Page 54 - It Ends with Us

Chapter Five

R yle was correc t. It onl y took a few days for my ank le to feel good
eno ugh tha t I could walk on it again. I waited a full week bef ore
attem pting to lea ve my apartment , tho ugh. The last thi ng I need is to
rei nj ure it.

Of course the firs t place I went was to my floral sho p. Allysa was
there when I arri ved today, and to say I was sho cked whe n I walked
thro ugh the front doors is an und ers tatem ent . It looked like a totally
different building tha n the one I bought . There’ s still a ton of work
tha t need s to be done, but she and Marsha ll ha d gotten rid of all the

stuff we marked as trash. Ever ythi ng el se ha d been organi zed int o
piles . The wind ows ha d been washed , the floors ha d been mopped .
She ev en ha d the area where I plan to put an offic e clea ned out.
I hel ped her for a few ho urs today, but she wouldn’t let me do
much that req uired walking at firs t, so I mostly drew out plans for the
store. We picked out paint colors and set a goal date to open the store
tha t’s approximatel y fif ty-four days from no w. After she lef t, I spent

the nex t few ho urs doing all the stuff she wouldn’t let me do whi le she
was there. It fel t good to be back. But Jesus Chr ist, I’m tired .
Whi ch is why I’m deb ating on whet her or no t to get up from the
couch and ans wer the kno ck at my front door. Lucy is at Alex ’s again
toni ght and I just spoke to my mother fiv e minu tes ago on the pho ne,
so I kno w it isn’t ei ther of them.

I walk to the door and chec k the peep ho le bef ore openi ng it. I
don’t rec ogni ze hi m at firs t, bec ause hi s hea d is down, but then he
looks up and to the right and my hea rt frea ks the hel l out!
What is he do ing he re?
R yle knocks again, and I try to brush my ha ir out of my face and
smooth it down with my ha nd s, but it’s a lost cause. I worked my ass
off today and I look like shi t, so unl es s I ha ve ha lf an ho ur to take a