“Should I…” Summer was still studying the pile of gifts in the hallway. She was clutching her shower caddy in one hand, and a robe hung over her other arm.

“You must be Summer?” Malinda didn’t give her any choice.

Summer looked a little alarmed, but Malinda swept her up in a hug similar to mine. She released Summer right away though and started grabbing the items one at a time.

“It’s so nice to meet you. Here. Let me grab all of these and get them out of the way.” She grabbed the flowers first and passed them to me as she said to Summer, “I’m Malinda, by the way. I married Samantha’s father.”

Summer started helping, putting her robe and caboodle down. As I put the flowers on my desk, she brought the balloons over. Malinda passed by her, starting with the bags of groceries.

Summer said, going back to help bring in the rest of the food, “I’m Summer. It’s really nice to meet you.”

“You can call me Mama Malinda.” She paused next to me, her hand resting on my shoulder. The touch was gentle. “That’s what Logan calls me, and it’s stuck. I like the nickname. I even got Mason to call me that one time.”

“You did?” I asked.

She nodded to me. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes gleamed from excitement. “I about choked on my coffee that morning, but I think he wanted to shock me. He did that usual face when he thinks something’s funny, but he doesn’t want to show it.” She mimicked him, standing like a statue, letting the corners of her mouth lift up and drop back down immediately. Her face was stoic before she broke out laughing. “You know how he is. He looks like a pissed off robot half the time.”

Summer was bringing in the last of the groceries, and she burst out a laugh but muffled it, coughing over it. “Wha—never mind.” She gestured to the hallway, reaching for her caboodle again. “I’ll be back in a bit.” She paused, grabbed clothes from her closet, and disappeared, shutting the door behind her.

“Is my dad coming, too?”

Malinda waved that off. “He was worried about that scene, catching any of the girls too early in the morning, if you know what I mean. My word, Sam.” She blinked several times at me, pressing a hand to her chest. “Your roommate is gorgeous.”

“Oh.” I laughed. “She used to be a model.”

“I had no idea. You talked about her, and Logan said she was gorgeous, but I didn’t realize how beautiful she was. That’s a relief.”

I started to pick at the bags of groceries. If my nose wasn’t deceiving me, I could smell some coffee somewhere. I asked, reaching for another bag that seemed heavier than the others, “Logan? Relief?”

“Well, yeah.” She plopped down on my bed. “I know you’ve had a hard time with girls being jealous of you. I was a little worried about how your roommate would handle your looks and your closeness to Mason and Logan. Not a lot of girls could handle that, but she seems like a very self-assured girl herself. That’s a relief for you.”

Aha! Coffee and a coffeemaker. Mama Malinda was my new favorite person.

I pulled the maker out of the bag and got right to work getting it set up.

“Samantha?”

“Huh?” I paused and looked over at her.

She fixed me with a look.

I slowly lowered the coffee machine to the desk as I asked, “What did I miss?”

She didn’t answer. She stared at me. Her brown hair was tamed under a red silk scarf. Gold thread weaved through it, somehow reflecting off her complexion. I stopped and really stared back at my new mother. Her love was right there. It was swimming on the surface with a few unshed tears in her eyes. Her lips were struggling not to smile too wide, and she pressed a hand to her cheek.

She huskily murmured, “Nothing. You’ve missed nothing. I’m just being an emotional mess over here.”

“Huh?”

“Go ahead.” She stood and waved at me. “I knew you’d find that first. I brought water for you two gals, too. You can use that to make the coffee.”

It wasn’t until later that I realized what happened. My new mom brought me stuff to college, and I’d dug right in, looking for the goodies, while she sat and got emotional.

I had been normal.

Right?

I asked Summer when her parents were coming, and she didn’t answer right away. She’d been quiet about her family since the first weekend. Both her mother and stepmother were there, helping her move into the room, but they barely talked to each other. Her father was, too. I hadn’t thought much about it. Who was I to be nosy about someone else’s family? Mine was crazy enough, but now, getting no response from my roommate, I started to wonder why.

I got the answer that night.

I’d just gotten back from dinner with David, Malinda, Logan, Mason, and Nate. Nate’s parents came with us. I hadn’t known they were in town, but they were tight-lipped. There were a lot of looks between Mason, Logan, Nate, and his parents. Malinda and David hadn’t been oblivious. They’d caught on to the undercurrents, whatever they were, but Malinda pretended they weren’t there. I’d caught her studying Nate’s mother a few times with a speculative look in her eyes. I couldn’t be sure what she saw, but I was glad that Malinda hadn’t pushed to know what was going on.

Nate’s parents gave me the chills. They reminded me of Helen—wealthy, pretentious, and just plain stuck-up snobs. However, they couldn’t snub their nose at Malinda. She had her own wealth, coming from her father, and she was connected. She ran in those hoity-toity circles that Mason and Logan’s parents had as well before the divorce and the implosion of my family on them.

At one point, Nate’s mother inquired about where Helen was, if she’d be attending parents’ weekend as well.

Logan snorted in laughter. “Are you kidding me? Pretty sure the formerly absent mother has returned back to her absent status.” He asked Mason, “What? She’s in Paris now?”

“Venice.”

Logan snorted again but in disgust. He let out a sigh. “I’ve lost my appetite now.”

For the only time that night, Nate’s mother lost her holier-than-thou air for a moment. She’d looked to be at a loss for words, but she’d folded her hands in her lap and kept her head down for twenty minutes after that.