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It Starts with Us
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Chapters 25-37Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary: “Atlas”
The next morning, Josh continues to ask Atlas to search for his father, but when Atlas calls Josh’s father, he receives no response. Shortly after, Lily calls and asks if she can come over with Emerson. Her request confuses Atlas as Lily shared that she would not introduce him to her daughter for a while. When she arrives, she immediately begins to cry. Inside, she tells Atlas about Ryle’s outburst over their relationship. As the day progresses, Atlas recognizes the significance of meeting Emerson and that she “might one day end up becoming my daughter” (222). After declaring themselves officially in a relationship, Lily and Atlas discuss her custody arrangement with Ryle: She does not believe Ryle will file for joint custody due to his busy work schedule as a surgeon. She and Lily say goodbye and leave Atlas’s home.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Lily”
Days after Ryle’s outburst, Lily receives a barrage of angry text messages from him, but she ignores them and attempts to focus on work. When Ryle suddenly shows up at the flower shop and attempts to apologize, Lily informs him that she will be speaking to her lawyer about his abusive behavior. Ryle storms off. Worried about Ryle’s anger towards Atlas, Lily calls Atlas to warn him.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Atlas”
After missing several of her calls, Atlas speaks with Lily. Right after she warns him, Ryle appears in the kitchen of Atlas’s restaurant. The two head outside to talk. Ryle immediately punches Atlas, who does not fight back. As the two men argue, Atlas attempts to keep his composure and reason with Ryle, who struggles to take accountability for his abuse of Lily. Atlas pleads with Ryle to let go of his animosity towards him for the benefit of Lily and Emerson, but Ryle refuses and rushes off. Later that evening, Atlas stops by Lily’s apartment to comfort her and update her on his conversation with Ryle. The two make love.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Lily”
Lily throws a small birthday party for Emerson’s first birthday, and she and Ryle avoid each other for most of the party. When Ryle attempts to talk to her about their custody arrangement, Lily informs Ryle that she will only speak to him over text. Then, Allysa pulls Lily into a room to talk. She offers to watch Emerson for the night so that Lily and Atlas can spend the night together.
Excited, Lily surprises Atlas at work and watches him in the kitchen. They head to Atlas’s home for the evening and have sex in the shower. Later, she shares her intentions to set boundaries with Ryle and have Allysa mediate a discussion between them. Lily and Atlas reconfirm their commitment to each other and discuss a timeline for living together and getting married.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Atlas”
The next morning, Atlas’s mother surprises him at his home and attempts to take Josh home with her. During their discussion, Josh refuses to leave with her but also expresses his desire to live with his father. Heartbroken, Atlas isolates himself and rejects Lily’s attempts to comfort him.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Lily”
Lily makes breakfast for Josh and answers his questions about her relationship with Atlas. As Lily prepares to leave, she overhears Atlas telling Josh that they will be taking a road trip to Vermont to see Josh’s father.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Atlas”
Atlas and Josh drive to Vermont. Nervous, Josh hesitates to knock on Tim’s front door and asks Atlas about the scars on his arm. Atlas reveals that the scars are from Tim. After sensing Josh’s indecision over reuniting with his father, Atlas shares his honest opinion of Tim and his abandonment of Josh but tells Josh that he will support him no matter what. Josh decides not to reunite with his father and to return home with Atlas.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Lily”
Lily prepares to head over to Allysa’s house with Emerson. Atlas stops by briefly and shares his plans to meet with his mother that evening to discuss his custody of Josh. Lily also plans to confront Ryle about his behavior with the support of Allysa and Marshall. They wish each other luck.
Lily arrives at Allysa’s apartment and sits down to talk with her, Ryle, and Marshall. Undeterred by Ryle’s anger, Lily informs Ryle that she would like him to pursue anger management and have supervised visits with Emerson. To Lily’s surprise, Ryle reluctantly agrees to the arrangement.
Chapter 33 Summary: “Atlas”
Atlas prepares dinner for his mother at his restaurant. When she arrives, Atlas asks her to relinquish her parental rights of Josh to him. He abandons his initial plan of cutting her out of their lives completely and invites her to attend a family dinner every week to build her relationship with her children. When Atlas thanks his mother for her work as a single mother, she begins to cry and agrees to Atlas’s plan.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Lily”
Months later, Lily receives a letter from Atlas. She notes how she no longer feels anxious about the possibility of the note being from Ryle. Lily reads the letter alone in her office closet at work. In the letter, Atlas recalls a memory of Lily caring for him when he was ill. He marks this as the moment he learned about true love. At the end of the letter, Atlas asks Lily to move in with him. She accepts.
