King of Harts

58

Emory

"Well don't you look peachy? Does this mean I've lost my daughter in law for good?" Dani frowns as soon as I walk in and I let out a laugh, the bells chiming behind me.

"Daughter in law?" Mom asks, Dani's eyes widening at the sight of her trailing behind me.

"Dani has been trying to set me up with one of her sons for years" I shrug.

"Mo!" My favorite book keeper hisses making me grin.

"So you're the famous Dani!" Mom gushes, crushing her in a hug, as us Harts do, Dani not even hesitating to hug her back.

"It's like both of my mothers are meeting, how strange" I smirk, the both of the turning to give me the same look and roll their eyes.

"We should have met a long time ago, almost adopted her" Dani shrugs, Mom laughing it off.

"Adopted? You tried marrying me off to one of your sons!" I laugh.

"And it would have worked if it weren't for that Adrian boy" Dani huffs, Mom throwing her head back with a loud laugh.

On cue, Charles appears and I'm full of amusement when his body stiffens as if he doesn't know what to do.

Because he doesn't know. He's terrible in social situations, let alone one involving my mother.

"Mom, this is Charles, Charles, this is my mom Ava" I introduce, mom holding her hand out.

"Nice to meet you, all Mo does is talk about the two of you. Thank you for looking out for her" Mom smiles warmly at him and slowly, Charles begins to relax.

"Well, you have a good kid here" he offers a tight smile, shaking her hand.

"Aww, Charles!" I coo and walk over to wrap my arms around his middle.

"Emory!" He and mom hiss in unison.

"I knew the 3 of you would be best friends, why haven't we done this sooner? We should do dinner!" I babble, arms tightening around Charles' middle when he tries to pry me off of him.

"What brings you two in today?" Dani laughs while I continue to keep my arms around Charles because annoying him is my favorite thing to do.

"Mom's spending the day with me and she insisted we stop by, she's very keen on meeting every person in my life and knowing my everyday routine" I explain.

"It's true. My children fled the nest and now I like to pop up and invade sometimes" Mom nods, Dani nodding in agreement.

"So you've met Alex?" Charles ask, his fingers trying to wedge themselves between my locked hands making me giggle like a child.

"I have, he's the sweetest!" Mom gushes making me and Charles scoff.

"You two leave that boy alone!" Dani scolds and her husband just grunts in response before giving up on trying to get me off of him.

Dani and Mom eventually become engrossed in a conversation, leaving Charles to cave and lazily wrap an arm around me before leading me to his sacred spot behind the counter.