Page 118 - It Ends with Us

He set hi s briefcas e do wn on the kitche n tab le an d the n wal ked to the

refrigerat or an d pulled out a beer.
“The electricity has been out,” I sai d. “I was bored so I de cide d to bak e whi le
I wai ted for it to come bac k on.”
My fat he r sat do wn at the tab le and spent the next ten minutes as king me
questions ab out scho ol an d if I’d tho ught ab out going to college. Oc cas ional ly
whe n it was just the two of us, I saw glimpses of a ho w a normal relat ionshi p

with a fat he r could be. Sitting at the kitche n tab le with hi m di scussing colleges
an d career cho ices an d hi gh scho ol. As much as I hat ed hi m most of the time, I
still longed for more of the se moments with hi m. If he could just al way s be the
guy he was cap ab le of being in the se moments, thi ngs would be so much
di f ferent. For al l of us.
I rotat ed the cookies like Atlas had sai d to do an d whe n the y were finishe d, I
pulled the m out of the oven. I took one of f the cookie she et an d han de d it to my

fat he r. I hat ed that I was being nice to hi m. It al most felt like I was was ting
one of Atlas ’s cookies.
“Wow,” my fat he r sai d. “The se are great , Li ly.”
I forced a than k-you, even tho ugh I di dn ’t mak e the m. I couldn ’t ver y well
tell hi m that , tho ugh.
“The y’re for scho ol so you can only hav e one,” I lied. I wai ted until the rest

of them cooled an d the n I put the m in a Tupper ware contai ner an d took the m
to my room. I di dn ’t even wan t to tr y one witho ut Atlas , so I wai ted until lat er
las t night whe n he cam e over.
“You sho uld hav e tried one whe n the y were ho t,” he sai d. “Tha t’s whe n
the y’re the best.”
“I di dn ’t wan t to eat the m witho ut you,” I sai d. We sat on the bed with our
bac ks ag ai nst the wal l an d proceede d to eat hal f the bowl of cookies. I told hi m

the y were de licious, but fai led to tell hi m the y were by far the great est cookies I’d
ever eat en. I di dn ’t wan t to inflat e hi s ego. I kind of liked ho w hu mble he was .
I tried to grab at an othe r one, but he pulled the bowl aw ay an d put the lid
bac k on it. “If you eat too man y you’ll mak e yourself sick an d you won’t like my
cookies an ymore.”
I lau ghe d. “Impossible.”

He took a dr ink of wat er an d the n stood up, fac ing the bed. “I made you
somethi ng,” he sai d, reac hi ng into hi s pocket.
“More cookies?” I as ked.