Alexa was at work by seven in the morning on the day of the city council meeting, even though it didn’t start until six that night. At this point, being at work was easier than being at home. At work there was something for her to do, she felt needed, she felt important. At home she was alone with her thoughts and with reminders of Drew. They’d known each other for two months, and he’d only been to her house a handful of times, so why did she see him everywhere there?
At some point, she hoped that would fade. Maybe after the council meeting and she had her ritual fire of everything Drew related.
She was only kidding about that ritual fire. Sort of.
She was in her office on her third run through of her city council presentation when Sloane carried in two big pink bakery boxes.
“Delivery for you, Alexa, but if this is what I think it is, you’d better share.”
Alexa perched on the corner of her desk and opened both boxes. They were overflowing with doughnuts of every variety. Four pink frosted doughnuts with sprinkles were in the center of each box.
“Where did this come from? I was going to bring doughnuts this morning but had too much to carry on my way in to pick these up. Who got these, Theo?”
Sloane flipped one of the boxes closed and pointed to the note on top that Alexa had overlooked.
“Look and see.”
She pulled the folded white envelope from the top of the box and opened it.
Alexa—Good luck today! Drew
She hadn’t heard from him since she left his bed at dawn almost two weeks ago, and he’d sent her doughnuts? And he’d remembered when the city council meeting was? Was this the Alexa version of Emma’s breakup flowers?
She tucked the card back in its envelope and slid it into her purse anyway.
“Can you put these in the kitchen, Sloane? And send out an email to everyone to let them know there are doughnuts? Wait, hold on a second.” She plucked two of the pink frosted ones out of one of the boxes. “Okay, now you can take them away.”
Sloane picked up both boxes and turned to leave.
“You’re going to kill it today, boss.”
Alexa put her doughnuts on a napkin.
“Thanks, Sloane. I hope so. I told you to order pizza for everyone’s lunch, right?”
“Already done,” Sloane called out from the doorway.
The day dragged, as days with something important at the end of them always did, but finally the clock hit five, her signal to close her office door and change into her lucky suit and heels. She opened her door when she was done to find Theo standing behind it.
“Armor on?” he asked. “Are we ready to go?”
She grinned at him, suddenly full of adrenaline.
“You know it. Let’s go kick some city council ass.”
• • •
Drew slipped through the doorway of the city council chambers right at six. He’d wanted to get there early, but he didn’t want Alexa to see him before the meeting started. She hadn’t acknowledged the doughnuts, but he knew she’d gotten them; he’d followed the delivery guy to her office to make sure.
He found one of the only empty seats in the back of the council chamber, next to a black woman with lots of curly hair who looked vaguely familiar. She looked up and smiled at him for a second before looking back down her phone, her thumbs flying across the screen.
He saw Alexa up at the front of the room, sitting next to Theo and behind a white-haired man he assumed was the mayor. Damn, it felt so good to see her again, even from across the room. She was sitting there, intent on the proceedings, in one of those suits he loved, looking like she was in her element. She was in her element.
Maybe she was relieved to not have him taking up her time anymore. Maybe Theo had already pounced—see, right there, he’d put his hand on her shoulder—and they were as happy as could be together. Had he flown up here for nothing?
He took a deep breath. He couldn’t back out now—both Abby and Carlos would kill him, among other things. Hell with it, he didn’t want to back out now; he had to know for sure.
He saw on the agenda that there was some business to get through first, so he pulled his phone out to pass the time.
“What are you here for?” the woman next to him whispered.
“Oh, the teen arts thing.” He smiled and gestured to the front of the room. “My . . . A friend of mine works for the mayor, so I wanted to be here for her.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Oh? Who’s your friend?”
He hesitated before he answered, but she was looking at him so intently that he had to.
“Alexa Monroe, she’s the mayor’s chief of staff.” He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he said her name.
The woman dropped her phone into her purse and turned to him with a wide smile. Why was he reminded of a wolf?
“You must be Drew,” she said.
At that, everything clicked. Boy, did he feel like an idiot for not figuring this out sooner. He sat up straight.
“And you must be Olivia?” That’s why she looked familiar; he’d seen pictures of her around Alexa’s house.
She nodded and reached out her hand. He hadn’t been so nervous about a handshake since his med school interviews.
“I was under the impression that you and my sister were no longer . . . friends?” She still had that smile on her face.
He nodded, then shook his head. Words, Drew, it was time for words.
