Booktree.ngIt-Starts-with-Us-Colleen-Hoover

Josh laughs for the first time this morning. “Dude, those croutons were
fucking delicious.”
I groan. “Don’t use that word.”
The Risemore Inn is clear on the other side of Boston. It takes us forty-five
minutes with traffic to get there, and it’s not even a weekday. When we pull
into the parking lot, Josh doesn’t immediately get out of the car. He just sits
quietly in the passenger seat, staring at the building like it’s the last place he
wants to be.
I wish I didn’t have to return him to his mother, but I put in another call
to my lawyer friend this morning after talking with Sutton. He said if I want
to go about this the right way without her having ammunition against me,
the only thing I can do is return him. And then, if I want to take her to court,
he said I need to get a lawyer and go through the process.
Anything done outside the process could be a mark against me.
Apparently, you can’t just kidnap your sibling, even if you know they’re
in danger.
I wanted to explain all of this to Josh in more detail—to let him know
I’m not just abandoning him with her—but he’s so hell-bent that he’s going
to live with his dad, I’m not sure he even wants to live with me. And I’m
not sure I’m prepared to raise a little brother, but as long as I’m alive,
there’s no way I can willingly leave him in this woman’s permanent custody
without at least trying.
Until I can figure out what to do next, I don’t want him to find himself in
a situation where he has no food to eat, or no money to extend their hotel
stay. I pull out my wallet and hand him a credit card.
“Can I trust you with this?”
Josh looks at the credit card in my hand, and his eyes grow a little wide.
“I don’t know why you would. I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to
destroy your businesses.”
I push the credit card toward him. “Use it for basic necessities. Food,
minutes for your phone.” We stopped on the way here and got him a
prepaid phone so he could stay in touch with me. “Maybe some new clothes
that fit.”