Page 169 of Forever To Me

“Do you have any idea what this man means to me?!” Eli practically yells, spinning on her like she’s committed an unforgivable betrayal. “Your mother and I slow-danced to ‘Whiskey Sunrise’ on our honeymoon! This man’s voice carried me through my hernia surgery!”

I blink. “Uh. Wow. That’s?—”

“My hernia surgery, Asher!” he repeats, as if that somehow solidifies our bond for eternity.

Violet’s mom still hasn’t blinked, staring at me like I might dissolve into thin air at any second. “I used to keep a poster of you in my laundry room.”

Violet whimpers. “Oh my God. Mom...”

Her dad steps inside without an invitation, turning in a slow circle like he’s on a VIP tour of Graceland. “I cannot believe my daughter is datingtheAsher Wyatt.”

I clear my throat. “Technically, I just go by Walker now.”

“Oh, hell no,” he scoffs, waving me off. “You’ll always be Asher Wyatt to me.”

Violet grabs her mom’s face in both hands. “Can we please stop acting like I just brought home a damn rock star? He’s a man, guys. A regular man. He runs a bar. He fixes things. He’s got a daughter. He?—”

“He wrote the best damn love songs of our generation!” her dad interrupts.

Violet’s mom, Caroline, clutches her chest like she’s about to faint, eyes locked on me in sheer disbelief. “I just—I can’t process this. Asher Wyatt. Dating my daughter.”

Her dad, Eli, lets out a slow, stunned breath. “It’s like finding out Bigfoot is real and he’s been living in your guest room this whole time.”

Caroline nods rapidly. “It’s like discovering the Mona Lisa has been sitting in the lost-and-found at a gas station.”

I rub a hand down my face. “I, uh… really just live a quiet life now.”

Eli scoffs. “A guy who wrote ‘Whiskey Sunrise’?” He shakes his head, muttering. “I proposed to Caroline to that song.”

Caroline gasps dramatically. “Eli! That is not true!”

Eli crosses his arms. “You said yes before I even got down on one knee because it was playing on the radio.”

Violet groans. “Oh my God, I regret everything.”

Caroline fans herself. “I need to sit down. I need a moment.”

Violet pinches the bridge of her nose. “Mom. You’re acting crazy.”

Eli narrows his eyes at me. “Yeah? Well, this man made my wife cry in the frozen foods aisle at the Kroger in 2013.”

Violet whimpers. “Dad.”

I clear my throat. “Uh. Sorry?”

Caroline sighs wistfully. “It’s just surreal. You were the voice of our road trips. The reason Eli started wearing cowboy boots.”

“Hey!” Eli protests. "I’m a real cowboy."

But Caroline isn’t done. “The reason I bought a guitar at forty-three.”

“Mom!” Violet yells, looking like she’s ready to throw herself out the nearest window.

Eli shakes his head, still staring at me in disbelief. “I just… never thought I’d have to look a man in the eye and say, ‘Hey, don’t break my daughter’s heart’ when that man is Asher Freakin’ Wyatt.”

I nod solemnly. “I get that a lot.”

Violet throws up her hands. “Oh my God, please let the ground open up and swallow me whole.”

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