about thirty seconds too late,” I informed them.
“For what?” Leo asked, confused.
“For a moment, I thought you’d come to corner me.”
“Told you he’d see this coming,” Maddox remarked.
“Dude, explain yourself,” Leo demanded.
I shook my head. “I specifically said no questions today.”
“Yeah, that was in regard to Allison, which we’ll respect. We don’t want to scare her away already. But I sure as hell won’t be quiet around you.”
“Since when are you so curious? I thought that was Gran’s territory.”
Leo pressed a hand on his left eye and then the right one, shaking his head. “Since you went from repeating that you’dnever settle downto marrying someone and now apparently dating her.”
“Exactly that,” Maddox agreed.
“Listen, we don’t want to intrude,” Leo went on. “We just want to make sure that you have a solid plan and know what you’re doing.”
I swallowed hard as I took another bite of the hot dog. “I don’t,” I admitted.
“Fuck, I knew it,” Leo said. “I told you this laissez-faire attitude would eventually bite you in the ass.”
“Look, the original plan still stands. We’ll stay married until she gets custody.”
“And then what?” Maddox asked. “You’ll just move out and go on with your old life?”
“Probably.” But that sounded fucking awful. I didn’t want to move back to the penthouse unless Allison and the twins came with me.
None of this made sense anymore.
“I hope it works out the way you want it to, without things getting messy,” Leo offered.
“It will. Allison and I are both adults. We know what’s at stake here. We know what we’re doing.”Not.
“You just said a few seconds ago that you don’t,” Maddox pointed out.
“I’m just not thinking that far ahead. We’ve barely heard from Hugo. The custody battle is ongoing. He’s doing the brunt of the work, so Allison doesn’t have to do anything, not even talk to Sophie and Bob. We’ll see what happens.”
“So, there’s a possibility that you won’t just pack up your life and move back to the penthouse as soon as she gets custody?”
“Everything’s up in the air,” I told my brothers. “Both Allison and I are fine with the way things are.”
“As long you’re both on the same page, that’s perfect. It’s all that matters. Forget all the excitement in the family,” Leo said. “We have your back no matter what. You know that, right? In case Hugo needs any sort of character references or something.”
“He didn’t say anything about that. It probably wouldn’t count much, though, coming from family.”
Maddox weighed in. “It was just an example. You can count on us for anything you need. Same goes for Allison.”
“Thanks.” I liked that they had her back too.
“By the way... we have some news on Dad. I actually talked to him—told him we’re not cool with him using the Whitley name,” Maddox explained.
“I take it he wasn’t happy?”