Page 162 of Liam

And so was every single one of the Prestons.

There are two temporary double-wides on the lot now, and I open the door to the first one and call out, “Anyone here?”

Even though Itechnicallylive here, the last time I entered this early without announcing myself, I caughtTheHeidi slipping on one of Roman’s shirts. There’s no Heidi here now, but I can hear the shower running, so I leave his lunch container on the kitchen counter and send him a text letting him know it’s there. Then I jog across the driveway to the other house and open that door without knocking. Wyatt’s sitting at the kitchen counter, downing a bowl of cereal. “Good morning,” I greet, a little too loud and cheerful because I know how much he hates it. I kiss the side of his head, and he grumbles something I can’t make out before lifting the bowl and drinking the milk. It spillsover the lip and leaks onto his work shirt, right over the Preston Construction logo.

I giggle.

He grumbles some more.

The first time Tom Preston met Wyatt was when he was here to support me during “Goodbye Hellhole.” Everything was going great until Tom asked Wyatt how Liam’s old truck was treating him. Yeah. Of all the things I was clueless to, the fact that my boyfriendgavehis truck to my best friend was pretty high on that list.

I wanted to be mad. Outraged. And when I pulled Liam aside to askwhat the fuck, I looked into his eyes and was met with an ocean of kindness. How could I be mad at him for beingexactlywho I fell in love with? Besides, he explained, it’s not as if he needed it.

After that day, Wyatt and I started spending more time together, which meant that he and Liam did, too. And Lincoln, of course. Now all three of them hang out without me. They golf, hunt, do whateverbrosdo.

Oh, and Tom Preston offered him a full-time job, which he accepted.

Obviously.

“Morning, AB,” Griffin calls out, appearing from the hallway.

I can’t remember which came first—Wyatt working for the Prestons or him moving in with Dayna and Griffin. The job was an offer; Dayna and Griffin didn’t give him a choice when they told him he was staying with them. After they found out about our pasts and saw how he was currently living, the decision was made.

“Morning, Coach.” I hand Griffin the container with last night’s leftovers. “How is she?”

“She’s sleeping. She was up all night with the baby.”

Right on cue, the baby cries, and I rush to the bedroom.

Dayna sits up just as I enter. “I got him,” I tell her, picking up the baby boy from the crib. “You go back to sleep.”

“You don’t have class?”

“Not until eleven,” I whisper. “Go rest.” I don’t give her a chance to protest, just quietly slip out of the room and back to the kitchen. “He’s so cute,” I murmur.

“Give,” Wyatt says, and I hand baby Zane over to him. Zane came to Dayna and Griffin on an emergency placement right after he was born. That was two months ago. Right before Griffin officially started his new job as head coach of baseballandsoftball at West High School.

It didn’t take a lot of convincing to get him to at least interview for the position, but I did pay my old third-grade teacher a little visit beforehand. Not only did I tell her and her husband how great Griffin would be for the job, but I also gave her the answers she needed. She said she always wondered about me, and so I told her the truth so she never had to wonder again—I had been raised by three of the most incredible humans to ever walk this earth, and because of them, I can say thatI’m good…and finally mean it.

Since Coach Harden wasn’t retiring for another year when Griffin interviewed, they could only offer him an assistant coach’s position, which was, as we already knew, part time and voluntary. It was an enormous risk to take—moving their entire lives from Raleigh to here on amaybe.

Thankfully, Tom gave Griffin a job, working hours that didn’t interfere with his coaching, and Lucy stocked some of Dayna’s handmade crafts at her shop, which—going by how quickly they sold out—were a big hit. And I made sure to spend that time doing everything I could to make Griffin look so good, they had no choice but to give him the job. Well, I didn’t do a lot, but I made my boyfriend edit some crazy short videos to post on their social media. The videos alone brought in crowds they hadn’tseen in ten years. And it’s not that Griffin couldn’tearnthe position on his own, but it was just that little extra push to show he would go above and beyond. It worked. No regrets. Because now I have this huge found family all together, and I, personally, couldn’t be happier.

The front door opens, and Roman calls out, “Addie here?”

“Yep!” I answer, grabbing what I need to make Zane’s bottle.

Roman enters the kitchen, kisses the top of my head. “Thanks for my lunch.”

“No problem.”

He moves over to Wyatt and smiles down at the baby. “He’s adorable.”

And because I’ll always be Roman Baker’s annoying little sister, I crack, “You and Heidi would make cute babies.”

I can feel his frustration from across the room. “I swear to God, Addie…” he mumbles, and I bite back a giggle. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this joke going before he tapes my mouth shut.

“You ready to go?” Wyatt asks him, handing Zane over to Griffin.

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