THEO AND BEN EXCHANGED GLANCES THROUGHOUT MADDIE’S LITANY of questions for the nurse. Theo was very glad Ben had obeyed his “Don’t argue with her” look after the nurse had asked who was staying with him tonight.

Theo had no idea why Maddie was so intent on taking care of him overnight. She was such a hard person to figure out: on the one hand, she’d been there with him basically since he’d been injured, had answered him every time he’d woken up confused in this bed, and was now grilling the nurse on proper postconcussion procedures. On the other, she’d dropped his hand like it had burned her as soon as Alexa had walked into the room, and had made a point to say she was only at the hospital to do Alexa a favor. If this had happened after the wedding, would Maddie have even been here at all? He had no idea.

All he knew was that he’d felt so relieved every time he’d woken up and had seen her right there by his side. Especially since he had a rock in the pit of his stomach because of the rally. He couldn’t believe he’d made every wrong decision about something he’d worked so hard to make perfect.

“Okay, Mr. Stephens,” the nurse finally said. “Let’s get you out of that bed and you can get some clothes on.”

Theo sat up, slowly this time. Okay, good, it didn’t hurt as much as it had the last few times he’d tried it.

“Speaking of clothes, what am I going to wear out of here?” He looked at Maddie. “ Or . . . did they really cut my clothes off me?” Everything that had happened so far today felt like it was one big dream.

Maddie took a deep breath.

“It happened. Don’t remind me.” She shook her head. “But you have other stuff to change into. I got Ben to stop by your house and pick up sweats and a T-shirt.” She narrowed her eyes at Ben. “You did do that, didn’t you?”

Apparently, in the last few hours in the ER together, Maddie had started talking to Ben like he was her little brother.

Ben reached into his messenger bag and pulled out Theo’s gray sweats and an old Harvard tee.

“You think I’d forget to do that and risk your wrath?” Ben tossed the clothes on the bed next to Theo.

Theo swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Okay, yes, that took a little more effort than usual, and he had to hold on to the side of the bed at first, but he was okay. He looked at Maddie, who was staring intently at him, and smiled.

“I can stand up all by myself, really I can.”

She glared at him again and turned to leave the room.

“Ben, hold on to him while he changes, please. Though maybe if he falls down and hits his head again, the hospital will take this more seriously. I’m going to call Alexa to tell her we’re about to leave.”

As soon as Maddie was safely out of the room, Ben leaned over to him.

“Don’t tell Maddie, but I totally forgot to go to your house and get the clothes. I was all the way in the parking garage before I remembered. I had to turn around and race over there and come back, because I knew she’d kill me if I didn’t come in with them.”

Theo sat back down on the bed.

“Good call. Now please don’t tell her I sat down to put my pants on, but I really didn’t want to risk actually falling down again and having the hospital make me stay overnight.”

By the time Maddie came back in the room, Theo was dressed and ready to go. A nurse came in with a wheelchair right behind Maddie.

“We know you can walk; this is just until you get into the car,” the nurse said.

Ben looked at Maddie.

“I’ll walk him to the door if you want to go out and get your car?”

Maddie looked at them both for a moment, clearly trying to decide if they could handle the wheelchair without her. Finally, she reached for her purse and the plastic bag with all of Theo’s possessions.

“Sounds good. I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”

Theo hadn’t really realized how long he’d been in the emergency room until they got outside. The last he remembered of the day, it had been the middle of the afternoon, and now it was pitch-black outside.

“What time is it?” he asked Ben as they stood there waiting for Maddie.

Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Just after nine.” He clapped his hand on Theo’s shoulder. “It’s been a long day. Don’t do this shit to me again, you hear me? I almost had a heart attack when I got Maddie’s text.”

Theo punched him lightly.

“I’ll be fine, no heart attacks necessary.”

Ben nodded toward Maddie’s car as she pulled up in front of them.

“I’m glad you have her to take care of you. I’m really glad you’re okay.”

Maddie jumped out of the car before Theo had a chance to respond. Ben opened the passenger-side door, and Theo got out of the wheelchair and walked the few steps to get into Maddie’s car.

“See you soon, man.” Theo put his hand on his brother’s shoulder before getting into the car. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me. Don’t you remember Mom always used to say how hardheaded I was?”

Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket and shut the door.

“Shit. Mom.” Ben let out a long sigh. “I need to send her, like, a twelve-paragraph text just so she won’t get on the next plane.”

Theo was still laughing as Maddie got in the car. He was suddenly delighted to be alive, to be outside the hospital and in a car with the windows down on this warm September night, to be in this car right now with Maddie.

“Careful,” she said as she put her key in the ignition. “You shouldn’t move your head too much. If you have to laugh, do it gently.”

He turned toward her and grinned.

“Who ever heard of laughing gently? That’s not much of a laugh at all.”

Maddie wasn’t smiling back at him. She obviously wasn’t as happy with the world tonight as he was. He patted her on the arm.

“Relax, Maddie! I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Isn’t it a glorious night? I can’t wait to get home and open the windows and smell the flowers from the garden next door.” And to be with her.

She shook her head.

“Now I’m even more worried about your poor brain. I can’t believe you’re waxing poetic about smelling flowers.”

He leaned his head back against the seat and smiled at her as she drove him home.

Maddie parked right outside Theo’s apartment. Thank God the space in front was open. She jumped out of the car and went around to help Theo out. He’d been so wobbly in the hospital, she’d worried every time he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom that he would fall down. Once he was standing up, he put his arm around her waist, and they walked slowly up the path to his building.

Maddie pulled her key to his place out of her bag.

“Your keys are in the hospital bag with your phone and your ruined clothes. Let me get you inside and comfortable, and I can run back to the car and get everything.”

As soon as they got inside, Theo steered her into his living room and pulled them both down on his couch. He kicked off his shoes, plopped his feet onto his coffee table, and sighed. When Maddie tried to get up, he held on to her.

“I just want to run outside and get your hospital bag out of the car,” she said.

He squeezed her hand.

“Don’t leave me yet, okay?”

She put her arm around him.

“Okay.”

He dropped his head onto her shoulder.

“I can’t believe I fucked up the rally. Did Alexa say anything else about the press? I’m sure they barely mentioned universal pre-K at all, and the whole story was the protests.”

She reached down to stroke his head, then remembered she shouldn’t, so she dropped her hand to his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about that right now. There’s nothing you can do about it. Just let yourself rest.”

They sat like that for a while, until his regular breathing made her think he’d fallen asleep. So she almost jumped when he said her name.

“Maddie?”

She turned toward him, and he kissed her on the cheek.

“I’m here.”

He kissed her on the lips softly.

“Thank you for being here. Thank you for everything you did for me today.”

Something inside of her melted.

“You’re welcome. I’m here as long as you need me.” She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. “You’ll probably get sick of me before these next forty-eight hours are up. They told me to watch you, so get ready for me to be following you around this apartment, staring at you the entire time.”

He stroked her hair.

“I look forward to it. Now: can we please order some pizza or something? I’m starving, and I bet you are, too.”

Maddie tried to remember when she’d last eaten. She’d had a chocolate chip cookie at eleven a.m. Was that it? Yes, because she’d planned on grabbing food after the rally from that bakery that she liked near the school. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“I am starving, but I don’t think pizza is a good idea. You were pretty sick in the hospital. I don’t think you’ll be able to keep pizza down. How about soup instead?”

Theo made a face.

“You know how I feel about soup. I like food I can chew. I don’t like drinking my food. I have teeth for a reason!”

She patted his knee.

“I know, you’ve said this numerous times. But let’s try you on some easy soup before you graduate to more substantial food.”