A vague memory from last night becomes clearer in her head—when Malcolm visited her room, he didn’t lie on the bed with her. Right. He’s starting to draw boundary lines between them. Enforcing the rules his partners—Summer—asked for that’ll keep Joy at a physical distance. Accusations of emotional cheating are never far behind.

Needing to do something with her hands, Joy pulls out her phone. Scrolling will do.

“Don’t.”

Joy snaps, “So you just want to sit here in silence enjoying each other’s silent company? Or are you going to talk to me?”

“About what?”

“Yesterday, maybe? Five minutes ago? Why you’re being so weird?”

“How am I being weird?”

“Would you like a list? I could also take your picture.” She gestures with her phone. “Your whole vibe is I’m feeling weird energy.”

He grimaces, partially turning away. “Conflicted. Not weird.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. Conflicted about what?”

Malcolm shuts back down after that. He scowls through breakfast, grumbles his way through washing the dishes, and barely speaks. Not even Summer, trying to get his attention, can get him to break his vow of silence.

Twenty-Four

Believe it or not, they all pile into Malcolm’s Jeep right on schedule, automatically slotting themselves in their assigned seats.

Fox and Joy in the back. Malcolm and Summer in the front.

They’re on the road, listening to Summer’s playlist again, when Fox slides his hand across the seat to find Joy’s. His palms are still callused but noticeably less rough. The heat from his skin grounds her, solidly bringing the present back into focus.

They haven’t spoken since she tried and failed to comfort Malcolm after their walk. Realization zings through her like a current of electricity—he might be upset about her deciding to spend time with Malcolm instead of him. He doesn’t look it, though.

Keeping her voice nearly silent, she mostly mouths, “Did she talk to you?” and nods toward Summer.

Fox shakes his head. He mouths back, “She seems fine? Why is he mad?”

“He won’t tell me.”

Fox nods, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. “Are you okay?”

When Malcolm and Caroline got engaged, she couldn’t get out of bed for three days.

Now that he’s dating Summer she feels . . . accepting. She accepts what happened. At the start of this trip, all she wanted was to tell Malcolm how she felt. And she did that. Several times over, in many different ways. Same as Jules in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Joy didn’t get the ending she wanted. But she still feels like a good person on the inside. A good person who loves her best friend and only wants to see him happy. She still feels like herself.

There’s a dash of optimism and a sprinkle of hope in there too.