“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.

“I didn’t drive to the store and buy all of those limes just so you could reject my margaritas because of some as yet unpurchased dress. Plus, if you’ve been talking to your mom this much, you need more tequila.”

Alexa took a big gulp.

“That’s better,” Maddie said. “I’m making it my mission to find you a fantastic wedding dress, and I will never tell you to put down your margarita. Now, please order two pizzas, and let Theo get his roasted garlic on half of one so he doesn’t whine for the rest of the day—we can’t handle that, on top of everything else. And plus, we’re going all out today, so everyone might as well get whatever they want.”

Whatever? Theo mouthed to Maddie from behind Alexa.

Maddie winked at him when Alexa was distracted by her phone.

Drew got home moments after the pizzas arrived.

“Is that a pitcher of margaritas I see?” he asked as he opened the sliding glass door to the backyard. “Oh, hey, Maddie. And hi, Theo. Holy shit, there’s pizza, too? You’re the best fiancée a man has ever had!” He walked over to Alexa and bent down to kiss her.

“We tried not to get her too drunk, Drew, but she started babbling about wedding planning and Theo had to make extra margaritas to calm her down,” Maddie said.

“Good call. Thank goodness she has you guys.” Drew picked up Alexa’s margarita and took a sip and opened his eyes wide. “Wow, okay, those would relax anyone. And I guess the pizza was because none of the good taco places deliver?”

Theo looked at Maddie and they both laughed out loud.

“Drew, it kills me to say this, but sometimes you know Alexa even better than I do,” Maddie said.

Drew sat down at the foot of Alexa’s lounge chair and leaned over to kiss her again.

“I think that’s the biggest compliment you’ve given me so far, Maddie.”

The four of them finished the pitcher of margaritas and made a big dent in the pizzas, as Drew told them about a surgery he’d done that day, which segued into him talking about his greatest hits of kid accidents.

“My favorites were the two cousins who convinced each other to jump off their grandparents’ roof. One broke an arm, the other broke two ribs, but they were both triumphant after their surgeries and kept talking about how fun it all was. Their parents may never let those two kids be together and unchaperoned until they turn thirty.”

After a while, Theo saw Maddie looking pointedly at him and stood up.

“Okay, guys, I have to take off. Alexa, thanks for forcing me to relax in the sun today. I needed this.”

Alexa stood up and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for obeying my summons and coming over to make us margaritas. This was exactly the Saturday I needed.”

He turned to leave, then glanced over at Maddie.

“Do you need a ride home? No judgment, Maddie, but I don’t think you’re in any state to drive yourself.”

She glared at him and stood up.

“Whenever anyone starts a sentence with ‘No judgment, but,’ you know judgment is coming. It’s just like ‘No offense, but’ is always offensive, and ‘Not to be racist, but’ is always racist. Plus, you’re probably the most judgmental person I know. And I wasn’t going to drive myself home, but just for that, sure, you can go out of your way and drive me home. You deserve it.”

He rolled his eyes and slung his bag over his shoulder. Maddie used to say stuff like that to him all the time. So why did it sting so much when she said it now?

Theo waited as Maddie threw her dress on over her bikini and tossed her magazines in her bag.

“Bye, man. See you later,” he said to Drew.

“Basketball Monday night?” Drew asked.

Theo nodded.

“I’ll be there.”

As soon as they got into his car, he turned to Maddie.

“I’m the most judgmental person you know? Am I done boring you yet?” He’d planned on letting the boring her thing go, but after her crack at the end, he was really annoyed.

“I was being too nice to you!” Maddie said. “I was trying to course correct. We can’t have Alexa suspecting we don’t hate each other anymore. That’s a slippery slope to her realizing that I took a really long time to come back outside when I went to open the door for you!”

Theo tried to figure out the best way to express himself but decided to just let it out.

“Okay. I get it. But also, it doesn’t make me feel great. You think maybe next time you can dial it back a little?”

Maddie opened her mouth, closed it again, and sighed.

“Will do.”

He put his hand on her warm, brown, mostly bare thigh and smiled at her.

“Just don’t say ‘course correct’ around Alexa. She’ll know you’ve been talking to me too much.”

She laughed.

“Oh shit, you’re right. God, I can’t say ‘slippery slope’ like that, either. I can’t believe you’re affecting my speech patterns like this. What a nightmare.”

He moved his hand up underneath her dress.

“Do you know what my nightmare was today? Sitting there all day with you, watching the way you sat and turned and arched your back and walked around and wanting so badly to put my mouth on your breasts and squeeze those hard nipples and I wasn’t even able to touch you.” He slid a finger under her bikini bottoms and smiled at her gasp.

He started to slide his hand back out so he could start the car, but she reached down and held it in place.

“It was pretty hot though,” she said. “Watching you watch me like that.”

He kissed her on the lips, so hard she was breathless when he finally pulled away.

“You’ll see how hot I thought it was when we get back to my place.”

He put the key in the ignition but stopped again.

“Hey, the Fourth of July is in a few weeks, do you have plans?” he asked.

She sighed.

“My cousin invited me to her party, but . . .”

He nodded.

“Want to bail on the parties we both got invited to and eat take-out barbecue on my couch?”

She grinned.

“That’s the best idea you’ve ever had.”

Chapter Ten

THEO WALKED HOME FROM WORK LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. HE’D REALLY meant to get home earlier, but he’d managed to fuck up his own day. He was still furious when he left the office, but his walk home helped him decompress a little. He couldn’t wait to get home, sit on the couch in his boxers, order a pizza, and watch whatever the hell sporting event was on. Golf, baseball, bowling; he didn’t care, just something that would involve people playing a game on his television where he could make up a rooting interest for one side and yell at the TV.

He walked up his front steps and reached in his pocket for his keys. Not in that pocket. Not in the other pocket, either. Okay.

He reached into the big pocket at the back of his messenger bag, but all he found were a handful of receipts and three punch cards from coffee shops. This was not the night for this.

He sat on his front steps, flipped open his messenger bag, and dug around inside. And then he froze.

He’d pulled his keys out of his pocket to lock his office door before he’d left. And then he’d stopped by his assistant’s desk to drop a file on his chair so it would be ready for him on Monday morning. He’d left his keys sitting right on top of the file.

He dropped his head in his hands. No part of him felt like walking the mile plus back to City Hall and then having to deal with the security guard who hated him and would almost certainly pretend he didn’t know who he was.

He picked up his phone, made a face, and called Ben.

You’ve reached Ben Stephens. I can’t come to the phone right now, but leave a message, and—

Voice mail? He went straight to his brother’s voice mail? The one time he needed his brother, the only person with a spare key to his apartment, and he got kicked to voice mail? He texted Ben instead.

Where are you? I’m locked out, I need my key.