“I hope . . . There have been some problems, but my hope is that we’re still friends.” He laughed under his breath. “No, that’s not what I want. I don’t want to be friends with your sister—I want a lot more.”
Olivia’s smile lost some of the animosity.
“Good. Because if you answered that question a different way, I was going to tell you to walk out of this room right now and get your ass back to Los Angeles.”
He laughed again, louder this time, causing the people in front of him to turn around and frown. He muttered an apology.
He turned back to Alexa’s sister.
“She doesn’t know I’m here. So if you could . . .”
She patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I won’t spoil your surprise. I wouldn’t anyway, but she doesn’t know I’m here, either, so I’d spoil my own surprise, too.”
He suddenly realized something: if Olivia was here, Alexa must have taken his advice and told her about the program. He couldn’t believe she’d listened to him.
He turned to Olivia to say something else, but she shushed him and pointed to the front of the room.
“They’re talking about it now.”
• • •
Alexa had expected to be jittery, but she’d felt a weird sense of calm descend upon her as soon as she’d walked into the chambers. She’d done all that she could do, and whether she won or lost, she knew she’d won in the eyes of her sister, no matter what.
But she still wanted to win.
She spent the first half of the meeting scribbling notes to both the mayor and Theo, and getting scribbled notes from them in return. They’d learned the hard way to always write their notes to one another during council meetings on paper instead of via email or text, since that time a local newspaper had tweeted a picture of the mayor looking at his phone during a council meeting and he’d gotten roundly mocked.
When it was time for her presentation, she stood in front of the podium, all of her anxiety for the week gone. The city council had already gotten her report, so this part was pure theater.
“Mayor, Councilwomen, Councilmen, you’ve all seen the proposal about the Teen Arts Rehabilitation Program, or TARP. At this point, I’ll just go into a few details about the program before alumni of similar programs report to you about the benefits they received from it, and then we’ll open it up to questions and public comment.”
She went through her presentation, pleased that almost everyone on the council nodded and smiled at her, and the only ones who didn’t were the two who’d been opposed to the program from the beginning.
Then came the alumni of various programs, handpicked by Theo: one was a student at UC Berkeley who had done a program like this in East L.A.; another was a recently published author who credited her youth arts and writing program for putting her on the path to where she was. Theo had spent days coaching them on what to emphasize, and Alexa saw him tense up and lean in their direction as they started talking. But after a few initial stumbles, both of them had the council in the palm of their hands.
The council chair opened up the discussion for public comment, and now it was Alexa’s turn to tense up. After that meeting in the hills, she was afraid of who was going to be at this meeting, and what they would say. Sure, they’d reached out to all of the communities who they knew supported the program to encourage them to come, and Alexa could see a good number of them in the audience, but there were also lots of faces there that she didn’t recognize. Who knew what they would say?
The first two speakers were people she knew were on their side. But the next two were people who had been visibly skeptical at the meeting in the hills. And yet, they both spoke in support of the program.
She looked over at Theo, who stared straight back at her, his eyes dancing, and down at Maddie, in one of the front rows. She couldn’t smile, not yet.
But it kept going on like that. Sure, there were a few people who opposed it, who said that kids needed discipline, needed to be punished for their transgressions, that this was soft on crime, and all of those reasons she’d heard before. But the vast majority of the crowd was on their side. She couldn’t believe it.
She looked down at her notebook to doodle something so she wouldn’t grin like a loon. When she looked up, she almost jumped out of her seat. Standing there at the microphone was Olivia.
“Mayor, Councilwomen, Councilmen, thank you for this opportunity. As some of you may know, I grew up right here in the Bay Area, though I live far away now. I spent my time in high school getting in and out of trouble, and finally I went too far. Thank God I got sent to a program very much like the one being debated today. That program opened my eyes to all of the things that I could do, all of the things that I could accomplish, if I moved beyond my teenage rebellion and concentrated on what mattered. Since then, I’ve graduated from two top schools and have recently become a partner at a law firm in New York City. There are many teenagers out there like I was, teens who need someone to help put them on the right track, but who could so easily get pushed onto the wrong path altogether, and never find a way off it. I’m so glad that my arts rehabilitation program showed me my path to success, and I hope you’ll open up those pathways for the youth of Berkeley who need it the most.”
Alexa had tears in her eyes by the middle of Olivia’s speech, and had to look up at the ceiling by the end of it so the tears wouldn’t fall. When she managed to look down, Olivia was looking right at her, and they smiled at each other during the loud applause.
