Olivia looked at her little sister. She’d had no idea.

“That sounds . . . familiar.” She laughed. “It’s weird, but he gets me in a way no one has really seemed to. And the more he sees the real me, the more he seems to like me, which is pretty incredible—I can talk to him about work, or volunteering, or how much I love using power tools, or things I’m worried about, and where other men wouldn’t like all of those sides of me, or get bored, or talk down to me, he listens, really listens and wants to know more. The two of us are very different—he’s sort of an idealist, while I’m the conventional one, which is funny enough in itself—but it feels like we complement each other?” She bit her lip. “Things feel good.” She let herself smile. “Really good. I’m not sure I knew things could feel this good, actually.” She shook her head. “Oh God, I hate that I said that out loud, I feel like I’m jinxing things, but . . .”

Alexa shook a finger at her.

“No such thing. But . . . I do have another question. Who else knows about you two? And . . . are you ready for what might happen if and when it’s not secret anymore?”

Leave it to her sister to ask the hard questions.

“I know, it’s going to be a big whole thing when we get there, but I’m not going to worry about that yet. And in answer to your other question, only Ellie knows.”

Alexa started the car and smiled.

“You said when, you know.”

Olivia put her seat belt back on and raised her eyebrows at her sister.

“What do you mean, when?”

Alexa smiled.

“ ‘When we get there.’ Not ‘if.’ ‘When.’ I like it.”

Olivia opened her mouth to protest. Then she closed it without saying anything. Alexa drove on, a smug look on her face.

Before they walked into Alexa’s house, Alexa nudged her.

“Can I tell Drew about this? He won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

Olivia laughed.

“Yes, of course you can tell him, but no one else. And definitely not Mom and Dad, not yet!”

Drew had Olivia’s favorite Chinese takeout waiting for her, so they all sat down to eat. And then Olivia told an edited version of her Max story, this time to Drew, whose eyes just got wider and wider.

Right when Olivia finished, Alexa dropped her chopsticks.

“Oh my God. I just realized something. You said he’s in town for a fundraiser?” A wide smile spread across her face. “I’m pretty sure that the mayor of Berkeley—and his chief of staff—will be at that same fundraiser tomorrow night.”

Olivia dropped her head onto the table, barely missing the chow fun.

“Oh no. Oh no oh no. Is this some sort of anxiety dream? My little sister is going to be at the party with my boyfriend tomorrow and I can’t go?”

Alexa looked gleeful.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be good. I promise.”

Drew stood up to go into the kitchen.

“Hold on. I think we need more wine for this conversation. I’ll be right back.”

Alexa jumped up.

“Oh, wait, I know just the bottle, I’ll help you find it.”

While they were gone, Olivia checked her phone, which she hadn’t done since she’d gotten in Alexa’s car.

At dinner with these tech dudes; almost done, thank god, they’re so annoying. Can’t wait to see you soon. I hope you’re having fun with your sister!

She looked up from her phone to find her little sister pointing and laughing at her. It felt like she was back in high school.

“What are you laughing at?” she said to Alexa.

“Oh, nothing,” Alexa said, with that same smug look she’d gotten since she was a toddler and was telling on her older sister. “It’s just that gooey look on your face makes it very clear who you just got a text from.”

It was even more annoying when her sister was right.

“I don’t . . .” She was about to say “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” like she would have said twenty years ago, but realized that was ridiculous. They both knew exactly what Alexa was talking about. So instead she just let her smile get as gooey as she wanted it to. “He says he’s almost done with his dinner and hopes we’re having fun.”

Alexa’s whole face softened.

“Oh, that’s so nice.”

Olivia sighed and dropped her phone on the table.

“He is so nice, that’s the problem with him, Lex! He’s so nice! He’s smart! He’s generous! He’s attractive! He’s rich! He’s funny! He’s perfect!” Now she rolled her eyes at herself. “Okay, fine, that’s an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. What happened to me?”

Alexa put her hands down on the table.

“Are you telling me that in the three or whatever months you’ve been dating this man, you haven’t discovered any of his flaws?”

Olivia took the glass of wine Drew handed her.

“No, it’s even worse—I’ve seen plenty of his flaws! He’s hotheaded, he’s impulsive, he has an enormous ego! He’s used to the whole world doing his bidding, in a way he doesn’t even realize; he’s incredibly privileged, which he sort of realizes, but not anywhere to the degree he needs to. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat a vegetable. And his shoes are all just impossibly ugly. He has these old brown suede shoes he wore one day straight from the airplane and I realized he was on the actual Senate floor with those things on and I wanted to throw them in the garbage immediately, but I don’t think we’re at a place yet where I can do that. But the bad part is, I know all of that, and I still get that fucking gooey look on my face when he texts me! I can tell I get it! I try not to get it! But the goo just spreads over my face and I can’t make it stop!”

Now Alexa and Drew were laughing so hard they couldn’t speak, and Olivia joined in.

“I know this all sounds so stupid,” she said as soon as they all recovered.

Drew shook his head.

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all. It sounds exactly like how I felt when I met this one.” He poked her sister in the arm. “At least you’re being more mature about it than I was, and you’re not pretending you’re not falling for him.” He reached across the table and pushed her phone toward her. “Text him back. Tell him we’re almost done with dinner and you’ll be on your way to the hotel soon.”

She picked up the phone and smiled at him.

“I’m glad my sister married you.”

Drew reached for Alexa’s hand.

“I’m glad your sister married me, too,” he said. “What hotel is your senator boyfriend staying at?”

Olivia grinned.

“The Fairmont.”

Chapter Twelve

Olivia walked into the hotel lobby and checked her texts for Max’s room number.

Just getting on the elevator!

She got off the elevator without incident and walked down the hall to his room. But before she could even knock on the door of room 1624, the door swung open.

“There you are.” Max grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.