Page 285 - It Ends with Us

I no d again and then duck my hea d and cont inu e walking . I ha ve

no idea why I’m rea cting thi s way. Like I don’t kno w ho w to ho ld a
no rmal conv er sation. When I’m sev era l yards away, I glanc e back over
my sho ulder. He ha sn’t moved . He’s still watchi ng me as I walk away.
We round the corner and I see R yle waiting bes ide hi s car outside
the floral sho p. His face light s up when he sees us approachi ng . “Did
you get my em ail?” He kneel s down and beg ins to uns trap Emers on.

“Yea h, about the playpen rec all?”
He no ds as he pulls her out of the stroller. “Didn’t we buy one of
tho se for her?”
I pres s the buttons to fold the stroller and then walk it to the back
of hi s car. “Yeah, but it broke like a mont h ago. I threw it in the
Dumpster.”
He pops the trunk , and then touches Emers on’s chi n with hi s

fing ers . “Did you hea r tha t, Emmy? Your mommy saved your life. ” She
smiles up at hi m and slaps playfully at hi s ha nd . He kisses her on the
forehea d and then picks up her stroller and tosses it in the trunk . I
slam the trunk shu t and lea n over to give her a quick kiss.
“Love you, Emmy. See you tonight .”
R yle opens the back door to put her in the car sea t. I tel l hi m

goodbye and then I start to hea d back down the street in a rush.
“Lily!” he yel ls. “Where a re you going ?”
I’m sure he ex pec ted me to walk to the front door of my store,
sinc e I’m alread y late openi ng it. I probably sho uld, but the na gging
in my gut won’t go away. I need to do somet hi ng about it. I spin
around and walk backward. “There’ s somet hi ng I forgot to do! I’ll see
you when I pick her up toni ght !”

R yle lifts Emers on’s ha nd and they wave goodbye to me. As soon as
I round the corner, I brea k out int o a sprint . I dodge peo ple, bump
int o a few and cause one lady to curse at me, but it’s all worth it the
moment I see the back of hi s hea d.
“Atlas!” I yel l. He’s hea ding in the other direc tion, so I keep
pushi ng thro ugh the crowd. “Atlas!”

He stops walking but he doesn’t turn around . He cocks hi s hea d
like he does n’t want to fully trust hi s ea rs.
“Atlas!” I yel l again.