The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(11)

It wasn’t like it could ever happen again; even if the morning after hadn’t gone so badly, he knew that was off the table. But oh God, if only it could.

He picked up his pen and took frantic notes, just so he would look somewhere other than at Maddie.

Finally, it was time for the key part of the meeting: the program for at-risk teenagers Alexa had been working on for months. When Alexa’s sister, Olivia, got up to speak, he was terrified for a moment. Had he been right to get Olivia to fly across the country to do this? He looked around the room to see how people were responding to her speech. Everyone was rapt, including the city councilmen. Thank God.

But as he looked over the audience, he and Maddie locked eyes, until she finally looked away.

The program passed easily, and he distracted himself from Maddie by silently celebrating with Alexa. As soon as the meeting was officially over, he pulled Alexa in for a big hug.

“You did it!” he said.

She squeezed him tightly.

“We all did it. Thank you for everything, but especially for whatever you did to conspire with my sister to get her here.”

The mayor came over to congratulate them, and there was a flurry of handshakes and hugs from city council members and other staffers. Just as he was about to gather up everyone to head to the bar to celebrate, he heard Alexa say, “Drew?”

Theo turned and saw the doctor who had shown up the night of his birthday party. He’d thought that guy and Alexa had broken up for good a few weeks ago, but here he was, standing in front of Alexa with a hopeful and scared look on his face.

“Um, Olivia?” Theo said under his breath. “I think we should all get the hell out of here.”

“Alexa always said you were one of the smart ones.” Olivia slung her overnight bag on her shoulder. “Maddie? You joining us for drinks? I have a feeling we’ll have a few things to celebrate tonight.”

Right, of course Maddie would come, too.

Theo buried himself in his phone on the walk to the bar. He returned a few celebratory emails from allies and sent out the press release he’d had ready to go, about how gratified the mayor was to see that the city council prioritized the marginalized children of Berkeley. But the whole time, he was aware of Maddie, the sound of her voice, the ripple of her laughter, the sway of her body as she walked ahead of him. He tried not to eavesdrop on her conversation with Olivia, but he couldn’t help it. They were talking about Maddie’s new dress. Obviously.

Why the fuck did Maddie have to be in that thin, clingy dress, anyway? It might be July, but it was July in Berkeley. It was too cold tonight. She should be in an oversize sweat suit. Something warmer. Something that would make him stop remembering what she looked like without anything on at all.

He needed to just pretend Maddie wasn’t here. Oh God, but he couldn’t ignore her all night—what a jackass move that would be. He had to say something to her, but he had no idea what to say. He tried to put that out of his mind as he walked into the bar.

“First round is on the mayor,” he said. He pulled the crumpled bills the mayor had given him out of his pocket and handed them to the bartender.

“Good job, boss,” his assistant, Peter, said. Theo grinned and fist-bumped him.

“Thanks, but the real heroes are the Monroe sisters. But really, thanks for everything you’ve done on this over the past few months.”

He made his rounds with everyone else from the office, to thank them for their hard work, and they all had that same gleeful, almost high look on their faces he could feel on his own. Working in politics had some terrible lows, but every victory was so sweet.

Everyone made it to the table after a while, and Olivia sat down next to him, with Maddie on the opposite side of her. Good, this way he couldn’t even see her.

“Thanks for giving me the push to make it to this,” Olivia said, clinking her glass with his.

“Thanks for doing it,” he said. “I’m so glad you managed to get here.”

“Me too. I wouldn’t have missed seeing that look on my sister’s face when the city council voted for the world.” She laughed. “Or the look on her face when she saw Drew standing behind me, actually.”

“How’s life in the big city?” he asked Olivia. “Getting sick of New York yet and ready to move home to California?”

She gave him a twisted smile.

“Actually, yes, but don’t tell my sister that. She would get way too excited and think I was heading home immediately. But yeah, I’ve been missing California more and more these days, which is why I’ve managed to do a business trip up here or to L.A. at least every few months. And it’s getting harder to go back to New York every time. No imminent plans to move back, but . . . we’ll see.”

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see news alerts; a few reporters had their stories already up.

“Hold that thought,” he said to Olivia. He scanned the stories, and only that one guy who had it in for the mayor said anything negative; everyone else thought the program sounded great. Just as he checked in on Twitter, he got a tap on his shoulder.

“We getting good press?”

He looked up to see Alexa’s euphoric face. And Drew standing behind her smiling just as big.

“You bet we are.” Theo stood up and gave her a huge hug. “You did it, Lex.”