I’d run from people trying to stifle me, trying to control me. My parents had always wanted to shove me in a tidy little box, uncaring about whatIwanted. About what my dreams were. I’d lived with that my entire life. And now, Atlas’s words had soothed a wound I hadn’t even realized was still raw after all these years, showing me he wanted me to soar, even if it meant watching me fly away.
“Atlas, I?—”
“Shit, I wasn’t supposed to get to that part until later.” Atlas scrubbed a hand down his face, muttering a curse under hisbreath. “Can we go inside for a minute? I need to show you something.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good?—”
“Please, Sutton,” he said, his voice low and sincere, a thread of panic woven through at the possibility of my walking away. “Five minutes.”
I wanted to say no. Definitely should have said no. Part of me was yelling at myself to walk away now while I still could. To not give him a second chance at breaking my heart. But the other part—the larger part—couldn’t help but see the earnestness in his eyes. The sincerity. The pain that mirrored my own. Couldn’t help but want to see what exactly he had planned.
Before I could stop myself, I nodded once. "Five minutes.”
With a relieved breath, he led us into the house, Pandora still perched on his shoulder like a tiny little bodyguard. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when he’d asked me to come inside, but it wasn’t leading me through the house and up the stairs until we stood outside the closed door of the guest bedroom.
I didn’t think I’d been gone that long, but it now smelled different in here—like paint and fresh wood. That scent had always meant new beginnings for me, and my stomach swooped at the thought that this might beournew beginning. If I did what Laurel had told me and kept an open mind.
“Are you ready?” he asked, lifting Pandora off his shoulder and setting her on the floor.
“I guess that depends on what’s behind that door. Did you get help with this part too?”
“Some. But it’s still not done. Turns out, it doesn’t matter how many zeroes I offer to add to a check, it doesn’t produce more hours in a day.” He swept his gaze over me from head to toe, that single glance reminding me exactly how good it had been with him. “But I couldn’t wait anymore.”
“Wait for what?”
“You.” With that, he opened the door to my old bedroom, but it wasn’t the gray walls, generic white bedding, and furniture that could’ve belonged to anyone that I’d been expecting. It had been completely transformed in the short time I’d been gone.
I gasped as I stepped inside and looked around at what had once been his guest room, but was now well on its way to becoming?—
“A library?” I breathed, taking in the warm and vibrant space.
The walls were a deep, rich teal, and a ridiculously girlie chandelier cast rainbows around the room. Enough floor-to-ceiling bookcases lined the perimeter to house triple my entire collection, and I wouldn’t have any problem reaching the higher shelves thanks to the freakingrolling ladder. Between that and the reading nook stacked high with pillows that hadn’t yet been arranged, I was in love.
“Yeah,” he said. “A library.”
I glanced at the stacks of books piled on the floor, noticing many,manyfamiliar titles. “I spot an awful lot of my favorites in here.”
“You should spotallof your favorites in here.”
“You bought allmyfavorite books foryourlibrary?”
“No, trouble. I bought all your favorite books so I could read the endings, see how those swoony motherfuckers turned shit around, and get a clue about how to win you back.”
Something warm and tender unfurled inside me, catching me off guard with its intensity. Unsure if I could trust the hope that seemed to grow with every second, I swallowed it down. “Is that what you’re doing?”
“I guess it depends on if it’s working or not.”
“It’s a very nice library—a little girlie for you, but?—”
“That’s because it’s not forme. It’s foryou.”
I stared at him in stunned silence for a moment, the reality of what he meant crashing into me. “Atlas?—”
“Fuck,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two keys. “I was supposed to give you these before I told you that, but you distracted me with how gorgeous you looked walking in here.”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head, so endeared by how he continued to fumble this when his entire career had been spent executing perfect plays. “What are those?”
“Your future.Ourfuture, I hope.” He swallowed hard, holding up a key hanging from a keychain that simply readhomeand placing it in my hand. “This one is for here—this house that never really felt like a home until you and Laurel moved in.” He held up the second key before setting it in my palm next to the other. “This one is blank because it can be for wherever you want to go. Boston, San Francisco, Chicago. Anywhere.”
