The three guys across the table all grinned at her and Ellie. Olivia was too stunned to grin back. Had that really just happened? She took a sip of water to help compose herself.

“Thank you, all,” Ellie said. Thank God for Ellie. “We look forward to working together.”

Olivia turned to look at Ellie, and their eyes danced at each other. They’d done it. They’d motherfucking done it.

“Plus, I have a little more faith in any lawyer who has had some personal dealings with the law. Who among us didn’t get into a little trouble in high school anyway? For some of us, it didn’t end in high school, right, guys?” He and the other two chuckled and elbowed one another, as Olivia tried not to let the astonishment show on her face.

Had he really just . . . . You know what, nope, she was just going to ignore that.

She joined in the smiles and handshakes and jokes as the five of them stood up and she and Ellie got ready to leave.

“Oh, and another thing,” Brad said to her by the conference room door. “Tell that boyfriend of yours I like him a lot, but that he should lighten up on all of the talk about taxes, will you? We have high enough taxes, living in California, I’m sure you agree!” He would have patted her on the shoulder, but Olivia stepped backward, so his hand just swatted through the air.

“You should give his office a call and let him know your thoughts. The number is on his website,” Olivia said. Her face was devoid of the politician smile or, indeed, any smile at all.

Had this man really just given her a message to pass along to her boyfriend, the senator? And then tried to pat her on the shoulder? Was that why he’d hired her? Not for her experience, or her accomplishments, or her preparation, but because he thought he would have a direct line to a senator with her as his lawyer?

“Gentlemen, we should be clear,” Ellie said. “If you’re hiring Monroe and Spencer, you’re hiring the two of us. And that’s all. I hope no one has a problem with that?”

All three men shook their heads.

“I was at that Dolly Parton concert at the Hollywood Bowl, too, wasn’t it great?” one of the men behind Brad blurted out.

Olivia tried to remember how to smile.

“Indeed. It was my first time at the Hollywood Bowl, actually.”

All of the men exclaimed at this, and spent a few minutes relating their favorite trips to the Hollywood Bowl as they ushered Olivia and Ellie out of the conference room and waved good-bye.

Ellie smiled brightly at Olivia as they walked out of the building and toward her car.

“We’ll talk about it when we get into the car,” Ellie said between her gleaming white teeth. “You never know who is listening around these tech companies.”

They got in the car, and Ellie gunned the motor.

“We’re getting the hell out of this parking lot before we talk about anything,” she said. They drove a mile down the road without speaking, a Beyoncé song from Olivia’s 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.”