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

“You think I don’t know the lawyer was your idea?” he says.
I try to hide my surprise, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. Did
she speak to a lawyer about her situation? It makes me want to smile, but
I’m sure a smile would antagonize Ryle, and I do enough of that simply by
existing.
My lack of response is getting under his skin. Ryle’s face twists in anger.
“You might have her fooled right now, but you’ll have your first fight with
her. And your second. She’ll see that marriage isn’t fucking rainbows all the
goddamn time.”
“I could have a million arguments with her, but I can promise you they’ll
never end with her in the hospital.”
Ryle laughs. He’s trying to spin this to look like I’m the ridiculous one.
I’m not the one who barged into his place of work because I couldn’t
control my emotions.
“You have no idea what Lily and I have been through,” he says. “You
have no idea what I’ve been through.”
It’s like he showed up wanting a fight, but I’m not giving him that, so
he’s using it as a venting session. Maybe I should give him Theo’s number.
I’m seriously at a loss here.
I don’t want to come back to this moment tomorrow and see it as a lost
opportunity. My only goal is to make Lily’s life with this man more
peaceful. The last thing I want to do is make things more difficult between
us all, but until he gets it through his head that he’s the only one in control
of his reactions, I’m just as confused as Lily as to how to deal with him.
“You’re right, Ryle.” I nod slowly. “You’re right. I have no idea what
you’ve been through.” I take a seat on the stairs to let him know he has no
reason to feel threatened by me. And if he tries to attack me again while I’m
sitting, I’m not going to respond to him with as much composure this time.
I clasp my hands together and do my very best to speak in a way that might
get through to him.
“Whatever happened in your past helped make you a great neurosurgeon,
and the world needs that side of you. But your past also—for whatever
reason—made you a shitty husband. The world doesn’t need that side of
you. Just because we get the opportunity to be something, that isn’t a
guarantee that we’ll be good at it.”
Ryle rolls his eyes. “That’s dramatic.”