No one was surprised when the council voted to approve the pilot program, not after that speech. Alexa was grateful Theo grabbed her in a big bear hug, so she could hide her huge grin against his shoulder. She was so amped up that she could barely concentrate on the thirty minutes of public debate about the new bike lane on Oxford Street.
Finally, the meeting ended and Alexa jumped to her feet, intent on finding Olivia. She couldn’t get to her right away, because almost everyone on the council walked up to thank her. And then when the council was done, it was the mayor’s turn to wrap her up in a hug.
“You made me proud tonight, Alexa.”
She wiped her eyes as she pulled back. This time, she wasn’t even ashamed.
“Don’t make me cry, sir. Just doing my job.”
He laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
“You’d better not be in the office until noon tomorrow, and that’s an order, you hear me?”
She didn’t even attempt to argue.
“Aye aye, sir.”
He grabbed Theo’s shoulder, hugged him, too, and handed him a few twenties.
“I know your whole crew likely has plans for drinks. You all have fun. I’m going home.” He winked. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
They waved good-bye to the mayor, and Alexa picked up her overstuffed purse. Okay, NOW she could go find her sister.
She walked down into the audience seats of the council chamber, her eyes intent on Olivia’s hair; it made her easy to find.
“Olivia!” She shouted her sister’s name, no longer worried about keeping to her inside voice. When Olivia turned around, the man beside her turned along with her. Alexa took a step back.
“Drew?”
He was in front of her in a flash, Olivia behind him.
“Hi. Great job up there,” he said.
She couldn’t believe he was here.
“Drew?” She needed to come up with something more to say than just his name. She wanted to reach for him, throw her arms around him, bury her face in his warm chest and let him hold her for days, pull him into her house and never let him out. “Have you been . . . What are you doing here?”
He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them.
“I came to see your night of triumph. Are you, um, glad that I’m here?”
She smiled. After the night that she’d had, any sort of prevarication was impossible.
“I couldn’t be gladder that you’re here. Although”—she looked around him to meet Olivia’s eyes—“I’m pretty happy to see my sister, too.”
Drew and Olivia looked at each other and laughed.
“We didn’t plan this! We promise!” Olivia said, and pulled her into a hard hug. “I’m going to follow Theo and the rest of your little band. I assume you’re all off for a drink or five?”
Alexa nodded. This might be one of the weirdest nights of her life.
“Yeah, at the Blue Lounge, but wait—”
Olivia shook her head and gestured to Drew.
“You have other things to deal with right now. Don’t worry, we’ll catch up later.”
Had Olivia and Drew talked about her? Where had they even met? What was he doing here? Alexa reached out and grabbed Olivia’s hand before she walked away.
“Wait, Livie . . . Thank you.”
Olivia squeezed her hand.
“You’re welcome, kiddo. It was my pleasure.”
By the time Olivia walked out the door with Theo and Maddie, the council chambers were deserted. Just Alexa and Drew were left.
“Thank you for the doughnuts,” she said. “That was so sweet.”
“You’re very welcome.” He reached out to her and touched her upper arm. She had to fight to not sway toward him. “I hoped they would start the day out on a good note.”
She smiled, thinking back to her first bite into the still-warm doughnut.
“They did.” She gave up the fight and leaned into his hand for a moment. “Drew, what are you doing here?”
He dropped his hand. It was probably for the best, but she still missed his touch.
“I’m here . . . Shit, I had a whole beginning to this, and now I’ve forgotten it all.” He took a deep breath. “Everything went wrong that weekend.”
Now she reached out and grabbed his hand. She couldn’t help herself.
“Drew, that’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have started that fight at the party. And I shouldn’t have left without saying good-bye. I’m sorry. I should have just talked to you like a grown-up.”
He tightened his grip on her hand when she went to pull away.
“I’m sorry, too. I should have been honest about how I felt.”
She didn’t want to hear the rest. Not tonight. Probably not ever.
“No, don’t worry about it. You didn’t have to come all the way up here about that. I know how you feel; it’s okay.” Shit, was she going to start crying again? At this point, she couldn’t even be embarrassed about it.
“No, Alexa. You don’t know.” He released her hand and took a step back. “I never told you this, but I changed my flight back to L.A. that day, so I could spend more time with you.”
She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. Why was he telling her something she already knew?
“I knew that. I was right there when you changed it.”
He shook his head.
