The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(26)

Maddie laughed and knelt down to pin the hem of the dress.





Chapter Seven




THEO GOT HOME FROM WORK LATE THURSDAY NIGHT, AND AFTER shedding his bag and shoes at his front door, he investigated the contents of his fridge. Bleh, three different plastic containers of too-old leftovers, a carton of eggs, and half of a brown avocado. He’d meant to go to the store on Sunday, but between Maddie being there most of the day and his need for a nap once she’d left, he hadn’t made it there. And this week had been so busy because of the pre-K campaign, so he hadn’t gotten there. He probably had something or other in his freezer, but it was probably freezer burned by this point. He had two chocolate chip cookies from the bakery across the street from his office in his bag, but that was dessert, not dinner. He picked up the phone and ordered a pizza.

He went into his bedroom to change into sweatpants, and when he tossed the handful of change from his pockets onto his dresser, something gold and shiny fell onto the floor. Where the hell had that come from? He bent down to pick it up and twisted it in the air. A delicate dangly gold earring. He flashed back to that moment he’d kissed Maddie in Alexa’s closet and saw that same gold earring.

Was the other one here, too? He looked on the dresser and saw it right there on the corner. He put the two earrings together in the old ashtray a kid from his volunteer program had made for him and sat down on his bed to think.

What was his move here? He hadn’t heard from her since she’d left his house on Sunday afternoon, he had no idea when he was going to see her again, but he should at least tell her she’d left her earrings at his house, right?

If he did it now, would she think he was trying to get back into her pants?

He was trying to get back into her pants, obviously; he just didn’t know if this would increase or decrease the likelihood of that happening.

Hell with it. He had to break the ice sometime. He picked up his phone.

Hey Maddie, it’s Theo. Hope you had a good week. Just fyi, I have those long gold earrings of yours. Let me know if you need them.



There. No big deal, he just had her earrings; he wasn’t violating any of her rules or anything, just giving her some information. Ball was in her court now.

He dropped his phone and pulled an old T-shirt on. Should he have said, “Come by and get them anytime”? Eh, baby steps.

He grabbed a beer out of his fridge, went back down the hall to his living room, and turned on the basketball game. He probably should work on the press release that needed to go out Tuesday, but he’d been working nonstop all day, and he wanted to sit on the couch and yell at sports for a while to give the work part of his brain a break.

His phone buzzed, and he snatched it off the coffee table.

You watching this game?



Ben.

Yeah, why?



Knowing Ben, it could be anything between “I just won $1,000 on Curry’s last shot” to “My ad agency has a commercial in the next break. Watch it!”

I got a last minute ticket from someone at the agency 10th row, look for me on TV



Yeah, that sounded right.

Asshole



He set his DVR to record.

His doorbell rang—pizza, thank God. He handed over cash and plunked the pizza box down on his coffee table.

Just as he picked up a slice of pizza, his phone buzzed once more. If it was Ben again . . .

Thanks for letting me know. Getting drinks with Alexa now btw



Not Ben. He took a bite of pizza and leaned back against the couch cushions.

Ohhh, does that mean I need to be circumspect about what I text in case she sees your phone?



This was going to be fun.

Maddie saw Theo’s text flash onto her phone and put her forearm on top of it.

“So are you going to do it?” Alexa asked.

Was she a mind reader? How did Alexa know she was thinking about whether she should stop by Theo’s place later? Just to get the earrings. She wore those earrings all the time and needed them for the weekend.

“Do what?”

“Apply for the job at the station? The thing we were just talking about?” Alexa picked up Maddie’s glass and peered into it. “How much tequila is in that margarita?”

Maddie took her glass back.

“Ha-ha, very funny. Sorry, I lost my train of thought. It’s been a long week.” Getting paranoid there, Madeleine. “I think so. It’s a great way to raise my profile, that’s for sure. And I really could help people who need my skills. I’m just not sure if I’ll be good on TV.”

Maddie had been thinking about the job at the station all week, and the more she thought about it, the more excited she felt. She’d already heard from the producer, who said he’d be in touch with more details in a few weeks. She’d talked to her mom about it, and her mom had told her to make a pro/eon list, like she always told her to do for any major—or sometimes minor—decision. But she knew her mom loved the idea; she was a social worker, and she knew how much of a barrier the right clothes could be, especially for poor women. Plus, she and Maddie both knew how hard life was as a woman who didn’t know all of the unwritten clothing rules that seem to come up everywhere you go.

Maddie had always wanted to be able to do something to give back—that was part of the whole reason she’d started this business in the first place. But she’d been concentrating so much over the past few years on getting her business established, she hadn’t had any time. Now here was something that could both help her business and help people.