The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(13)

Alexa laughed, her eyes shining.

“I do realize that.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “He loves me, I love him, he’s moving to Berkeley. How’s that for the CliffsNotes version?”

“Ahhhhh!” Maddie almost screamed but realized just in time they were surrounded by Alexa’s coworkers. So instead she squeezed both of her hands tightly and screamed under her breath.

She only realized one hand was still on Theo’s arm when he sat up straight, almost knocking Alexa in the head, and making both Alexa and Maddie laugh. Maddie patted his likely bruised arm and moved her hand back onto her lap.

“Sorry about that. It was unintentional,” Maddie said in response to his raised eyebrows. He grinned at her and went back to his conversation.

She should probably move away from him. She could push her chair back, go sit next to Alexa, and get more of the details of the Drew story.

But it was comfortable to sit next to him. To have his leg, in his perfectly cut gray wool pants, pressing gently against hers. It wasn’t about him, not at all. It was just nice to feel a warm body next to hers on this chilly summer night, to feel the warmth of him through her impractically thin cotton dress. If she’d just dressed more warmly for the city council meeting, she would get up to move. But she loved this dress, and tonight she’d chosen vanity over warmth. Theo was clearly warm enough that he’d taken off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. She looked away from his forearms and back to Alexa.

The party went on until the bar closed. As they all shuffled out, Maddie turned to Olivia.

“Hey, you can sleep in my guest room tonight. My place is kind of a mess, but you can just push all that out of the way.”

Alexa spun around.

“Absolutely not. My sister is staying at my house.”

“Okay, but Lexie . . .” Olivia said. “There’s someone else here tonight to see you. Don’t you think you want some privacy?”

Alexa shook her head.

“Drew’s going to be around for a while. Olivia lives all the way in New York, I never get to see her enough, and she came out all this way to surprise me!”

Maddie and Olivia looked at each other, and then at Drew, who just shrugged.

“Drew indeed will be here for a while,” he said.

Maddie smiled at them holding hands and beaming at each other and sighed. It had been a long time since anyone had looked at her like that. Since she’d looked at anyone like that.

As the others walked toward their parked cars, Theo turned to go in the opposite direction.

“Okay, I’m this way. Good night, everyone!”

Alexa stepped back when he tried to hug her and frowned at him.

“Are you trying to walk home? You’re trying to walk home, aren’t you?”

He sighed and looked up to the heavens. He was hoping to get away with this tonight.

“She does this to me all the time,” he said to the other three. “Yes, I’m trying to walk home. I live a mile away, I have perfectly fine legs, I can walk home.”

“Yes, I do this to you all the time, and who always wins this fight? I do. I have a perfectly fine car. I’ll drive you home, along with the rest of this crew.”

Drew dangled her keys from his fingers.

“You mean I’ll drive him home, right? Or did you forget you handed me your keys when you ordered that third drink?”

Alexa shrugged.

“WE will drive you home, how about that? No need to walk when my car is right here. And you live more than a mile away—remember how I measured it that time?”

Theo shook his head.

“How could I forget?”

“I’ll drive him home,” Maddie said. “You three have had a big night. This is when you delegate some things to your friend who also has a car right here.”

Alexa grinned at Maddie and smirked at Theo.

“How did you survive growing up with this one as a little sister?” Theo asked Olivia.

She laughed.

“It was a struggle. Drew, do you know what you’re in for?”

When Drew didn’t answer, the other three looked back to see Drew and Alexa kissing on the sidewalk.

“Ewww, come on, my eyes!” Olivia yelled.

Theo was still laughing when he got into Maddie’s car.

As soon as he fastened his seat belt, it hit him. How the hell did he end up in Maddie’s car again? After he’d almost melted down just sitting next to her at the bar, he’d planned to avoid being in close quarters with her ever again.

And now they were alone in her car, heading down University Avenue in an awkward silence. At least this ride would be a lot shorter than the last one.

He should make conversation.

“So, Alexa and Drew, huh?”

Maddie laughed.

“Just what I was thinking.” She paused for a while. “She looked really happy.”

Theo nodded.

“She did. I’m really happy for her. And I liked Drew better tonight than I did the night of my birthday.” He made himself smile. “Which is good, I guess, because it seems like he’s going to be around for a while.”

He and Alexa had been so close for the past few years, they’d often finished each other’s sentences. She felt like the sister he’d never had: she always insisted on giving him rides home; he’d bought her a ladder so he could more easily change the light bulbs on her high ceilings. Now that Drew was going to be here, he would need to adjust to Alexa having a guy around who wasn’t him.