Two hours later, Olivia’s feet hurt from standing in the same place for hours in her far-too-pointy shoes, her hands were ice cold from rolling what felt like millions of meatballs, and her eyes stung from all of the onions that the woman next to her had chopped. But when she looked at the forty sealed containers of meatballs, potatoes, and spinach, she felt like she’d really accomplished something.

“Great work tonight, team,” Jamila said as they moved the containers from the counters to the refrigerators.

Olivia dropped her apron in the spot where all the other volunteers dropped theirs, took off her gloves, and washed her hands.

“Thanks for coming tonight, Olivia,” Jamila said as Olivia dried her hands.

“It was my pleasure,” Olivia said. And she meant it, too.

“I hope we’ll see you again?” Jamila raised an eyebrow at her.

Olivia nodded and pulled her phone out of her purse.

“Absolutely. I’ll try for next Wednesday.”

She went to order a car, but Jamila stopped her.

“Do you need a ride home?”

Olivia looked up at her.

“I do, but I’m probably out of your way—are you sure?”

Jamila shrugged.

“I’ve gotten too many rides from other people in my life to care about going a little while out of my way. Give me a second to lock up.”

As they drove off, Jamila asked the question she’d known was coming.

“Is your car in the shop?”

Olivia shook her head. Everyone in L.A. seemed to believe it was unthinkable to not have a car.

“I haven’t bought a car yet. I know, I know, everyone gives me that look. I’ll get to it eventually, I promise.”

Jamila laughed.

“I would hope so. I mean, I know there are people in L.A. who don’t have cars; it just makes life a lot more difficult, that’s all.”

Yeah, she’d realized that in this past month.

“I know—I need to do it sooner rather than later.”

Jamila glanced at the GPS and got on the freeway.

“Well, if you need help, let me know—car buying is one of my best skills. I’ve helped a bunch of friends.”

Olivia relaxed into the passenger seat.

“I’ve never done it before, so I might take you up on that.”

Jamila grinned at her.

“Just let me know. How are you liking L.A.? Settling in well? I’m sorry the dating scene here is . . . what it is. I’ve heard it’s much better in New York.”

Olivia couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t gone on a date in her last year and a half in New York, and somehow she’d met someone almost as soon as she’d landed in L.A.

“Wait a second. What’s that smile? Are you dating someone already?” Jamila asked in an outraged tone.

Olivia laughed.

“ ‘Dating’ is probably the wrong word, let’s put it that way,” she said.

Jamila grinned.

“Even better, honestly. All the good stuff, none of the drama.”

That was an excellent way to put it.

“Indeed,” Olivia said.

She smiled out the car window. She was definitely looking forward to her date with Max on Friday night.

Chapter Five

Max pulled into Olivia’s driveway, grabbed the flowers from his front seat, and walked up to her door. More flowers were probably too much for a second date, but he’d walked by a flower shop that day and had bought them on impulse. He hoped she liked them.

Olivia swung open the door. God, she looked incredible tonight.

“Hi,” she said.

He smiled at her.

“Hi to you, too.” He held up the flowers. “You didn’t tell me what your favorites were, so I just sort of guessed.”

She took them from him and beckoned him into the house.

“These are beautiful, thank you. Let me put these in some water and we can go.”

He followed her through the hallway and into the big, bright kitchen.

“For someone who doesn’t cook, you got a house with a great kitchen.”

She laughed and took a tall, narrow pitcher out from a cabinet.

“I know—isn’t it a waste? It might make me want to cook more, though. Ellie looked at houses for me, and she loved this one so I grabbed it, but she cooks a lot more than I do.”

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.

“It seems like it. And I had a really great time volunteering at the community center’s food pantry this week. Well, it’s both a food pantry and community kitchen; do you know their model?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t. Tell me about it.”

She spent the rest of their drive to the movie theater doing just that, and he was captivated the whole time. Olivia seemed to really care about the place and the work they did, after only one time there. It made him like her even more, this enthusiasm and joy for a project that was built to help people who needed it.