It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Chapter Thirty-Four
Lily
I almost missed the note, I was in such a rush this morning. It was shoved
under my front door and was caught on the entry rug.
I had Emmy on my hip, a purse and a diaper bag on my shoulder, and
coffee in my free hand. I managed to bend and pick up the note without
spilling any of it. Supermom.
I had to wait until I got a quiet moment at work to open it. When I unfold
the note and see Atlas’s handwriting, I feel a shiver of relief run through me.
Not because I thought the note would be from anyone other than Atlas.
We’ve been together several months now, and he leaves me notes all the
time. But this is one of the first notes he’s left that a small part of me hasn’t
dreaded opening, in the off chance the note was from Ryle.
I make a mental note of the significance of this moment.
I do that a lot. Mentally note significant things that are clues my life is
finally getting back to normal. I don’t do it as often as I used to, but that’s a
good thing. Ryle is such a small part of my life now, I sometimes forget how
eternally complicated I used to believe it would be.
He’s still a part of Emmy’s life, but I’ve been demanding more structure
from him. He sometimes tries to push back on how strict I am with her visits,
but I’m never going to be comfortable until she can tell me in her own words
what her visits with Ryle are like. I’m hoping anger management is helping,
but only time will tell.
The contact Ryle and I do have is still sometimes terse, but all I’ve ever
wanted out of our divorce was my freedom from fear, and I truly feel like I
have that.
I’m hiding in my office storage closet, sitting cross-legged on the floor
because I wanted to read this letter uninterrupted. It’s been months since I
forced Atlas to hide out in here, but it still smells like him.