It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Lucy appears in the doorway of my office. She looks from me to Ryle, and
then back to me. “Are you okay?”
Ryle lets out an exasperated laugh. “She’s fine,” he says, irritated. Ryle
walks toward the door, and Lucy has to press herself against the doorframe to
avoid being bumped into. “A fucking lawyer,” I hear him mutter. “Let me
take one guess as to whose idea that was.” Ryle is walking toward the door
like he’s on a mission. Lucy and I both exit my office, most likely for the
same reason. To lock him out once he exits the shop.
When Ryle reaches the front door of the building, he spins around and
stabs me with a sharp glare. “I am a neurosurgeon. You work with flowers,
Lily. Remember that before your lawyer does anything stupid to threaten my
career. I pay for that fucking apartment you live in.” His threat is punctuated
by his hands slamming open the door.
Lucy is the one to lock it after he finally leaves because I’m frozen from
the impact of that last insult. She walks back to me and pulls me in for a
sympathetic hug.
I realize in this moment that the hardest part about ending an abusive
relationship is that you aren’t necessarily putting an end to the bad moments.
The bad moments still rear their ugly heads every now and then. When you
end an abusive relationship, it’s the good moments you put an end to.
In our marriage, the few terrifying incidents were blanketed by so many
good ones, but now that our marriage is over, the blanket has lifted and all
I’m left with are the worst pieces of him. Where our marriage was once full
of heart and flesh that cushioned the skeleton, all that’s left is the skeleton
now. Sharp, bony edges that slice right through me.
“You okay?” Lucy asks, smoothing her hands down my hair.
I nod. “Yeah, but… did it seem like he left here with a purpose? Like he
was going somewhere else?”
Lucy’s eyes scan the door again. “Yeah, he peeled out of the parking lot
pretty fast. Maybe you should warn Atlas.”
I immediately grab for my phone and call him.