Chapters (37)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Acknowledgments
- Readers Guide
- DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Before I said yes, I made him promise that he’ll always be honest with me and to always talk to me first. Any time he feels conflicted or unsure or wants to go to you? I want him to stop and think if it’s something he can talk to me about instead. I want him to give me a fair chance to try to learn how to be who and what he needs in life. His actual partner. For real. Not some runner-up because he knows he has you too.”
“Summer, that’s—”
“Wait. Let me finish, because I realized something else.” Summer exhales in a whoosh, completely emptying her lungs. “The more I thought about everything, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still wrong. That maybe I wasn’t being any different than Caroline had been. By making Malcolm promise that, I was asking him to choose. And then it hit me: it’s not really about who comes first or second. It’s about who Malcolm chooses to let in. If it’s going to work between us, he has to be willing to let me in too. That’s what I need from him, and I don’t think he’s ever done that before. Not with Caroline or anyone else besides you. He just thinks he has. I want to know the real Malcolm. Good and bad. All of him. Or nothing at all.”
“Well.” Joy leans forward, covering her trembling mouth with her hand. Her jaw and eyes ached from the force of not crying. “I think you might be the first person who decided to not make this into a competition for Malcolm. Me included.”
Summer sits up a little straighter, a tentative smile appearing on her face. “Because it’s not. Accepting Malcolm means accepting you too. As long as you respect me and my boundaries, I promise to always do the same.”
Maybe she and Malcolm wouldn’t have to let go. Maybe Summer is the one they’ve both been waiting for.
“When Malcolm first told me about you, he said it felt different and that you were special. I think he might have been onto something.”
“Really?”
Joy nods. “This might not be as easy as we’re hoping it will, optimism really will only take us so far, but I promise too. All I want is for Malcolm to be happy.”