“Hey,” she said. “I’m actually almost there, so I can’t talk for long, but … I’ve been thinking. About what you said last weekend about going public.”

He was suddenly completely alert.

“Yeah? Are you … What have you been thinking about it?”

Why did it suddenly feel like his whole world depended on her answer?

“I’ve been really on the fence,” she said. “I just didn’t know how it would all work, or if it would make everything too difficult, and … I don’t know, I’ve just been scared about it.”

“Okay,” he said. He felt like she was leading somewhere, and he had no idea if it was somewhere good or bad.

“But then, last night, I went to grab food with Jamila, and she asked me how things were going with that guy I’d told her about, and I hated that I had to talk around everything when I answered her. I wanted to tell her all about you, and I couldn’t, and it made me feel like I was lying to her.”

Max felt hope start to rise inside of him.

“Uh-huh?”

Olivia went on.

“And then she said I should bring him to the food pantry some night. And I realized I really wanted to; I’d love to bring you there and introduce you to some of the other volunteers to see the great work they do, and the incredible community they’ve built, and everything we’re working on for the future. But there’s no way we could do that the way everything is right now—we might be able to go on a hike together without people figuring out who you are, but not something like that.”

Max let himself smile.

“Uh-huh,” he said again.

“So,” she said. “Okay. We should do this.”

Max stood up and danced around his office. Thank God Olivia couldn’t see him; she might break up with him then and there.

“Fantastic,” he said. “Here’s a thought: I have season tickets to the Hollywood Bowl, and Dolly Parton is playing on Saturday night. That seems like a perfect time to do something low-key, but still public. What do you think?”

Olivia was quiet for a second.

“This Saturday? That soon? I figured it would take some time to … I don’t know, for me to talk to your staff, or do a background check and get everything ready.”

Max laughed.

“You don’t need a background check, and you don’t need to talk to my staff, I can handle that. I don’t think either of us wants this to be a big, complicated rollout, do you?”

He respected his staff a lot, but the less they had to do with this, the better, as far as he was concerned.

“Definitely not,” she said. There was silence on the line for a few moments. “Okay. Saturday night, Dolly Parton. That sounds good.”

He couldn’t wait.