Page 139 of The Road Less Traveled By

Gone are the days of Bree running on the treadmill until she passes out. Now, she’s got a family to help her down from the memories haunting her.

“Vince, come back, baby,” Bree says as she grabs my chin in her hand and turns me to face her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfect,” I say as I kiss her before I pull back and peruse her shelf. I reach for three books—one with a pink cover, one simplistic one, and the last one blue with some flowers on it. “These.”

“Are these your final choices?” she asks me, a gleam in her eyes.

“Yes,” I tell her. “All of these better be five stars, or I’ll make it my mission to outdo myself next month.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, angel, it is,” I say as I kiss her again.

“Okay, great,” she says as she films her outro. When she's done, she closes her camera and all but tackles me in a hug. “That was so much fun. Thanks for doing this with me.”

“Bree, I’d do anything for you. And I enjoyed myself. I like seeing your eyes light up at all these books. It’s adorable.”

Bree’s lips meet mine, and I kiss her with all the passion that she makes me feel before a few knocks and the door opening interrupt us.I can’t wait until we have a house.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Liv says as she tries to leave.

“It’s okay, sis. What’s up?” Bree says as she moves her hair out of her face. She’s still on top of me, and she might not feel that awkward, but I do.

“Tristan wants you guys to help hand out candy.”

“We’ll be right out!” Bree says as she gets up and heads for the closet. She grabs our costumes, and I chuckle when I see what she chose for us. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s perfect.”

I put on my costume—Mario—while Bree puts on hers—Princess Peach—and the two of us walk out to the living room to meet Tristan and Liv.

Tristan starts laughing immediately when he sees us. “Oh, Bree, you’ve outdone yourself.”

“You guys look adorable,” Liv says as she grabs her camera and snaps a few pictures of us.

“I’ve never seen Mario so stone-faced.” Tristan laughs.

“You’re one to talk. Your costumes don’t even match. I thought we were all doing couples costumes. How is a cowboy and some lady from ye old times matching?”

The two of them just look at each other, their eyes sparkling as Tristan pulls Liv onto his lap. “You just don’t get it, Vince.”

“Fucking explain it to me then.”

“One day when you’re older,” Tristan says as the doorbell rings. “That’s our cue.”

The four of us traipse over to the door, and as we swing it open, four kids dressed as ninja turtles greet us. We give them their candy and shut the door. Bree and I head to the couch where some scary movie is playing, and I hear Tristan talking quietly to Liv behind us.

“What are you saying, pretty girl?”

“I’m saying that we should try. I want one.”

I smile to myself at the thought of the little family we all have getting bigger. Liv and Tristan would be wonderful parents, and Bree would make the best aunt.

I never had a huge family, and Bree gave me that back. She’s never had one either, but together, we’ve created our own.

It took us a while to get here, and maybe some other people would’ve taken a different route, but we decided to take the road less traveled by. Even though it was full of bumps and bruises—literally—I couldn't be happier knowing we made it.

Bree chose me, and I chose her right fucking back.

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