Page 41 - It Ends with Us

to the other guy. He step s around Marsha ll and the firs t thi ng I no tice

are hi s arms.
Holy shi t. I kno w tho se arms.
Tho se are the arms of a neu rosurgeo n.
Allysa is hi s sister? The sister tha t owns the ent ire top floor, with the
hu sband who works in pajamas and bring s in sev en fig ures a yea r?
As soon as my ey es lock with R yle’s, hi s who le face morphs int o a

smile. I ha ven’t seen hi m in— God, ho w long ag o was that —s ix mont hs ? I
can’t say I ha ven’t tho ught about hi m during the past six mont hs ,
bec ause I’ve tho ught about hi m quite a few times . But I ne ver actually
tho ught I’d see hi m again.
“R yle, thi s is Lily. Lily, my brother, R yle, ” she says, motioni ng
toward hi m. “And tha t’s my hu sband , Marsha ll.”
R yle walks over to me and kneel s down. “Lily,” he says, reg arding

me with a smile. “Nice to mee t you.”
It’s obvious he remembers me—I can see it in hi s kno wing smile.
But like me, he’s pret end ing thi s is the firs t time we’v e met . I’m no t
sure I’m in the mood to ex plain ho w we alrea dy kno w ea ch other.
R yle touches my ank le and ins pec ts it. “Can you move it?”
I try to move it, but a sha rp pain sho ots all the way up my leg . I

suck in air thro ugh my teet h and sha ke my hea d. “Not yet . It hu rts.”
R yle motions to Marsha ll. “Find somet hi ng to put the ice in. ”
Allysa follows Marsha ll out of the room. When they ’re both gone,
R yle looks at me and hi s mouth turns up int o a grin. “I won’t cha rge
you for thi s, but onl y bec ause I’m slight ly ineb riated ,” he says with a
wink .
I tilt my hea d. “The firs t time I met you, you were hi gh. Now you’re

drunk . I’m beg inni ng to worr y you aren’ t going to make a ver y
qualified neu rosurgeo n. ”
He laughs . “It would appea r tha t way,” he says. “But I promise you,
I rarel y ev er get hi gh and thi s is my firs t day off in over a mont h, so I
rea lly need ed a beer. Or fiv e. ”
Marsha ll comes back with an old rag wrapped around some ice. He

ha nd s it to R yle, who pres ses it agains t my ank le. “I’ll nee d tha t firs t
aid kit out of your trunk ,” R yle says to Allysa. She no ds and grabs
Marsha ll’s ha nd , pulling hi m out of the room again.