Truly, Madly, Deeply (Book 2 of the Summer Love series) || 1D

TWENTY-THREE: Mum Calls Me 'Love'

Briley's POV

    As we drive through his hometown, I look around, marveling at all of the charming buildings and inviting faces. Many people wave to us as we drive past, and of course Harry and I wave back. Every once in a while Harry sees someone he recognizes and he gets excited. I can just tell that this is his home. It's like he still belongs here even though his world has completely changed.

    Harry drives down a long, curvy driveway and a quaint, cottage-like house comes into view. It is by no means a small house, but it's not absurdly large either. It looks exactly how I would have expected. He parks the car as his mom opens the front door and waits on the porch. He smiles so big and turns the car off. He runs around to open the car door for me and I get out. Then he takes my hand and we walk to his mom.

    "Hi, mum!" he greets her excitedly. She laughs and hugs him tightly. He kisses her cheek.

    "Hi! I've missed you!" she says.

    "I've missed you too! It's been too long." Harry says, pulling away from the hug.

    "It's okay. I'm glad you're here now." she smiles, pinching his cheek gently.

    "This is Briley!" Harry introduces me.

    "Briley, I'm so excited to finally meet you! I'm Anne, you can call me mum or Anne or Mrs. Cox. Whatever makes you happy." she says kindly, hugging me.

    "It's so nice to meet you." I gush. All of my nervousness is officially gone. Anne is wonderful and her spirit is so welcoming. She carries the same kind of quiet elegance and charm that I love so much in Harry. She already makes me feel right at home. She pulls away and smiles at me.

    "Well, come on you two. Let's get you settled and show you around." Anne says. I start to turn back to the car to get our suitcases, but Harry puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

    "I got it, princess." he says, kissing my cheek then quickly going back to the car and grabbing our suitcases. Anne watches after him with slightly wide eyes and a smile.

    "I've never seen him so excited to carry luggage before." she jokes quietly with me. I laugh and turn back to her.

    "He's really happy to be here. He's been talking about it and preparing nonstop for the last two days. You should've seen his face when we left this morning. He's absolutely buzzing." I tell her. She smiles.

    "Well I think the fact that you're here might also have something to do with it, love." she says grinning at me. I blush and Harry comes back to us, carrying both of our suitcases.

    "Op!" he says, setting his suitcase down momentarily and reaching into his pocket to lock the car. He smiles and picks his suitcase back up. I giggle.

    "I can take my suitcase." I offer. He shakes his head.

    "Completely unnecessary. I've got it." he smiles at me. I brush my finger under his chin and he scrunches his nose.

    "Thank you." I tell him.

    Anne leads us inside and I'm instantly charmed by her house. Everything is decorated so well, the place is spotless, and it feels so homey. When you walk into the foyer, straight ahead is the living room, directly on the right is a formal dining room, and directly on the left is the kitchen and a staircase. I look around.

    "This is the main space. There is a restroom down that way..." she says pointing to the hallway between the dining room and living room. "I'll show you down that way in a bit, my office is back there too. For now, let's get your luggage to the guest house." she says walking through the living room to the back door. We follow her.