The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(80)

He couldn’t remember a more miserable week of his life, and it was only Wednesday. His head still hurt, he still couldn’t think straight, he was worried about his job, he couldn’t read, or exercise, or work, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Maddie.

He hadn’t heard from her since she’d walked out of his apartment that night, not that he’d expected to. He hated himself for every terrible and untrue thing he’d said to her that day. He wanted to blame the concussion for what he’d said, but he knew that wasn’t the biggest reason. It was that he’d been trying to save face with his little brother, and had ended up looking like a great big asshole instead.

How the hell had he managed to let himself fall in love with Maddie Forest? Because obviously, Ben—damn him—had been right about that.

But then, how could he help himself falling in love with her? She was so funny, and smart, and genuine, and caring. They’d had such a great summer together—sitting on his couch or her couch; giggling like teenagers about keeping their secret; having sex in every possible place in his apartment; venting and commiserating about their work and their families; laughing and talking and listening and being quiet together.

The problem was, he’d just been riding this wave with Maddie without looking ahead or thinking about where he was going, and now he’d been thrown back onto the rocky, cold shore, all alone.

See, this was the other problem with getting a concussion right before a breakup—he had way too much time to wallow, so he sat around and thought of increasingly more maudlin metaphors.

He needed to pull himself together. Maybe he should eat something. He still had like three or four of those frozen pizzas Ben had brought him, but between the ones they’d eaten and the pizzas they’d ordered, he was getting kind of sick of pizza.

He glanced over at Ben, who was at the desk in the corner, in front of his laptop. Ben had refused to leave him alone and had told his job he’d be working from home all week. After he’d listened to Ben’s incessant chatter for two straight days, he’d forced Ben to play the quiet game, which had worked a hell of a lot better now than when they were kids. Maybe it was that Ben had more willpower now, or that the beer he gave Ben as a reward was a bigger draw than the play money he’d tried to give him twenty-five years ago.

His phone rang. Alexa. She’d been by once over the weekend to check in on him and had looked surprised at finding him and Ben alone. She hadn’t asked about Maddie, though, thank God.

“Bless you for calling. I’m so bored.”

She laughed.

“Then I guess the answer is yes to whether you want me to bring you dinner?”

Oh thank God. For the food, and the company to keep him from yelling at the walls, or his brother.

“Absolutely. Anything that isn’t pizza.”

Ben caught his eye and pointed to himself with both hands. He sighed.

“Lex, Ben wants you to know he’s here, too.”

She laughed.

“I’ll bring enough for both of you. Chinese work? I’ll be there in half an hour.”

When he got off the phone, he pointed at Ben.

“Remember, say nothing to Alexa about the whole Maddie thing, no matter how much you want to get her on your side. Alexa doesn’t know anything about this.”

One of the other reasons he’d threatened to tape his brother’s mouth shut was that Ben kept telling him he needed to make up with Maddie. Maddie had made her feelings about him crystal clear right before she’d walked out of his door; what would the point even be of him trying to make up with her? She never wanted to hear from him again.

And after the awful things he’d said to her, he didn’t blame her.

“I’m just saying,I’m the asshole,” Ben said. “Why are you acting like me? You’re supposed to be the smart one. Be smart here! Talk to her, text her, write her a letter to apologize and tell her how you feel, something.”

Theo stood up. At least he wasn’t dizzy anymore.

“We’ve been over this.”

“I know we’ve been over this, but obviously we need to go over it again!” Ben said. “You always do this. One fight with a woman and you give up, even when you can make a save! I never cared before because I never liked any of the other women you’ve dated, but I liked Maddie!”

He should have kicked Ben out days ago.

“It doesn’t matter how much you liked Maddie; this is about me, not you.”

Ben smirked at him.

“Well, YOU liked Maddie a hell of a lot, and we both know that, so stop trying to pretend otherwise.”

Theo had no real comeback for that. Unbeknownst to Ben, he had called Maddie. Twice. But she hadn’t answered. He hadn’t left a message either time, but he knew she would have seen his missed calls on her phone. But she hadn’t responded in any way. She never wanted to hear from him again, like she’d said. Now he hated that he’d even tried.

“ Just . . . for the love of God, please don’t say anything to Alexa.”

Ben rolled his eyes.

“I won’t say anything,” Ben said. “Even though I know she’s on my side, whether she knows it or not. But I will tell her to talk some sense into you with all of your doomsday scenarios about your job and the campaign.”

He didn’t want to talk to Alexa about that, either. Part of him knew it might be irrational to be afraid for his job after the disaster of the rally, but another part of him felt like he needed to email his resignation in by the end of this week, before he got fired. He had been the one to disregard what everyone had said about the protests, he had been the one who had derailed the rally, he had been the one to take this victory away from his boss. Shouldn’t he be the one who had to pay for it?