Page 14 of The Romantic Agenda
Can’t she tell this is an introspective pity party for one? Joy would rather jump into the lake, fully clothed, than continue to sit there with Summer. She answers anyway. “He did.”
“Perfect! I want to get him a cake. Will you come with me?”
“With you where?” By the grace of sweet baby Jesus, she manages to keep her tone even.
“To the store.” Summer pulls out her phone and shares the downloaded map on her screen. “There’s a bakery not too far from here. If I tell Malcolm, he’ll say something ridiculously helpful, like ‘I’ll order one and have it delivered.’ ” She laughs. Her impression of Malcolm was spot on. Not good enough to make Joy laugh too, though.
Summer continues, “I want to pick it out myself, but I need a driver because that car is gigantic and Iwillwreck it.”
“He won’t take you?” Joy forces herself to stop leaning toward the water by holding the wooden dock with both hands.
“I didn’t ask,” she admits. “I was hoping we could have some girl time. You know, just me and you.”
Joy takes a deep breath... and launches herself into the water.
For some silly reason, she didn’t expect the water to be so cold. She stays under, floating and relishing the feeling of pins and needles pricking her skin. This is good. This is calm.
Joy hadn’t felt that impulsive inyears. The longer Summer talked the more wound up she felt, and she just needed to find a way to release the suffocating pressure building inside of her. Immediately. This was not a drill. Abandon ship.Some girl timereally took her there and so she... jumped.
Her lungs begin to tighten, demanding air. Guess that means she still isn’t part mermaid.
Something large crashes into the water next to her, assaulting her peaceful escape with a barrage of bubbles. Joy kicks her legs, breaking the surface—only to find Summer maniacally laughing next to her. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe we did that!”
Joy stares at her, treading water. “Me neither.” The wonderous quick rush of relief she experienced begins to give way to numbness. She swims back to the dock and hauls herself onto it. After grabbing her shoes, she power walks back to the cabin with the sound of Summer’s wet, slapping footsteps trailing close behind her.
The sliding glass door is unlocked. Joy pulls it to the side and enters. It’s a good thing this place has hardwood floors because she’s still dripping water everywhere.
Malcolm stops putting the extra road trip snacks in the kitchen pantry. His expression shifts rapidly from curious to confused to concerned and back to confused. “Why are you all wet?”
“I felt like going swimming.” Joy nods to Summer. “I don’t know what her excuse is.”
“In your clothes?” Malcolm asks.
“The water, she calls to me,” Joy says, feeling partially dead inside. “My life, my love, and my lady.”
“That’s the sea. Not a lake.” Fox is sitting in the living room directly in front of the kitchen area. The couch and love seat fillmost of the space, which has a perfect view of the abnormally large TV and the backyard.
Joy stares at him for a beat. Usually, people don’t catch her references that fast. Mildly impressive. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember asking you, or your bushy yet wonderous eyebrows, for your opinion.”
Fox opens his mouth and closes it again.
Joy turns back to Malcolm. “Which room is mine? I obviously need to change.”
“Upstairs. End of the hall.” His tone is oozing suspicion—she can even see it in his eyes. But he doesn’t ask.
“Are my—”
“By the closet.”
“And the—”
“Straight and to your left.”
“Great,” Joy says. “Really love it when you answer my questions before I’m finished asking, by the way. Ten out of ten.” As she’s leaving, she catches Fox touching one of his eyebrows. When he realizes she’s watching, she grins at him and he drops his hand, quickly turning away.
Upstairs, her room has a queen-size bed, a private bathroom, and as promised by Malcolm’s psychic interruptions, her purse and suitcases are there, arranged in a row from largest to smallest, in front of the closet. Joy strips off her clothes, hopping into the shower to rinse her braids and get the lake water off her skin.
Showers are the perfect place to think. The water pressure is divine and perfectly lukewarm, complementing the hot summer air outside. Joy inhales and sighs as the smell of lavender and mint fills the bathroom as she lathers the soap on her loofa.
