Page 53 of The Romantic Agenda

“Yeah. My parents are still there. My sister moved here with me.”

“Is she the other girl on your RoT account? The one with the blue hair?”

He nods. “And yes, she’s gray too.”

“I wasn’t going to ask,” she lies. “What’s her name?”

“Fiona.”

“So Fox and Fiona from Virginia move to California for college? Work?”

“College.”

“And loved it so much, they decided to stay.”

“Something like that.”

Moving on, the cows are also friendly and surprisinglydowant to be touched. A reddish-brown cow who likes to have her ears rubbed ends up voluntarily resting her head in Joy’s arms. “Take a video,” she whispers near tears. “Quickly. Please.”

The rabbits and other small animals are next. Off to the side, in a room with open windows, their large pens are lined up in neat rows. All their ribbons are proudly pinned next to their name tags. There’s a large sign that says:Please do not open the cages or interact with the animals unsupervised!

“They must have seen you coming,” Fox jokes.

“That sign can’t stop me if I don’t read it.” Joy turns her phone over and over in her hands, eyeing Fox. “You wouldn’t be interested in taking some pictureswithme, would you?”

“You want me in your pictures?”

“I didn’t say that.” She looks into the cage of a gray rabbit with long floppy ears named Umji snacking on some sprouts. “It’s just I’m having a really shitty day and the past half-hour has been significantly less so. I’d like to capture the moment. Accurately.”

In fact, she hasn’t thought about Malcolm once since they entered the Barn Hall. A new record. Being with Fox made her feelless sad—the wildfire reduced to a smolder. Spending time with him and these adorable animals distracted her in just the way she needed.

“So.” Fox stands next to her, leaning against the edge of the cage. “You want me in your pictures?”

“Fine. Yes.” Joy gives in, pretending to be exasperated. “Please?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

Joy positions him next to her with Umji in the background. She takes a few pictures and each one makes her frown harder than the last. “So, idea. What if you smiled?”

“Hmm.”

“Don’thmmme. See, look.” She shows him her screen, swiping through the pictures. “Here we are. Beautiful, photogenic, but we look like we’re having a good time, not a great time. Umji? Adorable. Me? Excited ball of sunshine. You? Possibly constipated.”

This earns her a spontaneous snicker. Fox tries to turn away but isn’t quick enough.

“That look! Right there! That smile!” Joy matches his movements to face him. “Imagine I said something funny before every shot. That’s all we need.”

They try a few more test photos that still don’t pan out. Joy gives up and changes course. “Videos,” she says.

“What?”

She poses them for each take, makes sure they’re in frame with a furry guest star behind them, hits record, and tells him awful knock-knock jokes she stole from her dad. It works. By the end of their time in the Barn Hall, she’s the proud owner of five videos, actual photographic evidence, proving that Fox’s smile exists.

“Let’s do one more,” he says. “I have one for you.”

Joy chooses a beautiful pair of brown dwarf rabbits, Mable andDipper, saying hello before standing in front of them. “Ready?” She positions her phone.

“Knock, knock.”