Chapter 35 Summary: “Atlas”
Atlas helps Lily move out of her apartment and into his house. In the months since his meeting with his mother, she has only attended one family dinner. As they load up Lily’s belongings, Ryle arrives with Marshall to drop off Emerson. While Ryle sits in the car, angry, Marshall transfers Emerson to Ryle. Lily watches the entire encounter and cries over the progress Ryle and Atlas have made.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Lily”
Lily waits at home alone for her mother to drop off Emerson while Atlas is at work. After they arrive, her mother reveals that she remembers Atlas from when they were teenagers. She shares with Lily a memory of when she caught Lily and Atlas asleep on a couch. As Atlas was fleeing the house, he stopped to hug Lily’s mother.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Atlas”
Two years after their reunion, Atlas prepares for his and Lily’s wedding. Theo jokes with Atlas over whether he is going to reference Finding Nemo in his vows. When alone, Atlas reviews his vows, in which he expresses his love and commitment to Lily. Before heading to the altar, he adds a line that references a fish.
Chapters 25-37 Analysis
After Lily’s turning point in Chapter 24, she and Atlas continue to grow in their commitment to each other and their future. One major step in this direction is her choosing to bring Emerson to meet Atlas for the first time. No longer afraid of Ryle’s reaction, Lily trusts her instincts as a mother and seeks refuge in the safety of Atlas’s home. Atlas recognizes the significance of this moment and confirms that “Lily and I know that this thing that’s been brewing between is absolutely a long-term situation” (220). Their dedication to each other and Atlas’s character allow her to trust Atlas more than she trusts Ryle, Emerson’s own father. With such a strong support system in each other, Lily and Atlas complete their individual healing journeys.
Lily continues her journey to overcome her abusive past and become free from the fear that terrorizes her: She sets clear and strong boundaries with Ryle after he verbally abuses over text. Although she still questions how to confront Ryle, she states “that this isn’t something I’m willing to tolerate. I refuse to go the next seventeen years of my daughter’s life being abused in any way, even through text messages” (228). After rebuffing Ryle’s attempts to speak with her alone about their custody arrangement, Lily compares her once-passionate relationship with Ryle to a skeleton with “sharp, bony edges that slice right through me” (232). Her confrontation of Ryle is not an easy feat. Through the support of Atlas and her friends, Lily no longer avoids the reality of Ryle’s issues and chooses to focus on her and Emerson’s happiness. She demonstrates this strength during Ryle’s intervention when she remains apathetic to Ryle’s outburst because she does not “want Ryle to think he holds any sort of control over me anymore” (283). As a result of this adherence to her strict boundaries, Lily notices her own growth in the reduction of triggers that once threatened to consume her. She finds freedom from the fear of Ryle’s emotional terror.
Like Lily, Atlas learns the power of boundaries in his role as a parent. Atlas’s love for Josh compels him to put aside his pride to pursue what is best for Josh, and through his care of Josh, Atlas discovers how to move on from the past and create a new future. He travels with Josh to Vermont, understanding of the potential danger his former stepfather could pose because he wants to allow Josh to make the decision on his own. This freedom allows Josh to trust Atlas and offer him the opportunity to create a new family together. Despite his anger towards their mother, Atlas chooses to offer her grace by inviting her to continue being a part of his and Josh’s lives. In doing so, Atlas sets clear boundaries with his mother while still recognizing her humanity as a mother. His grace leads his mother to grant him full legal custody of Josh and move forward on his own path of healing. No longer reliant on his mother’s regard for him, Atlas finds acceptance in his relationship with Lily and his newfound connection with Josh. Hoover solidifies this happy ending in the final pages of the novel when she documents Atlas and Lily’s wedding day. Hoover chooses to focus on Atlas and includes the vows he writes to Lily expressing his unfettered commitment. He adds a postscript reference to Finding Nemo, which completes the arc of Lily and Atlas’s tumultuous love story from childhood to adulthood.
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By Colleen Hoover
