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

plate of breakfast. I sit across from him at the table, and he eyes me while
he eats. I feel like I’m being sized up.
“Where’s Emerson?” he asks.
“She’s with her aunt.”
Josh nods and takes a bite of his food. Then: “How long have you and
my brother been together?”
I shrug. “That depends. I’ve known him since I was fifteen, but we
started dating about a month and a half ago.”
There’s a flash of surprise on Josh’s face. “Really? Were you, like,
friends back then or something?”
“Or something.” I take a sip of my coffee, and then set it down carefully.
“Your brother didn’t have anywhere to live when I met him, so I helped him
for a while.”
Josh leans back in his chair. “Really? I thought he lived with our mom.”
“When she and your dad would allow it,” I say. “But he spent a lot of
time trying to survive without their help.” I hope I’m not saying too much,
but I feel like Josh needs a better understanding of Atlas. “Go easy on your
brother, okay? He cares a lot about you.”
Josh stares at me for a beat, then nods. He leans over his plate again,
taking a bite of bacon. He drops the bacon back onto the plate and wipes his
mouth with a napkin. “His cooking is normally better than this.”
I laugh. “That’s because I made it.”
“Oh, shit,” Josh says. “Sorry.”
I don’t take offense at all because I’m sure he’s getting used to Atlas’s
cooking. “Do you think you want to be a chef like him? He told me you like
helping out at the restaurants.”
Josh shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s fun. Maybe. But I feel like I’ll get tired
of it. He works a lot of nights. I feel like I’ll get tired of any career after a
few years, though, so I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Sometimes I feel like I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow
up.”
“I thought you owned a flower shop or something. That’s what Atlas told
me.”
“I do. Before that, I used to work at a marketing firm.” I push my plate
aside and fold my arms on the table. “I still feel like you do, though.
Worried about boredom. Why are we expected to pick one thing to try and