It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us #2)(45)

“Wait. You haven’t kissed Atlas since you were sixteen?” She latched on to the absolute wrong point of this conversation. “Not even on your date last week?”

“We’re taking it slow. And that’s fine by me. The slower we take things, the more time it gives me before I have to break it to your brother.”

“I think you should just rip off the Band-Aid.” She points at my phone on the counter. “Text Ryle right now and tell him you’re dating Atlas. He’ll get over it; he doesn’t have a choice.”

“This is something I need to tell him in person.”

“You’re too considerate.”

“You’re too na?ve. If you think Ryle is going to get over it, you don’t know your brother very well.”

“I’ve never claimed to.” Allysa sighs and drops her chin into her hand. “Marshall told me he told you I cheated on him.”

I am so glad she’s changing the subject. “Yeah, that was a shock.”

“Drunken mistake. I was nineteen; nothing counts before you turn twenty-one.”

I laugh. “Is that right?”

“Yep.” She hops on the counter and starts swinging her legs. “Tell me more about Atlas. Tell me like I’m your best friend and not your ex-husband’s sister.”

And we’re back to this conversation. That was a quick break. “You sure this isn’t awkward for you?”

“Why, because Ryle is my brother? No, not awkward at all. He should have been nicer to you, and then you wouldn’t have to date Greek gods.” She wiggles her eyebrows with a grin. “So, what’s he like? He seems mysterious.”

“He’s not, really. Not to me.” I can feel the smile wanting to spread across my face, so I let it. “He’s so easy to talk to. And he’s kind. He’s Marshall kind, but not as outgoing. He’s more reserved. He works a lot, and I have Emmy all the time, so it’s been hard to make time for anything together. Plus, he just found out he has a little brother this week, so his life is kind of chaotic right now. Texts and phone calls are our primary source of communication, so that sucks.”

“Is that why you keep checking your phone?”

I can feel my cheeks warm when she says that. I hate that she’s noticed. I’ve tried my best to be inconspicuous with this. I don’t want anyone to know how often Atlas and I text, or how often I think about texting him, or how often I think about him.

Maybe I’m scared to talk about it with Allysa because I don’t want to allow myself to be happy about Atlas until I know Ryle isn’t going to be furious over Atlas.

I receive a text right in the middle of that thought, and it takes everything in me to fight my smile when I look at my phone and read it.

“Is that him?” Allysa asks.

I nod.

“What’s he saying?”

“He asked me if I want him to bring me lunch.”

“Yes,” Allysa says emphatically. “Tell him you’re starving, and so is your friend.”

I laugh and then reply to Atlas with, Could you bring lunch for two today? My coworker gets jealous when you bring me food.

He immediately replies with, Be there in an hour.



* * *



When Atlas finally shows up, both Allysa and I are busy with customers. He’s carrying a brown paper bag. I motion for him to wait by the counter, so he stands patiently while we finish up. Allysa is finished first, and for at least five minutes, she and Atlas are having a conversation I can’t hear from this side of the shop. I’m trying to give my attention to the customer in front of me, but knowing Allysa is speaking freely to Atlas has me more than nervous. I never know what’s going to come out of her mouth.

Atlas looks pleased, though. Whatever she’s telling him, he’s enjoying it.

It feels like a decade later when I’m finally free to join them. Atlas leans in and greets me with a kiss on the cheek when I reach him. His fingers graze my elbow for several seconds after our greeting before he pulls his hand away. That simple physical gesture sends a current through me, making it hard to focus without being too obvious that I get giddy around him.

Allysa smiles at me knowingly. “Adam Brody, huh?”

I have no idea what she’s referring to until I look at Atlas and he’s grinning. I had a poster of Adam Brody on my bedroom wall the first time Atlas came to my house.

I shove Atlas’s arm. “I was fifteen!”

He laughs, and I love that Allysa is being nice to him. I know she has every right to give complete loyalty to her brother, but it’s not in her to be rude to people simply because other people don’t like them.

She’s not a ride-or-die friend, nor is she a ride-or-die sister. That’s what I love the most about her, because I’m not ride-or-die, either. If you do something stupid, I’m going to be the friend who tells you you’re doing something stupid. I’m not going to join you in your stupidity.

I want my friends to treat me the same way. I prefer honesty over loyalty any day, because with honesty comes loyalty.

“Thank you for lunch,” I say. “Did you get Josh’s school situation settled?”

Atlas has been working to enroll him in a school more local to where he lives, rather than the school Josh was in all the way across town.