“That might be a good idea, at least for a little while. It’s a rare slow news day, which must be why everyone’s running with this. And again, I’m so sorry we haven’t spoken before. I should have insisted on speaking to you last week, but this all moved so fast. That’s no excuse, though.”

Olivia brushed that off.

“Please don’t apologize. I should have expected this to happen this morning; I was naive not to. Can you tell me …” She didn’t even know how to phrase this. “How bad will it get?”

She didn’t know why she was asking this of Kara, a woman she’d never met, or even talked to before, and not Max, her boyfriend. But then, maybe it was because she already got the sense that Kara might know the truth more than Max would.

Kara’s voice softened.

“I don’t think it’ll be that bad—probably a flurry of phone calls over the next day or so, and then there will be another big story of the day, and people will lose interest. There might be some racial elements to some of the stories, though—I just want to prepare you for that.”

Yeah, she’d expected that.

“I figured there would be. I just didn’t know if the calls and stuff would go on for, like, days, or weeks or months.”

If it went on for months …

“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t last that long. Though …” Kara paused. “There might be a rush to get more pictures of the two of you together. You can do it whatever way you want; it could be easier to just get that over with early on, but I understand if you may not want to do that.”

Olivia tried to imagine that. Her and Max, out to dinner, and then walking out of the restaurant to an army of paparazzi. That sounded like a nightmare.

“I’ll … I’ll think about that.” The phone rang again, and she heard Ellie pick it up in her office. “I should go; I think that was another reporter calling for me. Not that I want to talk to them, but …”

Kara laughed.

“I understand. And hopefully the calls will quiet down soon. I’ll make a number of calls as soon as I hang up. Also, Ms. Monroe— ”

Olivia broke in.

“Olivia, please.”

Kara laughed.

“As the senator will tell you, I tend to stick with formality. But I’m going to make sure the senator gives you my contact information; I’m often more reachable than he is, so please feel free to contact me at any time if there’s an issue, okay?”

Did that mean Kara expected there to be an issue? No, don’t think that way, Olivia. She was probably just planning for all contingencies; she seemed like that kind of person.

“Okay, will do. And thank you. Thanks very much.”