“I’m going to be drunk within the hour,” Max said as he put down his pineapple.

“I think I’m already drunk,” she said. And then she took another sip.

Max glanced down at his phone. Even though it was a Friday during recess, he still seemed to get an email about every minute. They’d both spent some of this time by the pool working on their phones, but it still felt like vacation.

He turned to her with his eyebrows raised. Oh no, she knew this look.

“You know,” he said, in his most convincing voice. “The last town hall meeting is going to be in L.A., at your community center.”

Olivia picked up her pineapple again.

“Excellent,” she said. “I hope Jamila takes credit for that.”

She took another sip from her pineapple. She probably didn’t want to know how much rum was in this thing, did she? Well, whatever was in it, it was delicious.

“I know how you feel about that center, after all the time you’ve spent there,” Max said. “What would you say to coming with me to the town hall there? Especially since this whole thing was your idea, after all.”

Olivia couldn’t help but smile back at Max.

“With an offer like that, how can I say no?”

Olivia took another sip of her pineapple and smiled at the world. If only every workday could be spent in the sunshine with pineapples full of rum. She’d get very little work done, but she’d be in an excellent mood.

After they finished their pineapples, Max reached for her hand.

“Let’s go take a walk along the beach,” he said. “I’m getting hot.”

“You’ve always been hot,” Olivia said, and giggled.

Max grinned at her.

“I think I like Hawaii Olivia a whole lot. Can we bring her back to California?” He stood up and pulled her up out of the chair.

Olivia pulled on her cover-up.

“Look, I’m still trying to get rid of New York Olivia, okay? But if you can manage to bring me one of these drinks every day, I feel like Hawaii Olivia will just naturally take over.” She slung her beach bag on her shoulder. “She won’t have a job anymore, but she’ll be real cheerful about it.”

They walked down to the beach, hand in hand, and strolled along the water’s edge.

“This was a very good idea on your part,” Olivia said.

Max turned to her, that cocky grin she loved on his face.

“I know,” he said. Then the grin faded and his eyes opened wide. He turned her in the direction he was looking and dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Look!”