Page 152 - It Ends with Us

Chapter Fifteen

I arrive at the res taurant fif teen minu tes late. Right when I was about
to close toni ght I ha d a customer come in to order flowers for a
funera l. I couldn’t turn them away bec ause . . . sadly . . . funera ls are
the bes t busines s for florists.

R yle waves me over to the table and I walk straight to them , doing
my bes t no t to look around . I don’t want to see Atlas. I tried twice to
get them to chang e the res taurant location, but Allysa was hel l-bent
on ea ting here after R yle told her ho w good it was.
I slide int o the booth and R yle lea ns over and kisses me on the

cheek . “Hey, girlfriend .”
Allysa groans . “God, you guys are so cute, it’s sickeni ng .” I smile at
her, and her ey es immed iatel y go to the corner of my ey e. It does n’t
look as bad as I tho ught it might today, whi ch is probably due to R yle
forcing me to keep ice on it. “Oh my God,” Allysa says. “R yle told me
wha t ha ppened but I didn’t think it was tha t bad.”
I glanc e at R yle, wond eri ng wha t he told her. The truth? He smiles

and says, “Olive oil was ev er ywhere. When she slipped , it was so
gracef ul you’d thi nk she was a balleri na .”
A lie.
Fair eno ugh. I would ha ve done the same thi ng .
“It was pret ty pathet ic,” I say with a laugh.
Someho w, we get thro ugh dinner witho ut a hi tch. No sign of Atlas,

no tho ught s of last ni ght , and R yle and I both avoid the wine. After
we’re fini shed with our food, our waiter approaches the table. “Care
for des sert ?” he asks.
I sha ke my hea d, but Allysa perks up. “Wha t do you ha ve?”
Marsha ll looks just as int eres ted. “We’re ea ting for two, so we’l l take
any thi ng cho colate, ” he says.
The waiter no ds, and when he walks away, Allysa looks at Marsha ll.

“Thi s baby is the size of a bed bug right no w. You bet ter no t enc ourage