It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)

by Colleen Hoover

“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”

I am a brave and bold businesswoman with zero fucks to give for men in scrubs.

Instead of helping others, people use the worst-case scenarios to excuse their own selfishness and greed.

I don’t have to be modest and look away, because he’s mine.

This is just human nature, healing an old wound to prepare for a fresh new layer.

It made me want to uncover every single thing about this world that he likes and give it all to him.

But I didn’t die. Because he let go and here I am. Still living. Still breathing. Just barely.

Time can definitely heal all wounds.

“But Ryle? If anything like that ever happens again… I’ll know that this time wasn’t just an accident. And I’ll leave you without a second thought.”

All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.

I think about how sometimes, no matter how convinced you are that your life will turn out a certain way, all that certainty can be washed away with a simple change in tide.

Imagine all the people you meet in your life. There are so many. They come in like waves, trickling in and out with the tide. Some waves are much bigger and make more of an impact than others. Sometimes the waves bring with them things from deep in the bottom of the sea and they leave those things tossed onto the shore. Imprints against the grains of sand that prove the waves had once been there, long after the tide recedes.

Maybe love isn’t something that comes full circle. It just ebbs and flows, in and out, just like the people in our lives.

I’ll feel the weight of that love until I die.

Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive?

At the bottom in small print, he wrote, “Just keep swimming, Lily.”

I think that’s one of the biggest signs a person has matured—knowing how to appreciate things that matter to others, even if they don’t matter very much to you.

Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them.

It’s sad that those are the first thoughts that run through our minds when someone is abused. Shouldn’t there be more distaste in our mouths for the abusers than for those who continue to love the abusers?

“In the future… if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again… fall in love with me.” He presses his lips against my forehead. “You’re still my favorite person, Lily. Always will be.”

I know that you believe he loves you, and I’m sure he does. But he’s not loving you the right way. He doesn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved. If Ryle truly loves you, he wouldn’t allow you to take him back. He would make the decision to leave you himself so that he knows for a fact he can never hurt you again. That’s the kind of love a woman deserves, Lily.”

And as hard as this choice is, we break the pattern before the pattern breaks us.

Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles, rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet.

“It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.”

“You can stop swimming now, Lily. We finally reached the shore.”