Page 70 of False Confidence

“A puppy,” his dad repeated, staring at him, shellshocked.

“Yep.” Liam held up his phone, showing them the picture from the shelter’s website. “This is him. Cute, right?”

“Oh my God.” Maggie folded in on herself, collapsing on the couch, covering her eyes. “The two of you are aging me, you know. I’m younger than both of you and you’re aging me.”

Liam grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t think this through.” It was nice to know just how seriously Maggie took defending Jasmine, though.

“You know, your moms and I always swore that if you ever got someone pregnant, we would react better than our parents did, and I have to say, I think I handled that pretty well,” his dad chimed in, though he still looked like he’d been clubbed over the head.

Peach hopped up on the couch again, and Maggie grabbed her, holding her to her chest and breathing deeply. “I could probably have handled it better,” she admitted. She brandished a finger at him. “But let that be a warning if you ever do hurt her.”

“Consider me warned. This one was on me.”

His dad cleared his throat, glancing expectantly between Maggie and Liam. “Clearly I’ve missed a chapter. You and Jazz are what—dating?”

“We haven’t really talked about what it actually is so…” Liam trailed off.

Maggie sighed. “They’re casually seeing each other. But like we were casually seeing each other, you know?”

“Ah, I see.”

“I’m going to marry her,” Liam said without thinking, because apparently his mouth was no longer connected to his brain. “But we’re taking it slow for now. We’ve only gone on one date.”

“And Jazz doesn’t know it was a date,” Maggie pointed out. Semantics.

“That sounds very complicated,” his dad said, before shrugging. “But I’m on board. You and Jazz would be great together—haven’t I been saying that, love?”

“You have,” Maggie replied, some of the stress on her facing melting away as she smiled at his dad.

“Jazz is great, Liam. She’s perfect for you, and I’m happy for the two of you.”

“Thanks, Dad. Could you maybe mention that to Jazz? She’s convinced you’re going to think she isn’t good enough for me.”

“Really? I love her. She knows that, doesn’t she?” He directed his question to Maggie, who released Peach to take his hand.

“She does, don’t worry. It’s just her parents?—”

“Say no more. I’ll make sure she knows I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Liam said. It wasn’t exactly the low-key dinner they’d planned for telling his parents, but there was always a silver lining: telling his moms couldn’t possibly go any worse.

“Can we see the puppy now?” Maggie asked, and Liam handed his phone over, happy to be back on steady ground. She squealed. “Oh my God, look at him. He’s so tiny.”

“Aw, Liam, he’s lovely,” his dad added when Maggie turned the phone in his direction. “What’s his name?”

“He doesn’t have one yet. I want to talk to Jazz first but I was thinking, since he’s technically my first baby, I could do what you did and give him my middle name: Bray.” Liam’s first name came from his dad’s middle name, Uilliam, and his middle name had come from the town in Ireland his dad had been born in. He’d always loved it. Though he didn’t spend much time in Ireland these days, once or twice a year at the most, he always felt completely at home there.

“He looks like a Bray,” Maggie agreed. “God, he even has your mustache.”

“And Jazz’s hair,” he pointed out.

Maggie gave him a pointed look. “Liam.”

“What?”

“Is Jazz aware that you’re considering her the puppy’s mom?”

“Well, explicitly stating that doesn’t feel like it would count as taking it slow, but you know she’s going to take one look at him when we pick him up next week and be completely obsessed with him.”

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