She reached for her mascara. At least her rules made it so he wouldn’t start thinking she wanted to see him all the time. No dates, and only after they’d been with Alexa. Since Alexa was still at the beginning of all this wedding planning stuff, Maddie might not see him for months.

She swiped on a second coat of mascara. How much time did she have? She checked her phone: ten minutes before her first client. Ugh, why did she keep getting disappointed whenever she checked her phone and she didn’t have a text? He had her number now, after Alexa’s half-drunken group text. But she didn’t even want Theo to text her! Was she just conditioned to think that if she slept with a dude, he had to text her the next day, even when they had a perfectly rational agreement that precluded the necessity—or even the possibility—of a day-after text?

This was the fault of the fucking patriarchy.

She swiped on some red lipstick, admired her fresh blowout in the mirror, stuffed a few things in her tote bag, and left her bedroom to walk out her back door and into the tiny cottage that housed her studio. There she had appointments and fittings with her clients and did any simple alterations, though she frequently also toted trunks full of clothes and shoes to clients’ homes and offices all around the Bay Area.

She had two quick clients that morning, and just enough time to refresh her lipstick before Maya knocked on her door.

“Maddie!” Maya air-kissed the vicinity of Maddie’s cheek and walked in the door. “I’m so sorry I’m late. We had a little crisis at the office.”

Maddie smiled at Maya’s outfit, one of the best she’d put together for her last quarter.

“Oh, it’s no problem. I have some great stuff for you this time; it’s all on the rack.”

Maya made a beeline to the rack. She flipped through the clothes, moving quickly past some and lingering at others. The ones she paused at, Maddie grabbed and moved to the end of the rack. One of the reasons Maddie loved working with Maya is that she was so decisive. But she was also willing to take a risk now and then. It made her fun to dress.

“I’m already excited to try all of this on.” Maya looked at a boldly patterned shift dress. “I’m not positive how this will work on TV, but I think I love it, so let’s try it anyway.”

Maddie arranged the forty or so garments Maya had chosen at the end of the rack, first by type, and then by color.

Maya stepped out of her clothes and into the first dress, a black pin-striped cap sleeve shift dress that Maddie had thought would be a slam dunk. It was.

“I love this. I want it in every color it comes in.” She turned around for Maddie to unzip her. “So this is fun: they’re thinking about doing a show at the station where women who have been homeless, or in rehab, stuff like that, learn how to dress for success. Isn’t that a great idea?” Maya pulled on a color-blocked dress and smiled at herself in the mirror.

Maddie handed her a blazer to put over it.

“That is a great idea. I hope they get it right.”

Maddie knew well how badly most of the world treated poor and struggling women, especially if they were women of color. There were a lot of ways to get a show like that wrong.

Maya pulled on the jumpsuit Maddie handed her.

“I don’t know about this one, Maddie. What do you think? This pink is great on me, but can I pull off a jumpsuit? On air?”

Maddie had her arguments all ready.

“You absolutely can. First, look at this one: the fit on you is fantastic, it’s blousy in just the right kind of way, and as you said, the color is perfect on you. And it’s no problem to wear it on air—the color will pop, the neckline will work with any kind of necklace, you can throw a blazer over it and look super professional, and you’re behind a desk anyway. And if you stand up, hell, you just look cool.”

Maya grinned at herself in the mirror and shrugged.

“Okay, fine, you’ve convinced me. I notice you didn’t say anything about what a pain it’s going to be to go to the bathroom while wearing this, but I guess we’re both just taking that as a given and moving on.”

Maya pulled off the jumpsuit and reached for Maddie’s next option.

“Back to the show—I think it could be great,” she said to Maddie. “They’ll just have to have the right host for it; someone who is good at styling but is also great on camera. That’ll be a challenge.”

She slipped on a bright red skirt with a kick pleat and stepped into the leopard print heels Maddie handed her.

“Okay, you’re officially brilliant. I was doubtful about both of these, but they’re great on me, and these shoes are way more comfortable than I thought they’d be.”

Maddie gave her a black ruffled top from the reject pile.

“I know you already said no to this, but I don’t care. It works with that whole outfit. Just try it on.”

Maya looked at herself in the mirror and slowly shook her head.

“See, this is why I love you. You badger me into wearing clothes that look incredible on me.” She looked down the rack of clothes. “And you found all this stuff, and it was all here ready for me. I could have spent a day shopping and not found this many good clothes.”

Maddie grinned as she hung up the clothes. Compliments from her clients were always welcome.

“Shopping has always been one of my best skills. People”—people like Theo—“always tried to act like that was a stupid thing to be good at, but once I realized I could do it for a living, I didn’t care what they had to say anymore.”

Maya tried on the next outfit.

“We all have to lean in to our skills and passions—one of the best things I’ve realized in my thirties,” Maddie said.

Maya turned to her with a smile.

“All of that is exactly why I told the producers I knew the perfect person to host the show.”

Maddie stared at her for way too long before she realized where Maya was going with this.

“Me? You want me to do it?” Maddie shook her head. “Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t think—”

Maya’s grin was very wide.

“You’d be amazing at it! You’re so good at this anyway; it’ll just give you a bigger platform to be good. And you’ll help so many people!”

“All of that’s true, but, Maya . . .”

Maya didn’t let her finish.

“You’re going to say you’re not sure about being on camera, but I bet you’re great on camera. Just look at you!”

Maddie couldn’t help but be flattered.

“You’ve beaten down all my arguments, so fine, I’ll think about it, but . . .”

Maya grinned.

“Fantastic. I already told them about you and that I’d see you today. You should get a call from them very soon. Do you have a headshot? If so, send it to me. Also, I love this dress, but don’t you think it needs to be like half an inch shorter?”

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.