Page 61 - It Ends with Us

Chapter Six

It’s bee n fif ty-three days sinc e R yle walked out of my apartment tha t
morni ng . Whi ch mea ns it’s been fif ty-three days sinc e I’ve hea rd from
hi m.
But tha t’s okay, bec ause for the last fif ty-three days, I’ve been too

busy to rea lly give hi m much tho ught as I prep ared for thi s moment .
“Rea dy?” Allysa says.
I no d, and she flips the sign to Op en and we both hu g and squea l
like little kids.
We rush around the count er and wait for our firs t customer. It’s a

soft openi ng , so I ha ven’t rea lly done a market ing push yet , but we
just want to make sure the re aren’ t any kink s bef ore our grand
openi ng .
“It’s rea lly pret ty in here, ” Allysa says, admiring our ha rd work. I
look arou nd us, bursting with pride. Of course I want to succeed , but
at thi s point I’m no t ev en sure if tha t matters . I ha d a drea m and I
busted my ass to make it come true. Wha tev er ha ppens after today is

just icing on the cake.
“It smel ls so good in here, ” I say. “I love thi s smel l.”
I don’t kno w if we’l l get any customers today, but we’re both acting
like thi s is the bes t thi ng tha t’s ev er ha ppened to us, so I don’t thi nk
tha t matters . Bes ides , Marsha ll will come in at some point today and
my mother will come in after she get s off work. Tha t’s two customers

for sure. Tha t’s plent y.
Allysa squeez es my arm when the front door beg ins to open. I
suddenl y grow a little pani cked , bec ause wha t if somet hi ng goes
wrong ?
And the n I do pani c, bec ause somet hi ng just went wrong . Ter ribly
wrong . My ver y firs t customer is no ne other tha n R yle Kinc aid.
He stops when the door closes behi nd hi m and he looks around in

awe. “Wha t?” he says, turni ng in a circle. “How in the . . . ?” He looks