“No, it’s okay, you’re right. That makes sense you would feel that way, too—I can only imagine how weird life is for you.” She was quiet for a moment. “It was hard to leave a place where I built a whole life to go somewhere brand-new. I do have some friends here, and of course I work with one of my best friends. But she’s been living in L.A. for a long time, and she’s married, and has a kid, and has her own life here, so … it’s different, you know?” She shrugged. “Is that how it is for you, too?”

He nodded.

“It is. I’ve been in DC for … I guess just over a year now, but I feel like I barely know the city, and then when I come home, life here has gone on without me. I have a handful of good friends I’ve known for years, but these days my schedule is so weird I barely see them, and … well, it gets lonely.”

He hadn’t said this out loud to anyone. He’d barely even said it to himself. He didn’t know why he’d said it to Olivia, except she looked at him like she was really, truly listening to him.

“Yeah, that sounds hard.” She reached her hand back across the table, and it felt natural for him to slide his fingers into hers. “You can’t really say, ‘Yes, you should book a sitter so we can all have dinner two weeks from Friday,’ then two weeks from Friday you’re still on an airplane, because you couldn’t leave the Senate until some asshole finished spouting his nonsense.”

He laughed so hard at that people turned to stare again.

“That’s a very accurate way of describing my job.”

She grinned at him, then popped another fry in her mouth and made a face.

“I can’t stop eating these, even though they’re not very good. Kind of like In-N-Out fries—we all know they’re terrible, but that doesn’t stop me from eating a whole order.” She shook her head. “Maybe I just need to find some hobbies, or something.” She took a sip of water. “You grew up in L.A., right? Whereabouts?”

He was surprised she didn’t know this about him. Most people did.

“I did. In Beverly Hills.”

Her eyebrows shot up. She opened her mouth, paused, and then continued.

“I’m impressed that you know the Eastside so well, if you grew up over there.”

He shook his head at her.

“We both know that’s not what you were going to say. Come on, out with it.”

She looked down at her plate, then back up at him with a grin.