Page 225 - It Ends with Us

I can’t see hi m tracking down Atlas, tho ugh. Yet . I’m sure if I go a

week avoiding hi s calls and tex ts, he’l l look ev er ywhere he can
possibly look to find me. But for no w, I don’t thi nk he would sho w up
here.
Maybe tha t’s why I’m here. I feel safer here tha n any whe re el se I
could possibly go. And Atlas has an alarm system , so there’ s tha t.
I glanc e at the ni ght stand to look at my pho ne. I skip over all the

missed tex ts from R yle and open the one from Allysa.
Allysa: Hey, Aunt Lily! They’re sending us home tonight. Come see us
tomorrow when you get home from work.
She sent a picture of her and R ylee, and it makes me smile. Then
cry. Damn thes e em otions .
I wait unt il my ey es are dry again bef ore I walk int o the living room.

Atlas is sitting at hi s kitchen table, working on hi s laptop. When he
looks up at me, he smiles and closes it.
“Hey.”
I force a smile and then look in the kitchen. “Do you ha ve any thi ng
to ea t?”
Atlas stand s up quickly. “Yea h, ” he says. “Yea h, sit down. I’ll get

somet hi ng rea dy for you.”
I take a sea t on the couch as he works hi s way around the kitchen.
The tel evision is on, but it’s muted . I unm ute it and click on the DVR.
He ha s a few sho ws rec orded , but the one tha t catches my ey e is The
Ellen DeGeneres Sho w. I smile and click on the most rec ent unw atched
ep isode and hi t Play.
Atlas bring s me a bowl of pasta and a glass of ice water. He glanc es

at the TV and then sits down nex t to me on the couch.
For the nex t three ho urs, we watch a full week ’s worth of episodes .
I laugh out loud six times . It feel s good, but when I take a bathro om
brea k and come back to the living room, the wei ght of it all starts to
sink in again.

I sit back down on the couch nex t to Atlas. He’s lea ni ng back with
hi s feet propped up on the coffee table. I na turally lea n int o hi m and
just like he used to do when we were teena gers , he pulls me agains t
hi s ches t and we just sit there in silenc e. His thu mb brushes the
outside of my sho ulder, and I kno w it’s hi s uns poken way of saying
he’s here for me. Tha t he feel s bad for me. And for the firs t time