It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

from work early and the two of you were asleep on the couch. Talk about a
shock,” she says, laughing. “I thought you were so sweet and innocent, but
there you were on my living room sofa asleep with a random boy. I was
about to yell at you, but when he woke up, he looked so scared. Not scared of
me, really, now that I think about it. He looked more scared of the possibility
of losing you. Anyway, he left in a quiet hurry, so I followed him outside
because I was going to threaten him and tell him never to come back. But he
just… he did the weirdest thing, Lily.”
“What did he do?” My heart is in my throat.
“He hugged me,” she says, her voice tinted with a drop of laughter.
My jaw drops. “He hugged you? You caught him with your daughter redhanded
and he hugged you?”
She nods. “He did. And it was a knowing hug, too. It was like he carried
this genuine sorrow for me, and I felt that in his hug. Like he was
encouraging me, or comforting me. And then he just… walked away. I never
even got the chance to yell at him for being in my house with you
unsupervised. Maybe that was his plan—it could have been a manipulation
tactic, I don’t know.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t a tactic.” Considerate Atlas.
“I knew you were seeing him. And I knew you were hiding him from your
father rather than me, so I didn’t take it personally. I never interfered because
I liked that you had someone, Lily.” She gestures toward the house behind us.
“And now look. You have him forever.”
That story makes me squeeze Emerson a little tighter.
“It makes me happy to know there’s a man in your life that gives
meaningful hugs like that,” my mother says.
“He gives more than great hugs,” I deadpan.
My mother scoffs. “Lily!” She stands up, shaking her head. “I’m going
home now.”
I’m laughing to myself as she leaves. Then I use my free hand to text
Atlas.
I love you so much, you idiot.