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