15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

I purse my lips together and wrap my arm over my chest, grabbing at my elbow. “Yes. That’s why I didn’t want to go back, Ryle. I ...

I close my eyes and wish I could wash away the entire last two days. Atlas is wrong about Ryle. I just wish Atlas knew he was wr ...

Chapter Sixteen “I mean... I’m not trying to be selfish, but you didn’t taste the dessert, Lily.” Allysa groans. “Oh, it was soo ...

She scrunches up her nose and says, “If it isn’t fair that we can’t go back there because of the owner, how is it fair that the ...

Why is he buying me gifts? He has a girlfriend. I have a boyfriend. Our past has already caused enough problems in my present. I ...

I wince at the gesture. The unnecessary gesture. “I won’t need it.” “I hope not.” He walks to the door and reaches for the doork ...

paper. I tear the tissue paper away and fall against the back of my chair. There’s a picture of Ellen DeGeneres on the front. Th ...

Chapter Seventeen It’s after seven before I get home. Ryle called an hour ago and said he wouldn’t be coming over tonight. The c ...

And then the absolute worst. It had been exactly forty-two days since Atlas left for Boston. I counted every day like it would h ...

It was probably no later than ten o’clock when he got there, but we talked so much, I remember it was after midnight the next ti ...

The next thing he said made his blue eyes tear up until they looked clear. He said, “Lily. Life is a funny thing. We only get so ...

hours. Let’s just say we both kissed a lot. We both laughed a lot. We both loved a lot. We both breathed a lot. A lot. And we bo ...

I still don’t know who called the police. I’m sure it was my mother, but it’s been six months and we still haven’t talked about ...

—Lily I flip to the next page, but it’s blank. That was the last time I ever wrote to Ellen. I also never heard from Atlas again ...

I love him. I still do and I always will. He was a huge wave that left a lot of imprints on my life, and I’ll feel the weight of ...

Part Two ...

Chapter Eighteen “Oh, God. I think I might throw up.” Ryle puts his thumb under my chin and tilts my face up to his. He grins at ...

His mother reaches for me and pulls me in for a hug, and her laughter is everything I need to get me through this moment. “Lily! ...

that.” I don’t push things with Ryle when it comes to speeding things up in our relationship. Our lives are perfect how they are ...

The three of us are quiet for a moment, and then Allysa starts kicking her legs up and down on the bed, giddy with excitement. “ ...