The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(94)

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of what I said that morning.

I’ve known for a long time that I was falling in love with you, and I kept trying to fight it. I was going to tell you (okay, I was getting close to telling you) that I wanted to keep our thing going, that I wanted to make it a real thing, the night we went out to dinner, but things got weird, and I didn’t really think you wanted to hear it. (I have no idea if you want to hear it now, but I’m writing this anyway for some masochistic reason; I don’t know why I ever listen to my fucking brother. Anyway. I’m sorry I’m rambling.)

So every time you reminded me that the wedding was coming up and we didn’t have much time left, it felt like a slap in the face. It felt like you couldn’t wait to be done with me—that you couldn’t wait to be done with us. Maybe you meant it that way, I don’t know.

But for some reason, in those last few weeks, I allowed myself to hope more, especially after you came home with me after I was in the hospital. It seemed like you cared, and that’s what I wanted more than anything else.

And the thing is, before you left that morning, you brought up the wedding again. So when Ben asked me what was going on between the two of us, I was already hurt and angry, mostly at myself. And there was no way I could confess to my little brother—who has always been better with women than I have—that I’d fallen for a woman who didn’t love me back.

So I lied about how I felt about you, I lied about what our relationship meant to me; I lied about who you are. I lied to make myself feel better, but instead it made me lose the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I have no idea how you feel about me. Maybe you never want to see me again. Maybe you threw this letter away without even reading it. Maybe you’re reading it with other people and laughing at me (though I don’t think you are). But all I know is I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t tell you all of this.

All my love,

Theo



This was the best letter anyone had ever written. She spun around so she could look at him.

“I love you so much.”

She grabbed him and kissed him hard.

They stayed like that for a while, as their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces, their whispers of “I love you” a constant refrain.

Finally, Theo looked up.

“I think we owe a certain someone a thank-you.” He turned to the door. “Alexa!”

The closet door shot open.

Alexa stood there with a huge grin on her face and two champagne glasses in her hands.

“NOW we can get this party started.”





Chapter Twenty-three




THE REST OF THE DAY UNTIL THEY LEFT TO GO TO THE WEDDING PASSED by in a blur for Theo. There was a lot of champagne, many, many snacks, constant hand-holding with Maddie, and an overwhelming amount of laughter.

“Okay, it’s time to get her into the dress!” Olivia said, once the other three of them were all dressed and Alexa’s parents had arrived at the house. She turned to Maddie and Theo after Alexa’s mom rushed into the bedroom. “You two probably don’t even remember what the dress looks like, after all of your secret texting while we were shopping.”

Theo opened his mouth to object, until he realized that no, he did not remember what the dress looked like.

“I remember it looked great on her?” he said. Maddie laughed and kissed him.

Alexa’s dad drove Alexa, her mom, and Olivia up to the Rose Garden, so Theo drove himself and Maddie.

He smiled reminiscently on the way to the wedding as he thought about the hour Alexa had napped and he and Maddie had disappeared back to their closet. Maddie swatted him on the knee.

“I can tell what you’re thinking about, and you need to stop! We can’t do that again for hours. Like, seven or eight, probably.”

He looked over at her and grinned.

“Okay, but after that, we need to make up for lost time.”

She grinned back.

“Agreed.”

When he pulled into a parking spot, neither of them got out of the car right away. He lifted their intertwined hands and kissed hers.

“I’m so happy.” Had that morning really happened? “I love you so much. I missed you so damn much.”

She beamed at him. He couldn’t believe that that look on her face was for him. But it was.

“I’m so happy, too,” she said. “I think I’m going to have to give Alexa that KitchenAid mixer she registered for, just to thank her for this.”

The day before, he’d been horrified that he’d have to stand next to Maddie throughout the ceremony. Now he was overjoyed. He spent the whole time watching her face. His thoughts were so intent on Maddie he was surprised when they pronounced Drew and Alexa husband and wife.

They’d practiced the processional, with first Alexa and Drew, and then Olivia and Carlos, and then Maddie and Dan, with him and Josh pulling up the rear. But there was no way he wasn’t walking out of this wedding with Maddie on his arm. As they started to follow the bride and groom down the aisle, he tucked Maddie’s arm in his, and winked at Dan, who grinned at him and stepped back. Ahh, he saw the news had spread to the groom’s side of the wedding party.

Before the photos started, Maddie beckoned him over to the entrance of the Rose Garden, toward a woman who looked a lot like a twenty-year-older version of Maddie.