Page 180 - It Ends with Us

dinner with Allysa and Marsha ll.

Allysa is due in a few week s, so she’s forcing as much couple time
on us as she can. She’s worri ed we’l l stop coming to visit after the
baby is born, whi ch I kno w is ridiculous. The visits will just grow more
freq uent . I alrea dy love my ni ece more tha n any of them , any way.
Okay, maybe no t. But it’s close.
I try to avoid get ting my ha ir wet as I rins e off, bec ause we’re

alrea dy runni ng late. I grab my razor and pres s it und er my arm when
I hea r a crash. I pause.
“R yle?”
Nothi ng .
I fini sh sha ving and then wash the soap off. Ano ther crash.
What in the world is he do ing?
I turn off the water and grab a towel , runni ng it over mysel f. “R yle! ”

He still does n’t res pond . I pull my jea ns on in a hu rr y and open the
door as I’m pulling my shi rt over my hea d. “R yle?”
The ni ght stand by our bed is tipped over. I move to the living room
and see hi m sitting on the ed ge of the couch, hi s hea d in one of hi s
ha nd s. He’s looking down at somet hi ng in hi s other ha nd .
“Wha t are you doing ?”

He looks up at me and I don’t rec ogni ze hi s ex pres sion. I’m
conf used by wha t’s ha ppeni ng . I don’t kno w if he just got bad new s
or . . . Oh, God. Allysa.
“R yle, you’re scaring me. Wha t’s wrong ?”
He ho lds up my pho ne and just looks at me like I sho uld kno w
wha t’s ha ppeni ng . When I sha ke my hea d in conf usion, he ho lds up a
piec e of paper. “Funny thi ng ,” he says, set ting my pho ne on the coffee

table in front of hi m. “I dropped your pho ne by accident . Cover pops
off. I find thi s nu mber hi dden in the back of it.”
Oh, God.
No , no, no.
He crumbles the nu mber in hi s fis t. “I tho ught , ‘Huh. That ’s weird.
Li ly do esn’t hi de thi ngs from me.’ ” He stand s up and picks up my pho ne.

“So I called it.” He tight ens his fis t around the pho ne. “He’s lucky I
got hi s fucking voice mail.” He chu nk s my pho ne clea r across the
room and it crashes agains t the wall, sha tteri ng to the floor.