Page 219 - It Ends with Us

immed iatel y begin to sha ke and I drop the paper back on the table. I

close my ey es and take a slow sip of the orang e juice.
A few minu tes later, Atlas set s a plate down in front of me, then
claims the sea t across from me at the table. He pulls hi s own plate of
food in front of hi m and cuts int o a crep e with hi s fork.
I look down at my plate. Three crep es , drizzled in syrup and
garni shed with a dab of whi pped crea m. Orang e and strawberr y slices

line the right side of the plate.
It’s almost too pret ty to ea t, but I’m too hu ng ry to care. I take a
bite and close my ey es , trying no t to make it obvious tha t it’s the bes t
bite of brea kfast I’ve ev er ha d.
I fina lly allow mysel f to admit tha t hi s res taurant des er ved tha t
award. As much as I tried to talk R yle and Allysa out of going back, it
was the bes t res taurant I’d ev er been to.

“Where d id you lea rn to cook?” I ask hi m.
He sips from a cup of coffee . “The Marines ,” he says, placing the
cup back down. “I trained for a whi le during my firs t stint and then
when I reenl isted I came on as a chef .” He taps hi s fork agains t the
side of hi s plate. “You like it?”
I no d. “It’s delicious. But you’re wrong . You knew ho w to cook

bef ore you enl isted .”
He smiles . “You remember t he cookies ?”
I no d again. “Bes t cookies I’ve ev er ea ten. ”
He lea ns back in hi s cha ir. “I taught mysel f the basics. My mother
worked sec ond shi ft when I was growing up, so if I want ed dinner at
ni ght I ha d to make it. It was ei ther tha t or star ve, so I bought a
cookbook at a yard sale and made ev er y sing le rec ipe in it over the

course of a yea r. And I was onl y thi rteen. ”
I smile, sho cked tha t I’m ev en able to. “The nex t time someo ne
asks you ho w you lea rned to cook, you sho uld tel l them that story. Not
the other one. ”
He sha kes hi s hea d. “You’re the onl y pers on who kno ws any thi ng
about me bef ore the age of ni net een. I’d like to keep it tha t way.”

He beg ins tel ling me about working as a chef in the military. How
he saved up as much money as he could so tha t when he got out, he
could open hi s own res taurant. He started with a small café tha t did