Page 77 - It Ends with Us

I sigh, rel iev ed . “Plea se. I ha te thi s.” I face her and take a sip of my

coffee. She set s hers down bes ide her and then grips the count ert op.
“How did tha t ev en hap pen?”
I sha ke my hea d, trying my bes t no t to smile like I’m love- struck. I
don’t want her to thi nk I’m wea k, or a fool for giving in to hi m. “We
met bef ore I knew you.”
She tilts her hea d. “Wait,” she says. “Bef ore we got to know ea ch

other better or bef ore we knew ea ch other at al l?”
“At all,” I say. “We ha d a moment one ni ght , about six mont hs
bef ore I met you.”
“A moment ?” she says. “As in . . . a one- ni ght stand ?”
“No,” I say. “No, we nev er ev en kissed unt il last ni ght . I don’t kno w,
I can’t ex plain it. We just ha d thi s sort of flirtation thi ng going on for
a rea lly long time and it fina lly came to a hea d last ni ght . Tha t’s all.”

She picks up her coffee again and takes a slow drink from it. She
stares down at the floor for a whi le and I can’t hel p but no tice she
looks a little sad.
“Allysa? You’re no t mad at me, are you?”
She immed iatel y sha kes her hea d. “No, Lily. I just . . .” She set s
down her coffee cup again. “I just kno w my brother. And I love hi m. I

rea lly do. But . . .”
“But wha t?”
Allysa and I both look in the direc tion of the voice. R yle is stand ing
in the door way with hi s arms folded across hi s ches t. He’s wea ring a
pair of gray jogging pant s tha t are barel y ha ng ing on to hi s hi ps. No
shi rt. I’ll be addi ng thi s outfit to al l the othe r ones I’ve cat al ogued in my he ad.
R yle pushes off the door and makes hi s way int o the kitchen. He

walks over to me and takes my cup of coffee out of my ha nd s. He
lea ns in and kisses me on the forehea d, then takes a drink as he lea ns
agains t the count er.
“I didn’t mea n to int erru pt,” he says to Allysa. “By all mea ns ,
cont inu e your conv ers ation. ”
Allysa rolls her ey es and says, “Stop.”

He ha nd s me back my cup of coffee and turns around to grab hi s
own mug. He beg ins to pour from the pot. “It sound ed to me like you
were about to give Lily a warni ng . I’m just curious as to wha t you ha ve
to say.”