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“Emma, you and I are having a sleepover on Friday night. Should we dye our hair or get matching tattoos?”
“No tattoos.” I struggle to suppress my grin at the mischievous look on both their faces.
“You’re such a party-pooper, Mom. Ugh. I guess it wouldn’t be fun if you didn’t get the matching tattoo with us. We’ll just get matching piercings instead. I was thinking a nose ring, maybe?”
Laughing, she and Lauren start comparing the pros and cons of various piercings while I wander over to sit on the couch.
I don’t know what to think of Theo’s invitation. He addressed it to Elinor—does that mean it’s purely a work-related event? Is he trying to hide that he’s dating an employee? Is he embarrassed to be seen dating the receptionist? Or is he trying to shield me from the questions that would inevitably come my way if word got out?
I want to believe the best of him, that he’s attempting to protect me. But the reality is that men like him—handsome, rich, connected—don’t date nobodies like me. Not without consequences.
And he won’t be the one facing them.
I’m torn between my desire to forget everything and spend the evening with Theo, and the responsible part of my brain that’s screaming to end it now before things get complicated.
But I want to see him, enjoy his company. The same way we enjoyed each other’s company at the fundraiser and at the dog park. His dry wit, the glimpses of thoughtfulness and compassion that he keeps carefully hidden from the world, his intelligence—they all turn me on more than I want to admit.
Emma flops on the couch next to me, laying her head in my lap. “Mom, you should go.” Lauren sprawls on the other side of me, hooking one leg underneath her so she can face me. The three of us have spent many nights either on my couch or on Lauren’s, in this exact configuration. Me in the middle, my two girls on either side.
Lauren pokes my cheek. “I can hear you overthinking. Just go. Emma and I will have a girl’s night, probably torture Max into hiding under the bed, and you get a chance to do something new.”
“Maybe I wanted to be part of the girl’s night?” I poke Emma’s forehead.
“Sophie Marie Alexander, you are going. You’re going to go and you’re going to feel beautiful and wanted and appreciated. It doesn’t matter if this is the only time you ever go out with Theodore again, but you are going to have this night. Even if I have to kidnap and toss you in his Audi myself.”
“You know what this means, right?” Emma says, peering up at Lauren from my lap. “We get to go shopping again!”
Seventeen
Theo
“Hi Casey.”
Ethan and Clara are making a racket in the background, banging what sounds like an entire kitchen’s worth of pots and pans.
“Hey, Teddy. How’s it going?”
“I feel like I should send reinforcements. How are they this loud so early in the morning?”
My sister’s exasperated sigh echoes in my head from my earbuds. “Don’t start with me—they’ve been up for hours. But if reinforcements means you’re coming to visit soon, I would absolutely love some. Garrett’s only been gone a week and I’m already about to lose my mind.” A loud crash reaches me through the phone. “Ethan! Do not climb on the counter. Hang on.”
Her footsteps and hushed telling off are drowned out by a new voice on the line. “Ha? Hi hi.”
“Hi hi, baby.” Clara makes strange almost-words in my ear. “It’s Uncle Teddy. Can you say Uncle Teddy?” She doesn’t, but the babbling in my ear is adorable, pulling a smile from me as I open the door.
I’m a dozen steps inside before I realize that there are two, no three, people staring at me as if I’ve lost my mind. And one person smiling at me like she’s found a treasure.
My Sunshine.
Also, shit. I pull my lips down into a scowl, glaring at Julian and Ms. Masterson. “Uncle Teddy? When are you coming to visit?” Ethan asks, startling me.
“I’m not sure buddy. Soon.”
Casey calls his name in the background and the sound of the phone being dropped explodes in my ear.
“Sorry, Teddy. Call you later?” Casey says in my ear.
“Sure.”
