Page 44 - It Ends with Us

sea ted on top of it, lea ni ng agains t the wall with my leg stret ched out

in front of me.
“Wel l, the good new s is tha t it isn’t broken. ”
“Wha t’s the bad new s?” I ask hi m.
He opens the firs t aid kit and says, “You’ll need to stay off of it for a
few days. Maybe ev en a week or more, dep end ing on ho w it hea ls.”
I close my ey es and lea n my hea d agains t the wall behi nd me. “But

I ha ve so much to do,” I whi ne.
He caref ully beg ins to wrap my ank le. Allysa is stand ing behi nd
hi m, watchi ng hi m wrap it.
“I’m thi rsty,” Marsha ll says. “Any body want somet hi ng to drink ?
There’ s a CVS across the street .”
“I’m good,” R yle says.
“I’ll take a water,” I say.

“Sprite, ” Allysa says.
Marsha ll grabs her ha nd . “You’re coming with. ”
Allysa pulls her ha nd from hi s and crosses her arms over her ches t.
“I’m no t going any where, ” she says. “My brother can’t be trusted .”
“Allysa, it’s fine, ” I tel l her. “He was making a joke. ”
She stares at me silent ly for a moment , and then says, “Okay. But

you can’t fire me if he pulls more stupid shi t.”
“I promise I won’t fire you.”
Wi th that, she grabs Marsha ll’s ha nd again and lea ves the room.
R yle is still wrapping my foot when he says, “My sister works for you?”
“Yep . Hired her a couple of ho urs ago.”
He rea ches int o the firs t aid kit and pulls out tape. “You do rea lize
she’s nev er ha d a job in her en tire life?”

“She alrea dy warned me, ” I say. His jaw is tight and he does n’t look
as rel axed as he did ea rlier. Then it hi ts me tha t he might thi nk I
hi red her as a way to get closer to hi m. “I ha d no idea she was your
sister unt il you walked in. I swea r.”
He glanc es at me, and then back down at my foot. “I wasn’t
sugges ting you knew.” He beg ins to tape over the ACE band age.

“I kno w you weren’ t. I just didn’t want you to thi nk I was trying to
trap you someho w. We want two different thi ng s from life,
remember?”