The romantic feelings came later, ushered in by thoughts of the future and family and growing old together. Intensifying when her eldest sister got engaged and had a lavish destination wedding. When her friends started moving in with their partners, buying furniture, adopting furbabies, and having actual babies. When she began living in her apartment alone.

Even if Malcolm doesn’t love her back romantically, he’ll never leave her. But that doesn’t mean the fall won’t leave her crushed and heartbroken in the end. That’s the risk she’s taking. And he’s worth it.

Joy takes another deep breath and steps out of the car.

One terrifying step at a time, she marches up the walkway to Malcolm’s front door. Unlike the rest of their friends, he’s the only one who made enough money to buy a home. Everyone else, Joy included, is still renting small apartments and condos, filling them with wistful dreams of someday having a backyard. He’s painted the outside of his house a soothing deep tan trimmed with cream and transformed the front yard into a wild garden of tall grass, flowering bushes, and a vegetable garden for the neighborhood rodents.

His human neighbors really hate him for the last part. Malcolm doesn’t care. He always does exactly what he wants, the way he wants, and he wants to feed animals to keep them out of the garbage because they deserve better. Thoughtful acts like that are Malcolm at his best. And make Joy love him even more.

Joy uses her key to let herself in. She closes the door, slipping off her shoes as she pauses in the entryway next to the coat closet.

An extremely feminine-sounding someone giggles in the kitchen.

Summer, her brain hisses. Joy turns right and walks softly, body pressed close to the wall like a wannabe spy in a Lifetime movie. Not wanting to be seen yet, she carefully peeks around the corner.

She instantly loses interest in the voice when she sees Malcolm.

Flannel shirt. Old, comfortable jeans. Hiking boots. A baseball hat.

The only time he dresses like a damn amateur lumberjack is to go camping.

Malcolm planned a romantic camping getaway—Joy feels the truth of it weighing down her anti-outdoor bones. He knows how much she hates it.

Nothing about camping appeals to Joy. Nothing. There’ll be an endless stream of insects determined to suck her blood (ticks and mosquitos) or kill her for the fun of it (yellow jackets), wild animals that will eat their food and their livers, no sanitized place to use the bathroom, and worst of all, shitty cell phone reception that’ll magically stop working when she needs it most.

Joy grips the door frame as she tries to tamp down on her rage.