it starts with us

Just as Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, settle into a routine of caring for their daughter, Emerson, Lily accidentally meets her ex-lover, Atlas, two years after they last met. Atlas is overwhelmed with joy, thinking that the time has come for them to give themselves a real opportunity to exchange love, so he offers Lily to go out on a romantic date.
Laila's enthusiasm soon gives way to her sense of dread and anxiety, as she remembers that her ex-husband, Ryle, still occupies an influential place in her life. Ryle may not like Lily dating any other man but him, but Atlas Corrigan remains precisely the man he will not tolerate being in the lives of his ex-wife and infant daughter. Chapters that begin with us are told alternately from the points of view of Lily and Atlas, giving the reader a deeper look into Atlas's past life, while he reconnects with Lily and reignites the love story that brought them together in their teenage years, and in the process he tries to express it...