It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Chapter Thirty-Five
Atlas
“Aren’t you rich?” Brad asks. “Couldn’t you hire people to do this for you?”
“I own two restaurants. I’m not even close to rich. And why would I hire
someone when I have you guys?”
“At least we’re going downstairs,” Theo says.
“Take notes from your son, Brad. Silver lining.”
We don’t have much left to move. Lily didn’t need a lot of her stuff since
my house is already furnished, so she donated most of it to a local domestic
violence shelter. We should have her apartment completely cleared out by
this afternoon.
Brad is the only person I know with a truck, so he and Theo have been
helping us load the things we can’t fit into our cars. Emerson’s crib, Lily’s
living room television, some of the artwork hanging on her walls.
Josh lucked out. He’s at baseball practice, so he didn’t have to help with
the move.
I was surprised when he came home a few months ago and told me he had
signed up for tryouts. He made the team and has been giving it everything he
has. Between Lily and I, we haven’t missed a single game.
I texted our mother his schedule, but so far she hasn’t shown up to a game.
She’s only shown up once to the dinners we started having every Tuesday
night. I was hoping she would want to be more involved, but I’m not
surprised she isn’t. I doubt Josh is surprised, either. We don’t focus too much
on what isn’t working out in our lives. We focus on what is, and there’s a lot
to be grateful for. The two main things being that I was able to get custody of
Josh, and Lily and Emerson are moving in with us. Funny how drastically life
can change on a dime.
The Atlas of last year wouldn’t know what to think of the Atlas of this
year.