Page 111 of My Three Hometown Alphas

Her smile widens. “Forever sounds pretty good to me.”

Fuck yeah it does.

She scoots down a little so she can rest her head against my shoulder. We sit in silence with our arms wrapped around each other.

We don’t have everything figured out, but we will navigate it together.

“I have another stop before I head home. Do you want to come with me?” I ask, running my hand through her silky black ponytail.

“Sure.”

I tell Liv bye, kissing my fingertips and pressing them to the top of the headstone like I always do. I grab the trash from the flowers and shove it in my pocket.

Avery and I walk slowly back to the parking lot. I open the passenger door, reaching in to grab the bunch of flowers I got for her.

I hand them to her. “These ones are for you.”

She smiles and leans in to sniff them. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

Her lips press against mine before she hops into the truck. She pulls the other two bouquets into her lap without even saying a word.

I love that she already knows who they’re for. There aren’t any other women in my life I would buy flowers for, so she has absolutely nothing to worry about.

When I park in front of my parents’ house, she gives me a warm smile. “You’re a good man, Will.”

“I try.”

“Not trying… you are,” she says confidently. The flowers I picked out for my mom are in her hand before she hops out of the cab of the truck.

I shake my head, following her.

Not ten seconds after I knock, my mom swings the door open. “How many times do I need to tell you that you don’t need to knock? Just walk into the house.”

“I guess one more time,” I say, shrugging.

“I’m assuming these are for you,” Avery says, handing the flowers to my mom.

Mom’s face lights up. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she says, pulling Avery in for a warm hug.

“I’m the one who bought them for you,” I say, stepping into the house behind Avery.

“Good for you,” my mom says, patting my chest. She turns right back to Avery, shuttling her toward the kitchen.

The smell of my mom’s homemade chili hits my nose. I stifle a groan.

Her chili is probably my favorite food in the entire world. When I was a kid, it’s what I would pick to have for my birthday dinner nearly every year.

“Did you bring flowers for your mama so she’d let you stay for dinner?” Dad says as he walks out from the hallway.

“No,” I say, laughing. “I probably would have, though, if I’d known what she was cooking.”

“You didn’t need to bring flowers. All you needed to do was bring your girl. Now you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon,”he says, whacking my shoulder a few times on his way into the living room.

I glance into the kitchen. My mom and Avery are leaning over the stove while my mom stirs the large pot. I can’t hear what either of them are saying, but I love seeing them together.

My parents have welcomed Avery into the family, like she was the missing piece we had all been waiting for.She really is.

When we told them about our relationship, my dad took a total of thirty seconds to process the information. He looked at all of us, and said, “If you’re happy, I’m happy.”