Page 169 - It Ends with Us

ho urs. Le t’s just say we both kissed a lot. We both lau ghe d a lot. We both loved

a lot. We both breat he d a lot. A lot. And we both had to cover our mouths an d
be as quiet an d still as we could so we wouldn ’t get cau ght .
Whe n we were finishe d, he he ld me ag ai nst hi m, skin to skin, han d to he ar t.
He kissed me an d looked strai ght in my eyes.
“I love you, Li ly. Ever ythi ng you are. I love you.”
I know tho se words get thrown around a lot, especial ly by teenag ers. A lot of

times premat urely an d witho ut much merit. Bu t whe n he sai d the m to me, I
knew he was n’t say ing it like he was in love with me. It was n’t that kind of “I
love you.”
Imag ine al l the people you meet in your life. The re are so man y. The y come
in like wav es, trickling in an d out with the tide . Some wav es are much bigger
an d mak e more of an impac t than othe rs. Sometimes the wav es bring with the m
thi ngs from de ep in the bottom of the sea an d the y leav e tho se thi ngs tossed onto

the sho re. Imprints ag ai nst the grai ns of san d that prove the wav es had once
been the re, long af ter the tide recedes.
That was what Atlas was telling me whe n he sai d “I love you.” He was
letting me know that I was the biggest wav e he ’d ever come ac ross. And I
brought so much with me that my impressions would al way s be the re, even
whe n the tide rolled out.

After he sai d he loved me, he told me he had a bir thday present for me. He
pulled out a smal l brown bag . “It isn’t much, but it’s al l I could af ford. ”
I opened the bag an d pulled out the best present I’d ever received. It was a
mag net that sai d “Bo ston” on the top. At the bottom in tiny letters, it sai d
“Whe re ever ythi ng is better.” I told hi m I would keep it forever, an d ever y time I
look at it I’ll thi nk of hi m.
Whe n I star ted out thi s letter, I sai d my sixteenth bir thday was one of the

best day s of my life. Be cau se up until that second, it was .
It was the next few minutes that weren’t.
Be fore Atlas had sho wn up that night , I was n’t expecting hi m, so I di dn ’t
thi nk to lock my bedroom do or. My fat he r he ard me in the re tal king to someone,
an d whe n he threw open my do or an d saw Atlas in bed with me, he was
an grier than I’d ever seen hi m. And Atlas was at a di sadv an tag e by not being

prepared for what cam e next.
I’ll never forget that moment for as long as I live. Be ing completely he lpless
as my fat he r cam e do wn on hi m with a bas ebal l bat . The sound of bones
snap ping was the only thi ng piercing through my scream s.