Dylan is a little flighty, but he’s a good friend. He hasn’t missed a Wednesday yet. That hour of the week is a double-edged sword for me. I love spending time with Dylan. But algebra. Oof. It’s not my forte. I spend the whole time trying not to look either stupid or heartsick, with varying degrees of success.

I’m probably failing at the first thing, but Dylan has no idea how I feel about him, and I plan to keep it that way.

“I hope Dylan likes your idea,” Leah says. “It’s got a lot of potential. And the kitchen is wide open on Friday and Saturday nights. Nobody ever wants to claim those hours.” Leah makes fancy cheeses, but it’s a seasonal business. So she rents out the commercial kitchen in her creamery to other businesses during the winter months.

“If Dylan wants in, he’ll pick Saturday,” I tell her. “Fridays are reserved for his awful girlfriend.”

“Shhh!” Leah hisses. “Won’t she hear you?”

“No. She’s not here.” The biggest mistake of my college career—all four weeks of it—was asking Dylan to help me carry my things into the dormitory on move-in day.

I hadn’t even asked, come to think of it. He’d volunteered. He’d driven me to school in his old truck and brought me to the housing office to pick up my keys.

And I’d been so, so grateful. Right up until Dylan carried my one box into the dormitory. I’d been so nervous I’d felt like throwing up, but Dylan had whistled a happy tune as he led me down the hallway to suite 302.

“Open ’er up,” he’d said kindly. “Let’s see if the housing gods were kind.”

They weren’t. I mean—the suite is fine. My twin bed is in a separate room from Kaitlyn’s twin bed. We share a bathroom that’s just ours. I have a desk and a dresser and a window. I can’t complain.

I’d been hoping to be paired with a roommate who would also be a friend, but Kaitlyn had been instantly chilly to me. She’d barely glanced in my direction.

She had not, however, dismissed Dylan. You know that expression—“her eyes lit up”? Well, I’ve never seen anyone so obviously and instantly in lust. She was like a cartoon character with hearts in her eyes.

“Is this your brother?” she’d asked.

“Just about,” Dylan had said with a chuckle. “We live on neighboring farms.”

“That’s so sweet,” she’d gushed.

And then, as I’d put my meager possessions away, she’d chatted him up. I learned all about her life in Manhattan and her troubles at Barnard College, wherever that is. “There was a dalliance with a professor,” she’d said with a sigh. “It didn’t end well. My family is horrified.” She’d given him a sexy grin. “So here I am, banished to the hinterlands to finish school.”

“Welcome to Moo U,” Dylan had said with a slow smile. “It’s not New York City, but we have other kinds of fun.”