She walked toward him, but before he could move around his desk to pull her into his arms, she sat down in the chair across from his desk.

She reached into her briefcase and pulled out some papers.

“I got your initial contract, and I had some edits to it. I thought it made the most sense for us to talk in person.” She looked down, and then up at him. “First, I have a question. Do you mean this? All of this?”

Hope rose in his chest. He wanted to jump up and come around the desk to embrace her, say he’d do anything to get her back. But he knew that was the wrong thing to say—he knew if he said that, she’d think he wasn’t serious. So instead, he looked right into her eyes.

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

She closed her eyes for a second and nodded.

“Okay,” she said, and pushed a few sheets of paper across the table to him. It was his side of the draft agreement he’d sent to her, with her edits and additions.

I, Maxwell Stewart Powell III, agree to the following:

1. I will never put you on the spot in public.

2. I won’t push you to go to events with me, I won’t even suggest it, except for the very important ones; for those I’ll give you as much warning as possible. And I will always make it clear you can say no.

You can suggest that I, Olivia Grace Monroe, come with you to any event you want to, but you should make it in the form of a question. And don’t push me to say yes if I hesitate.

3. You don’t ever have to be a part of my job; our relationship is not a political move or talking point, and I will never publicly make reference to you without your prior knowledge and approval.

4. I won’t push you for last-minute plans, because I know you hate it; just because I live my life like this doesn’t mean you need to as well. And I will give you plenty of time to make any decision. If you say no, I will stop trying to convince you.

You can suggest last-minute plans—your spontaneity is one of the reasons I fell in love with you, and I don’t want to kill that part of you. Plus, sometimes they’re excellent (e.g., Disneyland, Hawaii). I, in turn, will be more open, but I’ll say no when I need to.

5. I will stop and think whenever I’m either furious or very excited, and will try my best not to say the first thing that pops into my head.

6. I will check in with my staff anytime we think their advice on dealing with the media, etc., would be helpful so we’ll know the smoothest path to take.

Or, so we can make an educated decision to take the harder path.

7. I will always order more than one dessert.

8. I will love you for the rest of my life.

I, Olivia Grace Monroe, agree to the following:

1. I will be open about my feelings to you when I’m anxious or scared or worried, even though that is hard for me. I understand that I don’t have to fake it till I make it with you.

2. I will be open to talking to the press when you or your staff believes such a conversation will be helpful for your career, as long as I get significant assistance and prep in advance.

3. I will talk through my decisions with you, instead of just leaving you hanging for days or weeks or months—we are a team and I trust you to listen to me.

4. I will always support you in your pie- (or cake-?) making ventures.

5. I will attempt to learn how to relax and be more flexible—bear with me.

6. We will renegotiate this agreement once a year every year in August, because I recognize that feelings and needs can change.

7. I will love you for the rest of my life.

He fought back a grin at her edits and picked up a pen.

“I have just a few notes to make on your side of the contract,” he said. He scribbled in the margins for a few moments, and then pushed the paper back over to her.

“Your thoughts?”

I, Olivia Grace Monroe, agree to the following:

1. I will be open about my feelings to you when I’m anxious or scared or worried, even though that is hard for me. I understand that I don’t have to fake it till I make it with you.

And I, Max, will always listen and pay attention.

2. I will be open to talking to the press when you or your staff believes such a conversation will be helpful for your career, as long as I get significant assistance and prep in advance.

I will only take you up on this on very limited occasions, and will never push it.

3. I will talk through my decisions with you, instead of just leaving you hanging for days or weeks or months—we are a team and I trust you to listen to me.

4. I will always support you in your pie- (or cake-?) making ventures.

5. I will attempt to learn how to relax and be more flexible—bear with me.

6. We will renegotiate this agreement once a year every year in August, because I recognize that feelings and needs can change.

Some of my needs may change, but my feelings for you will not.

7. I will love you for the rest of my life.

“I mean every single word. I swear,” he said. “And if there’s anything else you need, or want to add, please, please just tell me.”

She looked down at the contract, then up at him. A smile spread across her face, and her eyes swam with tears.

“My feelings for you won’t change, either, Max. I’ve missed you so much.”

He practically jumped over his far-too-large desk and pulled her into his arms.

“I kept trying to think of living days and weeks and months without you, and it all seemed so empty and meaningless. I love you so much.”

She looked up at him with so much joy and laughter and love in her face that he almost couldn’t believe it.

“I love you so much, too.”

He kissed her like he’d never kissed her before, like he would be able to kiss her every day for the rest of his life.

Finally, he led her over to the couch, and they sat there, her head against his chest.

“I tried to get over you, but it was so hard.” She let out a half sob, half laugh. “So much of this was my fault, too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how hard all of that was for me so we could come up with a solution earlier.”

He stroked her hair and kissed her again.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out what to say. It took me two weeks and four conversations with Wes before I realized what I wanted to tell you, and then four days to write barely a hundred words that I hoped expressed some of what I thought and felt and wanted.”

She lifted her head.

“I saw you on Maddow that night. When that guy tried to trap you into becoming vegan. I was sure you were going to do it, too.”

He laughed. He couldn’t believe she’d been watching that night.

“I was so mad, and I was so ready to take that asshole up on his dare, and then what you said about taking other people and their autonomy into account flashed into my mind, and I stopped myself.” He grinned at her. “And the wild thing was, it made for a much better answer, and he had no idea how to respond to me. Thanks for that.”

She gripped his fingers.

“I almost didn’t even read what you wrote—I was so scared to hope that I wouldn’t let myself read the attachment at first. When I finally did read it, I sat up all night thinking about it. I was going to email you back, but I wanted to see you, to really talk to you, first. I was going to wait until this weekend, but I texted Kara, to see what your schedule was like, and she said you were here all weekend. So I got on a red-eye last night and made it to DC first thing this morning.”