Page 93 of The Romantic Agenda
Twenty-Five
Joy changes her mind about the hike the second they walk out the front door.
The empty driveway. The way he left without a word. How he’s not responding to her messages. She needs to be here when Malcolm comes back.
“Why don’t we stay here? See this porch swing? It’s a good one. Sure, it could use some cushions, but the hard wood isn’tsobad.”
Summer laughs. “This is fine. Way more peaceful.”
Joy sets their pace on the porch swing—as silent as ever, it rocks them back and forth with a steadiness worthy of a lazy afternoon. The front yard, while obviously not as picturesque as the lake, has its charms too: the flowers, the trees, the grass and gravel. It has the same comforting quiet minus the overt water sounds. The porch overhang blocks the sun, cooling down the area.
“I think I’m ready to tell you what happened now.”
Joy sighs. “Yeah, I had a feeling.”
Summer retrieves her phone out of her pocket and pulls up abulleted list. When she sees Joy’s face, she says, “Oh, I made this to make sure I say everything right to you.”
“Efficient.”
“I get that you and Malcolm are a package deal—I have to accept both of you, and I do—but I’m looking for someone who really, truly loves me with all his heart. Malcolm might someday, and I’m willing to walk that road with him to see if we could make it work. We could really be something great, you know? But that’s not now. He has a lot of, um”—she pauses to check her list—“he’s very invested in someone else.”
“Saying ‘someone else’ makes me sound like the other woman, and I’m not nearly that notorious,” Joy jokes. “I know you’re talking about me. Please just use my name. It’s okay.”
“Sorry. Yeah. Okay.” Summer turns to face Joy. “When Malcolm invited me on this trip, I had an idea. I invited Fox so I had a reason to ask Malcolm to invite you too, which was kind of dishonest, I guess. I’m sorry. I just wanted to see for myself instead of calling you up and starting shit, you know? You didn’t deserve those things that Caroline said about you because they’re not true. You didn’t do any of that. I didn’t want you to think I was like her before you even met me.”
Joy briefly considers whether she should pretend to be surprised. Did it hurt to hear Summer confirm what she’d done? Not really. Diabolical mastermind, she was not. Fox knew something was off immediately and it only took Joy another day of observation to narrow down specifics. She appreciates the validation,though—Malcolm didn’t have anything to do with Summer’s plan, just as Joy said. He got roped in, same as Fox.
Summer consults her phone one more time, biting her lip. “I’m not crying. I’m not.” Her breath hitches but it’s like she says, she’s not crying. “I really do want us to be friends, Joy, but I understand if you don’t think you could ever like me. Because the thing is, it doesn’t matter, to me, how you feel about Malcolm. I only care about his side. His feelings.”
Joy slowly closes her eyes and covers her face with her hands. “That’s fair,” she says into her palms.
“At the festival, we talked for a really long time. He told me everything, I think, from the beginning when you first met. I think you two need each other in a way I won’t ever understand, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. It would be wrong of me to come between that.”
Oh.Joy tries to keep her face neutral, open and listening, as opposed to mind-blowingly astonished. None of Malcolm’s partners have ever said anything like that to her before.
Usually, Malcolm’s heart-to-heart moments consisted of him telling them he’s asexual and explaining why monogamy is so deeply important to him. He has to have a commitment in place, they have to be exclusive, or it’s game over. He’ll walk away because casual dating just doesn’t work for him.
Joy should have known his heart-to-heart with Summer would be different. For one thing, Summer already knows Malcolm is ace. He even used some of his confession time to talk about Joy, all to try to make Summer understand.
And itactuallyworked.
“Thank you for saying that,” Joy says quietly.
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it, you know? I don’t agree at all with how Caroline handled everything, but I think I understand how she felt too. Ineededto see you and Malcolm together with my own eyes and now that I have, I get it.” Summer nods and sniffles. “I don’t want to feel like I come second with Malcolm either. I don’t know anyone who would feel okay with being second in their relationship. But I’m equally not okay asking him to choose between us.”
“That’s also fair.”
“He said he wants to be with me. Not you.”
“I know.”
“And I believe him.”
“As you should.” The final mystery from the trip, finally revealed. “How did you answer?”
“I said yes”—she pauses—“with some stipulations.”
Here it comes. Joy grips the bench seat with both hands, gaze trained on the ground. No matter what Summer says, she won’t react. She’ll keep her word, step aside, and accept it. More than anything, she wishes she could hear what’s coming directly from Malcolm, but this is probably for the best.
