There was another round of handshakes as he said good-bye.

“I hope I get to talk to all of you again, and soon.” He let his eyes twinkle at Alexa as they shook hands, and her smile widened.

He walked away with Georgia toward the photo area.

Had Alexa liked him? He hoped she liked him. He knew Olivia and her sister were close, and it would matter to Olivia if Alexa thought he was some pompous douchebag.

He walked by Wes on the way to the photos, but Wes was in the middle of a conversation, so all they had time for in passing was a quick fist bump. Even that, though, felt like a respite. To see someone who actually knew him, whom he could be real with, in the midst of this need to constantly be on, was like for one brief second someone had opened a window in a hot, stuffy room. The relief he felt even walking by Wes made him realize how great it would be to have Olivia here with him tonight. If she were here by his side, he could nudge her when he wanted to—but couldn’t—roll his eyes, he could exchange “we’ll talk about this later” looks with her when someone said something wild, or he could laugh with her when something ridiculous happened. It was incredible to even think about that.

He didn’t see Alexa again for the rest of the night, until he ran into her and the mayor just as he was leaving.

“Mayor Emmitt, and … Alexa, right? I hope you had a good night.”

They all shook hands again.

“It was a great night,” Alexa said. “The speeches weren’t too long, some of them gave me a lot of hope for the future, and I got to meet some really interesting people, so I’d call that a winner.”

He smiled at her as he turned to walk out the door.

“I got to meet some people I’ve wanted to meet for a while, so it was a great night for me, too. Have a safe drive back to Berkeley.”

Max walked back into the hotel room twenty minutes later to find Olivia sitting on the bed, fully dressed, with her laptop on her lap.

“So.” He kicked off his shoes and flopped down onto the bed next to her. “What did your sister think of me?”

Olivia’s eyes widened. They widened just a little too much, as a matter of fact.

“Oh, you got to meet her? I wasn’t sure if that would happen, I thought the fundraiser might be too big for …”

He waved his finger at her.