“Thanks, but sadly, I’ve had to stand it, many times. Especially early in my career, when I felt blindsided by it, and had no idea what to do other than just sit there. But my biggest piece of advice is very lawyerly—do everything in writing. And shout yourself to the heavens. Email him your ideas, your successes, your numbers, and be as bold as hell in claiming them for yourself. And this is the key: cc board members on those emails. Especially the one you’re going to send about this teen program, because I love it. Hell, feel free to cc me on that email too! Basically, you need to make it impossible for him to keep pretending you have nothing to do with this, and even more impossible for the board to be clueless.”

Jamila nodded slowly.

“That sounds … smart, but really scary.”

The waitress put their nachos in front of them, and Olivia picked up a cheese-laden chip.

“Oh, it’s definitely scary, especially at first. It gets a lot better with practice, though. Feel free to send me any draft emails, if you want me to look them over before you send them. I’ve gotten very good at this in the past six or seven years.” She took a bite of the chip, and reached for another one. “It’ll be good payback for your help in buying that car—maybe even better than these nachos.”

Jamila spooned salsa over a chip.

“I’ll definitely take you up on that. Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

Olivia smiled at her.

“My pleasure. We shouldn’t all have to reinvent the wheel every time, you know?”

Olivia hated that this all-too-familiar thing was happening to Jamila, but it made her feel good that Jamila had asked for her advice. Especially since the whole car-buying process, and her anxiety over it, had made her feel vulnerable. She was glad both she and Jamila had shared with each other.

Maybe she’d made a real new friend here in L.A.

“Okay, and can I ask you another question?” Jamila put down her chip. “Where do you get all of those great button-down tops? I can never find ones that fit my chest; but yours all fit perfectly!”

Olivia laughed.

“I couldn’t, either, for years. Then finally I just gave up and bought one two sizes too big—which was hard enough to find—and got it tailored. It was so perfect I got like ten more.”

Just as Jamila got up to go to the bathroom, Olivia felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

Don’t keep me in suspense!

She grinned, and sent Max the picture of her and the car that Jamila had taken right before they left the dealership.

I bought this!

Just as he sent back a flurry of exclamation points and applause emojis, Jamila sat back down. Olivia slid her phone into her pocket.

Jamila grinned at her.