Page 239 - It Ends with Us

doubt that I would ha ve cho sen hi m over R yle. I barel y ev en knew R yle

at tha t point .
But Atlas didn’t say any thi ng . He lied to me and told me he ’d been
in a rel ations hi p for an ent ire yea r. Why ? Why would he do tha t unl es s
he didn’t want me to thi nk I ha d a cha nc e with hi m?
Maybe I’ve been wrong all thi s time. Maybe he nev er ev en loved me
to beg in with and he knew tha t inv ent ing thi s Cassie pers on would

keep me away from hi m for good.
Yet , her e I am. Crashi ng at his ho use. Int era cting with hi s friend s.
Eating hi s food. Using hi s sho wer.
I can feel the tea rs beg in to sting my ey es and the last thi ng I want
is to stand in front of hi m and cry right no w. I walk around the table
and rush past hi m. I don’t make it far when he grabs my ha nd . “Wait.”
I stop, still facing the other direc tion.

“Talk to me, Lily.”
He’s right behi nd me no w, his ha nd still wrapped around mine. I
pull it away from hi m and walk to the other side of the living room.
I spin and face hi m just as the firs t tea r rolls down my cheek . “Why
did you nev er come back for me?”
He looked prep ared for any thi ng to come out of my mouth other

tha n the words I just spoke to hi m. He runs a ha nd thro ugh hi s ha ir
and walks to the couch, taking a sea t. After blowing out a calming
brea th, he caref ully looks over at me.
“I did, Lily.”
I don’t allow air to move in or out of my lung s.
I stand complet el y still, proces sing hi s ans wer.
He cam e bac k for me?

He folds hi s hand s toget her in front of hi m. “When I got out of the
Marines the firs t time, I wen t back to Maine, ho ping to find you. I
asked around and found out whi ch colleg e you went to. I wasn’t sure
wha t to ex pec t when I sho wed up, bec ause we were two different
peo ple by then. It ha d been four yea rs sinc e we saw ea ch other. I knew
a lot about both of us ha d probably cha ng ed in tho se four yea rs.”

My knees feel wea k, so I walk to the cha ir nex t to hi m and lower
mysel f. He cam e bac k for me?
“I walked around your campus the who le day looking for you.
Fina lly, late tha t afterno on, I saw you. You were sitting in the