“No. Not after the conference. After the wedding.”
She let her purse slide off her shoulder and onto the floor. Her mind was a jumble. She felt drunk. Was it all of the doughnuts and pizza? Or maybe the many cups of coffee?
“What do you mean, after the wedding? Your flight was that night, right?”
He shook his head.
“My flight was at noon. When you were in the bathroom that morning, I changed my flight so I could spend the day with you. I should have realized then that I could never get enough of you.”
What was he saying? Why was he saying this now?
“Drew, I . . .”
He reached for her hand again.
“No, let me finish, let me get this out. You . . . I . . . Alexa, I can’t imagine my life without you. I haven’t been able to since I first met you in that elevator. When I woke up that morning and you weren’t there . . . it broke me. I tried to live without you, but I couldn’t. I can’t.” He took a deep breath. “Alexa, I love you. I love you so much.”
She tried to release his hand, but he held on tight. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Drew, I . . . Are you sure?”
He smiled and took another step toward her.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything.”
• • •
Telling Alexa that he’d loved her hadn’t been as hard as he’d thought it would be. As a matter of fact, he wanted to keep saying it, over and over. But did she feel the same way? He couldn’t tell. All he knew was her hand was in his and she was here with him.
He might as well tell her everything.
“Look.” He held out his phone to her. She looked at him with a question in her eyes but took it anyway. “This is how sure I am. Read this email.”
She cleared her throat and looked at his phone. He was still gripping her hand.
“Drew Nichols, Children’s Hospital of Oakland is pleased to offer you the position of . . .” Her voice trailed away. “Is this for real?”
He took the phone out of her hand.
“Very much for real. I called my mentor on Sunday. He told me when I saw him before the wedding that there was going to be a job opening up here and tried to get me to apply for it. I said no then, but . . . I changed my mind. It was a little more complicated than he’d implied, and I can’t start until—”
She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. She was crying again, but he hoped that these were good tears. He pulled her tight against him.
“I’m only going to take it if you want me to,” he said against her ear. “Please tell me you do?”
She turned her head and pulled his head down to hers for a long kiss. Eventually, he pulled back and wiped the tears from her face with his thumb. My God, he’d missed her so much.
“Tell me.”
She smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling through her tears.
“Yes, I want you to take it.”
He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her hair.
“Don’t you have something else to tell me?” he said, his lips a breath away from hers.
“I love you.” The tears streamed from her eyes as she said it. “Oh, Drew, I love you so much. I’ve been trying to deny to myself all week how much I love you.”
He brushed her tears away.
“I’ve been trying to admit to myself how much I love you.”
He held her face in his hands and kissed her, their tears mingling with each other’s, their bodies fitting together like they were made to be just like that.
“Mizz Monroe?” The voice came from the doorway. Alexa put her head on his shoulder, laughing into his mascara-stained shirt before she turned toward the security guy. “I was going to lock up. Should I, um . . .”
Alexa cleared her throat.
“Sorry about this, Stu. You can lock up. Let me just get my stuff.”
She picked her purse back up from where she’d dropped it on the ground and took Drew’s hand.
“Let’s go home.”
He squeezed her hand and walked with her out the door.
“Aren’t you forgetting that we have to meet up with everyone from your office?”
She stopped and laughed as she wiped her face with the sleeve of her suit jacket.
“I can’t believe it, but I had forgotten that. I’ll text Theo; he’ll understand. Olivia can come over . . . a little bit later.”
Drew shook his head. He wanted nothing more than to take her straight home and make up for all of their lost time, but he knew she’d regret missing out on this night with her crew.
“No, no, you can’t not go. This is your night of triumph!” He took her heavy bag from her and tossed it over his own shoulder.
She smiled up at him.
“See, this is why I love you.”
He laughed.
“This is it? Of all the things it could be, me sending you out to have drinks with your coworkers instead of locking you in the bedroom with me is why you love me?”
She reached for his hand and squeezed it.
“Yeah. It is.”
He lifted their joined hands and kissed hers.
“Now, let’s get you into the bathroom to wash your face before your whole office sees you with raccoon eyes. Plus, if you walk in there looking like that, your sister is going to draw and quarter me.”
She laughed.
“Come with me upstairs to my office so I can repair myself.” She pulled his face down so she could whisper in his ear. “And you know, my office door locks, so no one will interrupt us there.”
He liked the sound of that. He gestured to the hallway with his free hand.
“Lead the way, Monroe.”