He watched her fill the pitcher up with water and arrange the flowers in it. He might have to bring her an actual vase next time.

“I can’t believe you haven’t gotten a car yet,” he said as they got in. “That’s very un-California of you, you know.”

She put her seat belt on and set her bag in her lap. Whenever she didn’t smile at something he said, he was afraid he’d made her mad. Oh God, had he gotten that used to yes-men around him who laughed at everything he said?

“I know,” she said. “But it seems like such an ordeal. There are so many choices. Domestic or foreign? Normal or electric or hybrid? Sedan? Sports car? SUV? And that’s all before I have to do that thing where I go to the dealership and test-drive it and deal with all the sexism from a dealer and negotiate the price or whatever. It’s all exhausting.” She looked over at him, and her face relaxed into a smile. “I know, you’re rolling your eyes at me—you spent all week dealing with national security secrets and actual significant problems for humanity, and I’m sitting here whining about how hard it is to buy a car.”

He put his hand on her shoulder for a second as he turned around to back out of her driveway. He didn’t need to do that; he had a backup camera, he could see perfectly well to get onto the street. But she didn’t seem to mind.

“Trust me, I’m definitely not rolling my eyes at you,” he said. “It makes sense that something in your personal life would fall to the bottom of the to-do list. That’s often how it is for me, anyway.” Though the idea of taking that much time and energy to make a decision like that was foreign to him. He would have just stopped at the first dealership he saw and bought whatever looked good to him. That was exactly what he’d done the last time he’d bought a car, as a matter of fact.

He decided to change the subject, since the car thing seemed to stress her out.

“Speaking of work, how’s the new firm going?”

She moved her bag to the floor, then back to her lap.

“Well, really well. Lots of meetings with potential clients, and we’ve gotten some work from one of the clients I used to work with in my old firm, so that’s great. And Ellie and I have done a ton of networking this week, so we hope that’ll bear fruit soon.”

He turned to smile at her as they waited for a light.

“Oh, that’s great news. I know a few people who have started their own firms, and the beginning is always stressful, but it seems like you’ve hit the ground running.”

She nodded.