Page 188 - It Ends with Us

rea ssuranc e from hi m. The ant icipation of wha t I’m about to find out

is making me na useo us.
“No one is dying. I’m no t che ating on you. Wha t I’m about to tel l
you isn’t going to hu rt you, okay? It’s all in the past. But Allysa thi nk s
you need to kno w. And . . . so do I.”
I nod and he rel ea ses my ha nd s. He’s the one up and pacing no w,
back and forth behi nd the coffee table. It’s as if he’s ha ving to work

up the courage to find hi s own words and tha t’s making me ev en more
ner vous.
He sits in the cha ir again. “Lily? Do you rem em ber the night we
met ?”
I no d.
“You remember when I walked out ont o the roof? How ang ry I
was?”

I no d again. He was kicking the cha ir. It was bef ore he knew
marine- grade polymer was virtually ind es tructible.
“Do you remember my na ked truth? Wha t I told you about tha t
ni ght and wha t caused me to be so ang ry?”
I lea n my hea d down and thi nk back to tha t ni ght and to all the
truths he told me. He said marri age rep ulsed hi m. He was onl y int o

one- ni ght stand s. He nev er want ed to ha ve kids. He was mad about a
patient he’d lost tha t ni ght .
I start nodding . “The little boy,” I said. “Tha t’s why you were mad,
bec ause a little boy died and it upset you.”
He blows out a quick brea th of rel ief . “Yes . Tha t’s why I was mad.”
He stands up again and it’s like I see hi s ent ire soul crumble. He
pres ses hi s palms agains t hi s ey es and fig ht s back tea rs. “When I told

you about wha t ha ppened to hi m, do you rem em ber wha t you said to
me?”
I feel like I’m about to cry and I don’t ev en kno w why yet. “Yes . I
told you I couldn’t imagine wha t somet hi ng like tha t will do to tha t
little boy’s brother. The one who accident ally sho t hi m.” My lips start
to tremb le. “And tha t’s when you said, ‘It’ll de stroy hi m for life, that ’s

what it’ll do .’ ”
Oh, God.
Whe re is he going with thi s?