power playlist the only thing breaking the silence in the car. Ellie pulled into a fast-food parking lot and threw the car into park. Olivia started talking before the car was off.
“Ellie, what the HELL just happened back there?” She stopped herself. “I’m sorry, I’m not yelling at you, I’m yelling with you, you know that, right? I just have to yell right now.”
Ellie slipped out of her blazer and folded it on her lap.
“Yell as much as you want. Yell for the rest of the day, at minimum, as far as I’m concerned. I can’t believe he did that.”
Olivia shook her fists in the air.
“I can’t believe he did that! ‘Tell your boyfriend’—what the fuck? In what world is that ever appropriate? But it’s especially inappropriate when my boyfriend is a fucking senator! I let that comment about getting in trouble with the law go, even though it annoyed me; I’m sure his experiences getting into trouble as a privileged white dude were a lot different than mine. But ‘Tell your boyfriend’ was my limit, Ellie!”
Ellie pulled out her phone.
“Say the word and I’ll email that asshole and tell him we don’t want his business.”
Olivia pulled her blazer off and tossed it into the back seat.
“Let me think about that. I can’t decide which one would be better: a cold refusal to do business with them or charging them a great deal of money for our work.”
Ellie grinned.
“Either one would be satisfying, but you’re the one to make this call.”
Olivia put her hand on Ellie’s arm.
“Thanks. I really appreciate that. And I’m sorry, again, that all of this drama has had an impact on our firm. That’s the last thing I ever wanted.”
Ellie patted her on the cheek.
“You don’t have to apologize for that, either. We’re in this together, remember?”
Olivia smiled at her.
“I remember.” Ellie started the car and rounded the parking lot to pull into the drive-through. “Two large fries, one regular Coke, one diet,” she said into the speaker.
Ellie took the cash Olivia handed her and pulled forward.
“And, Olivia Grace, you hear me, you’re not going back to the office, you’re going straight home. I can tell you didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, and I need you to rest. I’d take your phone away from you for the night if I didn’t think you’d kill me for it.”
Olivia took the bag of food from Ellie and pulled out a fry.
“I know when I get Olivia Grace’d I’d better do what you say.”
Olivia fell asleep about five minutes after she walked into her house. She woke up in a panic to the sound of a door opening and closing. Had someone just broken into her house?
Before she could react, Max appeared at the door of her bedroom, suit on, briefcase over his shoulder, hair in full Senator Shellac.
“Max?” She sat bolt upright. What was he doing here? It was still Wednesday, wasn’t it? She hadn’t somehow slept for two days straight?
He smiled and dropped his briefcase on the floor.
“There you are. I didn’t expect you to be home this early, but then I saw your car outside.”
She rubbed her eyes.
“I . . . what are you doing here? Aren’t you in DC? I mean . . . you know what I mean.”
He sat at the foot of her bed.
“I fly back tonight on a red-eye. I had to see you. These past few days, those stories . . . I’m so sorry, Olivia. I didn’t realize how bad this would be. I couldn’t wait until Friday. I hope you meant it when you said you wished I was here.”
She stared at him. Was this a dream? Had he really flown across the country just to see her for a few hours, because of an idle wish on her part? Her lingering anger at Max faded away.
“I’m so glad you came.” She blinked away the tears that had sprung to her eyes. “It’s really good to see you.”
He pulled her into his arms.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see someone,” he said in her ear. “I’m so sorry. I should have done something to prevent this.”
They sat like that for what felt like hours, just holding each other.
Finally, she kissed his cheek and pulled back, but kept her hand in his.
“Thank you,” she said. “I needed that.”
He kissed her softly.
“I did, too. Badly. How did the pitch go?”
She laughed.
“At first really well. I was worried they’d say something shitty to me, especially after those