It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Chapter Nineteen
Atlas
I have no idea if twelve is too young to take an Uber, but I didn’t want to
leave Josh at my place alone after school again, so I had one drop him off
here at the restaurant. We discussed earlier this week that he should probably
help out up here to pay off the damages he accrued.
I’ve been watching the Uber on a map, so I meet him out front. When he
gets out of the car, he looks like a completely different kid from the one I met
several days ago. He’s wearing clothes that fit him, I took him for a haircut
yesterday, and he’s carrying a backpack full of books rather than cans of
spray paint.
I doubt Sutton would even recognize him if she saw him.
“How was school?” Today was his second day at the new school.
Yesterday he said it was okay but didn’t expand.
“It was okay.”
I guess that’s as much as I’ll get from a twelve-year-old. I open the door to
my restaurant, and Josh pauses before walking in. He looks up at the building
and assesses it. “Funny how I slept here for two weeks but this is the first
time ever I’m walking through the entrance.”
I laugh and follow him into the restaurant. I’m excited for him to meet
Theo, even though I haven’t had a chance to tell Theo about Josh yet. Theo
arrived a few minutes ago and came through the back right as I was heading
toward the front to fetch Josh.
Theo hasn’t been to the restaurant since last week, and I haven’t brought
Josh around because I had to take some time off in order to attempt to get his
life straightened out. When we walk through the double doors that lead to the
busy kitchen, Josh pauses in wonder. He stares wide-eyed at the commotion.
I’m sure the place is a lot different during the day than it was when he’d sleep
here at night.