Forty-five minutes later, they stood facing each other on a squeaky BART train. Olivia smiled up at him, a wicked expression on her face.

“When’s the last time you were on public transportation, hmm?” she asked him in a low voice.

Embarrassingly, he had to think about that.

“It’s got to have been at least … five years, maybe? Probably more. Oh God, that’s terrible, but I always drive everywhere in L.A. anyway, so it must have been some time when I was up here or somewhere else for a conference.”

Olivia laughed at him.

“Well, at least you look like you’re blending in.”

He looked down at himself and shook his head. He didn’t have any of his fake glasses or his baseball hats with him on this trip, so he’d had to improvise so he wouldn’t get recognized. Jeans, T-shirt, and one of the tech company branded vests he’d been given at the dinner last night. With that, plus his unshaven face, he hoped he could pass as a tech bro.

They got off at Fruitvale Station in Oakland and walked around for a while until they reached a taco truck with a long, noisy line.

“Here we are!” Olivia parked them at the end of the line. “Best tacos in the Bay Area. Maybe all of California.”

“That’s a bold statement, don’t you think?” Max asked her.

She nodded.

“Oh, very bold, and obviously there are some incredible tacos in L.A., which which is why it’s debatable, but you’ll see when you have them how good they are.”

He put his arm around her as they waited in line.

“I guess I will. But I thought you didn’t like places you had to stand in line to eat?”

She brushed that off.

“Taco trucks are different, you know that.”

He didn’t argue with her. Right now, he couldn’t think of a place he’d rather be than standing here with her, in the sunshine, with nowhere he had to be for hours.

He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“This was a great idea,” he said.

They’d been standing there for about ten minutes, inching closer and closer to the tacos, when Olivia felt Max stand up straight.

And then, very slowly, he leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“I just realized that I know the woman standing right behind us. She’s a reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, she’s interviewed me a few times. I don’t quite look like my senator self today, but …”

Olivia froze, and then nodded slowly.

“Okay. Um, do you want to go?”

Max looked at her like she’d asked him if the sky looked green.