Back It Starts with Us Save as PDF
Contents (41)
  1. Chapter One Atlas
  2. Chapter Two Lily
  3. Chapter Three Atlas
  4. Chapter Four Lily
  5. Chapter Five Atlas
  6. Chapter Six Lily
  7. Chapter Seven Atlas
  8. Chapter Eight Lily
  9. Chapter Nine Atlas
  10. Chapter Ten Lily
  11. Chapter Eleven Atlas
  12. Chapter Twelve Lily
  13. Chapter Thirteen Atlas
  14. Chapter Fourteen Lily
  15. Chapter Fifteen Atlas
  16. Chapter Sixteen Lily
  17. Chapter Seventeen Atlas
  18. Chapter Eighteen Lily
  19. Chapter Nineteen Atlas
  20. Chapter Twenty Lily
  21. Chapter Twenty-One Atlas
  22. Chapter Twenty-Two Lily
  23. Chapter Twenty-Three Atlas
  24. Chapter Twenty-Four Lily
  25. Chapter Twenty-Five Atlas
  26. Chapter Twenty-Six Lily
  27. Chapter Twenty-Seven Atlas
  28. Chapter Twenty-Eight Lily
  29. Chapter Twenty-Nine Atlas
  30. Chapter Thirty Lily
  31. Chapter Thirty-One Atlas
  32. Chapter Thirty-Two Lily
  33. Chapter Thirty-Three Atlas
  34. Chapter Thirty-Four Lily
  35. Chapter Thirty-Five Atlas
  36. Chapter Thirty-Six Lily
  37. Chapter Thirty-Seven Atlas
  38. Acknowledgments
  39. About the Author
  40. Also by Colleen Hoover
  41. Table of Contents

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 be successful at? What if I want to do something completely different every five years?”

Josh nods like he’s in complete agreement. “The teachers at school talk like we have to decide on one thing we love and stick with it, but I want to do a hundred things.”

I love how animated he is right now. He reminds me so much of a younger Atlas. “Like what?”

“I want to be a professional fisherman. I don’t know how to fish, but it sounds fun. And I want to be a chef. And sometimes I think it would be fun to make a movie.”

“Sometimes I dream of selling my flower shop and opening a clothing boutique.”

“I want to make pottery and sell it at fairs.”

“I’d like to write a book someday.”

“I want to be the captain of a ship,” he says.

“I think it would be fun to be an art teacher.”

“I think it would be fun to be a bouncer at a strip club.”

I sputter laughter at that, but I’m not the only one laughing. Josh and I glance up at Atlas, who is leaning in the doorway, laughing at our conversation.

I’m relieved to see him in a better mood than the one his mother left him in. Atlas smiles at me warmly.

“Lily made us breakfast,” Josh says to him.

“I see that.” Atlas walks over and kisses me on the cheek, then picks up a piece of bacon and takes a bite.

“Kind of sucks,” Josh mutters in warning.

“Don’t insult my girlfriend or I’ll stop cooking for you.” Atlas steals the last slice of bacon off Josh’s plate.

“These eggs are great, Lily,” Josh says with fake enthusiasm.

I laugh while Atlas takes a seat next to me. As much as I want to spend the entire day here with him, I’ve already stayed longer than I intended.

It also feels like he and Josh have a lot to work out today.