The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(36)

Alexa handed her a knife.

“I’ve learned it’s just easier to go along with it when he does stuff like this. Plus, unfortunately, it almost always turns out great. Here, you cut the limes. I’ll squeeze them.”

Thirty minutes later, the three of them were outside in the backyard with margaritas, chips and guacamole, and an ice bucket full of cold grapefruit sparkling water. Theo watched Maddie as she took a sip of her drink. Her smile made him feel victorious.

“Worth the wait, wasn’t it?”

She ignored him and turned to Alexa, which only made his grin get bigger. He dug into the bowl of guacamole with his chip and took his biography of Ida B. Wells out of his bag.

Alexa looked over at him and laughed.

“I knew you’d be reading a book like that. Didn’t I say that, Maddie?” She lifted up her magazine to show it to him. “This, Theodore, this is how you take an actual break from work.” She dropped the magazine onto her lap. “How’d the call go yesterday? We didn’t get to talk about it afterward.”

He leaned back in his chair and shook his head.

“I’m fighting so hard to have the kickoff rally in Berkeley, and every conference call is two steps forward and one step back. This time, I had answers to all of their arguments and talked about the many parents we know who will be able to speak at the rally, and how we’ll get such favorable press here, and I think I won Sybil over, but then all the Central Valley people brought up protestors.”

Maddie looked over at him.

“Aren’t you worried about protestors?”

He shrugged.

“Like there won’t be protestors anywhere in this state, but who cares? So what, a handful of people will have some ugly signs and bad chants. We’ll turn up the sound system and deal with it. Saying, ‘But protestors!’ is just their excuse to get the rally out of Berkeley and into their boss’s city. It’s so frustrating, and I really hope it doesn’t work.”

Alexa turned to Maddie.

“This is the initiative I told you about that Theo was working on for universal pre-K in California.”

Maddie raised an eyebrow at him, with an expression on her face like this was all brand new to her and she hadn’t listened to him rant about this campaign for fifteen minutes the other night.

“I know that would have helped my mom a lot when I was a kid. Do you think it has a shot at winning?” she asked him.

She hadn’t asked him that question the other night.

He thought about whether to give the politic answer or the real one, and shrugged.

“Anything has a shot. Wild things happen on Election Days, for good and bad. But, do I think it’ll win? No. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth fighting for, though. The better job we do this year, the more people will be inspired by it, and the more likely it’ll be that we’ll win the next time. The great and terrible thing about politics is you have to play the short and the long game all at once.”

Maddie held up her glass.

“Okay, now that you’re done boring us, can I get a refill?”

He tried not to show his irritation at her brush-off and reached for her glass.

“Lex, you want another, too? There’s more inside.”

Alexa nodded.

“I do, but do you know the other thing I want?”

He looked at her sideways.

“What?”

“Pizza. Chips and salsa and guacamole aren’t a meal. I’m hungry.”

Maddie drained the dregs of her margarita glass.

“Okay, but I’m very confused,” Maddie said. “I really expected you to say tacos just now.”

So had Theo, actually.

“Obviously, I want tacos, but the good taco places don’t deliver, and none of us can drive after Theo’s margaritas, so I forced myself to crave something more easily deliverable. Plus, then there will be pizza here waiting for Drew when he gets home from work, so I’ll be the best fiancée any man has ever had, and you know I really like to be the best at things.”

Theo and Maddie looked at each other and shrugged.

“Get roasted garlic on the pizza, please.”

Maddie made a fake gagging noise.

“Roasted garlic on a pizza sounds disgusting. Do we have to?”

They’d had this argument so far every time they’d ordered pizza together, which was . . . four or five times now. Now he usually let her have her way.

When he came out of the kitchen bearing the pitcher of margaritas, Alexa had her phone out.

“Is it too much to get two large pizzas for four people?” She set her phone down and shook her head. “What am I thinking? Of course it’s too much. I have to fit myself into a wedding dress at some point here. I should be on a green juice and quinoa diet.” She picked up her margarita glass Theo had just filled up. “And I should definitely not be drinking this!” Despite her declaration, she took a long sip.

“Oh no.” Maddie sat up and turned to Alexa. “You’ve been talking to your mom again, haven’t you?”

Alexa sighed and nodded.

“Stop that!” Maddie said. Alexa put her glass down. “No, not stop drinking the margarita! Stop talking to your mom about what you need to do or look like to get into a wedding dress, I mean.”

Theo picked up Alexa’s margarita glass and handed it to her.