“Yeah, it is getting late.”

She bent down and picked up her underwear from the floor and tucked it in her purse, making a mental note as she did so to remember to take it out of her purse as soon as she got home tonight so she didn’t accidentally fling it across the room tomorrow while she dug for her wallet, like she’d done the last time.

They walked together to the front door, and he opened it for her.

“Good luck with the job,” he said.

He was still being so weirdly nice. She didn’t even know how to respond to it.

“Thanks,” was all she said. She turned to walk out the door.

“Oh! Wait a second.”

He ran down the hallway into his bedroom. Mmm, she was really glad he hadn’t bothered to put his shirt back on after they’d had sex. Watching him run like this was excellent. If only he hadn’t put his pants on.

He came running back out a few seconds later.

“Here.” He dropped something into her hand. “Your earrings? I figured I could give them back to you, now that you don’t need an excuse to come over.”

She turned her back on him and walked to the car without a word. His laughter followed her the whole way, but she only allowed herself to smile when she was safely in her car.

Chapter Eight

THEO GLANCED AT HIS PHONE BEFORE LEAVING WORK A FEW WEEKS later. He’d hoped to see a text from Maddie but wasn’t surprised that he didn’t. He’d already seen her once this week, and once the week before. The first time, he’d texted her asking if she’d had any updates from that job, and she’d said the station manager had emailed her to set up a preliminary interview. He’d told her to come over so they could celebrate. Amazingly, that had worked.

And then he’d texted her two days ago when he and the mayor had spent all day in Sacramento in a good but exhausting planning meeting for the pre-K ballot initiative. He’d asked her if she was in the mood for some pizza and/ or to let off some pent-up energy, and she’d shown up at his place holding a pizza and wearing some fucking incredible lingerie.

So it was probably too soon for him to hear from her, and it was definitely too soon for him to text her again. But he still wanted to.

He did, though, have a text from his little brother.

Meet me for a drink or three, you know where I am

Theo sighed. He loved Ben, but he was also exhausting.

Dude, it’s been a long week. Heading home to sit on the couch and drink beer and do nothing

How likely was that to get Ben off his back? Not at all. He didn’t even mention to Ben he’d probably do some work while he was sitting on the couch; he knew that would make things even worse.

Ben texted him again before Theo had even left the building.

Oh hell no you’re not that old. You can come sit on a barstool and do nothing just as well and maybe smile at some pretty girls while you’re doing it. It’s always “been a long week” for you

Ugh. He had a point. Theo stopped outside of City Hall, trying to decide whether to turn left to walk home, or right to walk to BART to meet Ben in San Francisco.

“Bye, Theo.” The mayor’s secretary walked by him on the way to her car. “Heading home to relax on the couch? Have a great weekend. Don’t do too much work.”

Oh God, was he that predictable? Did the whole building know that he was that guy who went home on Friday nights to sit on the couch and get work done?

Okay fine, on my way

By the time Theo got to Ben’s favorite bar, he was already regretting this. There were too many people around, everyone seemed either drunk or high already, and they all kept looking at him and his blue button-down shirt and gray suit pants like he was a narc. Was it his fault that everyone in San Francisco thought wearing khakis and a hoodie was dressing up?

“You’re buying,” he said as he pulled out the stool next to his brother.

“Already got the first round, asshole,” Ben said, gesturing at the glass of bourbon sitting in front of him.

Theo picked up the drink.

“Thanks. I guess I needed this more than I thought.”

“Keep ’em coming!” Ben waved at the bartender, who grinned at him. Ben always managed to charm teachers, babysitters, and bartenders alike into doing whatever he wanted. Theo didn’t know how he did it.

Ben turned back to Theo.

“What’s going on? Why is my normally mild-mannered big brother so irritable today?”

Theo shook his head.

“No big deal, it’s just that work is stressful right now. I have to deal with a bunch of people from all across the state on a major campaign, and I’m just trying not to fuck it up.”

Ben laughed.

“You? Fuck something up? I can’t even picture that happening.”

Theo took a sip of his drink.

“I know what you’re going to say. We don’t have to discuss Ben’s theories about Theo’s psyche tonight.”

Ben grinned.

“Oh, you are grumpy tonight! Okay, tell your little brother all about it. What are you working on?”

Theo rolled his eyes.

“Now that you asked: the mayor has thrown himself into this ballot initiative campaign, and I’m the main person supporting him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to be doing it; I believe in the campaign, it’s great experience, and it increases my profile with other politicians around the state. But it’s also a lot of pressure.”

He was suddenly glad he’d met his brother for a drink—crowds, drunk people, and Ben teasing him notwithstanding. Ben was one of the only people who he could vent to like this. He could talk to Ben about how much stress he was under without feeling like Ben was looking down on him, or thought less of him for letting the pressure get to him.

Another drink landed in front of him without him even having to ask for it. There were definitely some advantages to going to his little brother’s favorite bar.

“What’s the campaign for?” Ben plucked the maraschino cherry out of Theo’s drink and ate it. He’d been doing that since they were kids. “The mayor doesn’t run for reelection until next year, does he?”

Theo always assumed Ben didn’t listen to a single thing he said about his job, and then he would say stuff like this that proved he’d been actually paying attention.

“You’re right; he doesn’t. This is a campaign for a statewide ballot initiative for universal pre-kindergarten in California. The mayor is a big supporter of it, as are the governor and a bunch of other elected officials around the state, so everyone wants to make a big push for it to win.”

Ben picked up a handful of cocktail nuts and tossed them in his mouth.

“Does that mean you’re dealing with a bunch of massive egos and trying to keep them all satisfied about the plans and the amount of attention they’ll get?”

Theo lifted his glass to his brother.

“Bingo. That’s exactly what I’m doing, and what the next five or so months are going to be like.”

Ben nodded and drained his glass.

“Well, at least this is something you care about. Did you tell Mom about this? She’ll be thrilled.”

Theo grinned. He had told his mom, and she had been thrilled.

“Yeah, she’s all over it. Wants to volunteer to help out and everything. Wait, did she tell you she’s going to Hawaii with Aunt Leslie in September?”

Ben nodded.

“Yeah, I talked to her the other day. She’s so excited about it.”

Theo reached for the cocktail nuts.

“I’m jealous. After the week I’ve had, a Hawaiian vacation sounds like a dream.”

Ben drained his glass.

“Well, you know what would make you feel better? If you got laid. One of the girls I work with was asking about you—Caitlin, she came to your birthday party last year, remember?”

Ah yes, just as he started taking his brother seriously, he would come out with something like that.

“No, I don’t remember her, and anyway, I’m doing okay without your setups, but thanks.”

Unfortunately, he had a feeling getting laid would make him feel better tonight, but that was more complicated than he wanted to get into.

“Oh, she’s hot—long black hair, really funny, great—”

Theo held up a hand to stop his brother.

“Oh my God, Ben, no thanks. If she’s so great, why don’t you date her?”

Ben shook his head.

“I have a strict no-women-I-work-with policy. I may be an asshole, but I don’t want to be that asshole.”

Theo cast his memory back to all of the varied women Ben had told him about.

“Is this a new policy? Because what about that girl you ran into during that earthquake drill at work that time?”

Ben shook his head.

“Nope, we didn’t work for the same company. She was three floors up.” He shrugged. “And she’s another reason why this is a good policy—we didn’t even work at the same company, and it was a nightmare after we broke up. I had to keep taking the stairs after that time I ran into her in the elevator and she yelled at me the whole way up.”

Theo laughed.

“Oh yeah, I remember that. Poor woman.”

Ben paused, his drink halfway to his mouth.