“It’s at seven. Nighttime wedding if you can swing it.”
“I can.” Atlas does this thing with his eyes where he briefly looks like he wishes we were alone. It’s sending tingles of warmth crawling down my spine. “I need to get back. Enjoy your lunch.” He nods at Allysa. “It was nice officially meeting you.”
“You too,” she says.
He gets halfway to the exit when he starts whistling. He walks away in a cheerful mood, and it makes my heart swell to see him so happy. I have no idea if his good mood has anything to do with me, but the teenage girl in me who was worried about him all those years ago is extremely pleased to see him doing so well in life.
“What’s wrong with him?”
When I glance at Allysa, she’s staring curiously at the door Atlas just disappeared out of. “What do you mean?”
“Why isn’t he married? Why doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”
“Hopefully he’ll have a girlfriend soon.” I can’t say it without smiling.
“He’s probably bad in bed. Maybe that’s why he’s single.”
“He is definitely not bad in bed.”
Her jaw drops. “You said you haven’t even kissed him yet; how would you know?”
“As adults,” I say. “You forget I have a history with him. He was my first, and he was very, very good. And I’m sure he’s gotten even better.”
Allysa stares at me for a beat, then says, “I’m happy for you, Lily.” But she’s frowning. “Marshall is going to like him, too. He’s so likable.” She says that like it’s the worst possible outcome.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing,” she says. “This whole thing is muddled; you know that. I don’t need to explain it to you. But I can absolutely see why you’re hesitant to tell Ryle. Knowing his ex-wife is sharing a bed with that block of perfection has to be extremely emasculating.”
I raise a brow. “Not as emasculating as beating your wife should feel.” I’m a little shocked when the words come out of my mouth, but I can’t take them back. I don’t think I need to, though, because luckily, my best friend isn’t a ride-or-die sister.
Rather than be offended, Allysa agrees with a nod. “Touché, Lily. Touché.”
Chapter Nineteen Atlas
I have no idea if twelve is too young to take an Uber, but I didn’t want to leave Josh at my place alone after school again, so I had one drop him off here at the restaurant. We discussed earlier this week that he should probably help out up here to pay off the damages he accrued.
I’ve been watching the Uber on a map, so I meet him out front. When he gets out of the car, he looks like a completely different kid from the one I met several days ago. He’s wearing clothes that fit him, I took him for a haircut yesterday, and he’s carrying a backpack full of books rather than cans of spray paint.
I doubt Sutton would even recognize him if she saw him.
“How was school?” Today was his second day at the new school. Yesterday he said it was okay but didn’t expand.
“It was okay.”
I guess that’s as much as I’ll get from a twelve-year-old. I open the door to my restaurant, and Josh pauses before walking in. He looks up at the building and assesses it. “Funny how I slept here for two weeks but this is the first time ever I’m walking through the entrance.”
I laugh and follow him into the restaurant. I’m excited for him to meet Theo, even though I haven’t had a chance to tell Theo about Josh yet. Theo arrived a few minutes ago and came through the back right as I was heading toward the front to fetch Josh.
Theo hasn’t been to the restaurant since last week, and I haven’t brought Josh around because I had to take some time off in order to attempt to get his life straightened out. When we walk through the double doors that lead to the busy kitchen, Josh pauses in wonder. He stares wide-eyed at the commotion. I’m sure the place is a lot different during the day than it was when he’d sleep here at night.
The door to my office is open, which means Theo must be in there doing his homework. I lead Josh in that direction, and he follows me as we make our way into the office. Theo is seated at my desk, reading. He looks up at me, then looks at Josh. He leans back in the desk chair and pulls in his chin. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Josh asks Theo.
They’re asking each other this like they know each other. I didn’t think they would since the schools here are so big, and there are so many. I wasn’t even sure which school Theo attended. “Do you two know each other?”
Theo says to me, “Yeah, he’s a new kid at my school.” Then to Josh, he says, “But how do you know Atlas?”
Josh drops his backpack and nudges his head toward me as he plops onto the sofa. “He’s my brother.”
Theo looks at me and then at Josh. Then at me. “Why didn’t I know you had a brother?”
“Long story,” I say.
“Don’t you think that’s something your therapist should know about?”
“You haven’t been here all week,” I say.
“I had math practice after school every day,” he says.
“Math practice? How does one practice math?”
Josh pipes in. “Wait. Theo is your therapist?”
Theo answers him with, “Yeah, but he doesn’t pay me. Hey, did you get Trent for math?”
“No, I got Sully,” Josh says.
