Max was relieved as they walked back to the car. Olivia walked with the bounce back in her step, and didn’t seem as skittish or closed off as she had on their way in. Maybe they’d be able to have fun like this all summer—especially in August when Congress was in recess and he’d be back in California for five fantastic weeks.

“Olivia! Hey, Olivia!”

Max shook himself out of his daydreams when Olivia stopped. They both turned toward the direction of the shouts.

“Jamila! Hi!” Olivia greeted the woman walking toward them, but her whole body was tense again.

“Hey, I thought that was you!” the other woman said. “You look great, I love this dress.”

“Were you just at the concert?” Olivia asked. She shook her head in answer to her own question. “Of course you were just at the concert—did you have fun? Wasn’t it great?”

He’d never seen Olivia babble like this before. Was this how she got when she was nervous? She’d said she was fine, but he knew she wasn’t—at first she’d been stiff and silent, and now she couldn’t stop talking.

“Yeah, it was so fun, right? We got tickets last minute, otherwise I would have texted you to see if you wanted to come with us.” Jamila looked back and forth from Olivia to him and back again, and smirked slightly at Olivia. “Glad you made it anyway.”

Olivia glanced at him, and he could tell she was gearing herself up to introduce him. After a few too many seconds of silence, she turned back to Jamila.

“Oh, I’m sorry—Jamila, this is Max, Max, Jamila.”

First names only; that was a nice compromise.

He reached out to shake Jamila’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Jamila,” he said.

She shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you, too …” She looked up at him, and recognition dawned over her face. He winked at her as her mouth gaped open.

“Um. Max. Nice to meet you, Max,” she said.

Jamila turned back to Olivia, her eyes still wide. He couldn’t see the look on Olivia’s face, but after a few seconds, Jamila smiled at her.

“We should probably get out of here; it’ll take forever to get home,” Jamila said. “And I have to find my friend, she was supposed to meet me out here, but …” She looked down at the phone gripped in her hand. “Oh, she says she’s already at the car, what the hell? Okay, I should run. See you on Wednesday, Olivia?”

Olivia nodded.

“I’ll be there,” Olivia said. “Maybe we can get dinner after?”

Jamila glanced back and forth from her to Max. Max tried to pretend he didn’t know exactly what was going on.

“Mmmm, definitely,” Jamila said.

Jamila dashed off into the crowd, and Olivia and Max walked off toward the car.