Page 34 of Love You, Mean It

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I muttered, voice teenage sulky.

“It’s not a referendum onyou,” Theo said, chin tilting down in a way that was intrinsically a little patronizing. “What you’re failing to understand is how important family is to Ted.”

I laughed sharply.

“Did we just sit through the same dinner?”

“I didn’t sayhappyfamilies are important, but blood is. He may not like you, but our coming here at all means I’ve chosen you, and he knows that.”

“Pretty sure he’s set on doing anything he can to make youunchoose me.”

“Maybe. But he’s tried to force the issue before, and it’s never worked. Appearances matter to him. The more people who know we’re together, the worse he thinks it looks if things don’t work out. Especially after what happened last time.” Theo sniffed out a mirthless laugh.

“Last time?”

I tried to keep my voice casual. I couldn’t help but be curiousabout the exes who had clearly managed to win Ted’s favor. In fact, some part of me, deep down near the base of my spine, felt a little…pricklyabout them. I tamped it down—we weren’t actually a couple. Hell, Theo was pretty much thelastman I’d ever want to wind up with. Clearly the noxious atmosphere in the dining room had permeated enough to cause mild hallucinations.

“It’s a long story,” Theo said, flicking “last time” aside with his hand. “The point is, Ted wants to present a united front, regardless of what he actually thinks about this, or you. Honestly? I’m starting to think that that was the best way we could have played tonight. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it earlier.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean…clearly we’re not the Cleavers. Ted can pretend he was surprised I didn’t bring you around before proposing, but he knows as well as anyone that family dinners for the Taylors are usually some sort of business necessity.”

“How oftendoyou all get together?”

“Do client dinners count?”

“Of course not.”

“Then once, maybe twice a year.”

Obviously I knew family didn’t mean the same thing to Theo as it did to me—I’d just witnessedverystrong evidence of that—but the idea of a family that all lived within spitting distance seeing so little of one another didn’t quite compute. Mimi laid into someone at the dinner table every other week, but it would never have occurred to anyone to stop showing up. Or even to hold on to the anger past the end of whatever tiff happened over the tiramisu. That was justfamily…right?

Theo must have seen my bafflement.

“Wouldyouwant to carve out more time with Ted if you didn’t have to? And bear in mind I’d have to really work for it, he’s usually at one of the vacation homes these days.”

“No, definitely not. But—”

“My sister and I feel the same. Actually, she feels thatmuchmore intensely than I do,” Theo said. “By the way, I decided to follow your lead and tell her the truth about us. It seemed like the best way to get her support. Besides, she genuinelywouldhave been upset with me for not introducing you before now.”

“Sure, okay.” I nodded, ignoring the twinge of anxiety at the pit of my stomach. Technically, besides Bella, Ihadn’ttold my family the entire truth. I might have mentioned “working together to get rid of Mangia” without adding unnecessary details like “as a fake couple. Fake-engaged,to be precise.”

Those were future Ellie problems.

“I still don’t get how you figure making Ted hate me was thesmartplay.”

“Because you really are the last person he’d expect me to end up with.”

“Wow. Really selling it, Theo.”

“What I mean is…If I wanted a wife that’s just an accessory, I’d have found her years ago. Ted knows that. But you’re very clearly not going to play the role of happy helpmeet to the Taylor empire.”

“He expects that for you? A…helpmeet?” The word practicallytasteddusty, it was so antiquated.

“He might want it for me, but I’ve made it very clear I’m not going to be carrying on the family tradition there.” Theo’s gaze drifted to some unknowably distant point on the night-dark street. I had to repress the almost physical urge to ask for more details. “The point is, for me to tell him I’m serious with someone who’s so obviously not the person he imagined…I think it made him nervous.”

“So he was extra shitty to me because I’m the anti-Marta?”

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