Running into Love
Page 34

“Mom, I want you to meet Fawn. Fawn, my mom, Lisa.”
“Oh my, aren’t you pretty,” Mom says, giving Fawn a side hug so she doesn’t squish Emma, who is now playing with the chunky necklace around Fawn’s neck.
“Um . . .” Fawn smiles shyly. “Thank you, it’s nice to meet you. Levi talks about you all the time.”
“Good stuff, I hope.”
“Always good stuff,” she agrees, then steps back. “Lisa, this is my mom, Katie.”
“Lisa,” Fawn’s mom whispers, studying my mom. “Lisa Gurstrich?”
“Katie Michels,” Mom says, and they stare at each other. “Oh my lord,” Mom cries, rushing to Katie, and they embrace tightly and rock back and forth, hugging. I’m staring at them as I wonder what the fuck is going on.
“Katie and I went to summer camp together for seven years up near Canada,” Mom says, looking back at me. “We went every summer until we turned sixteen and couldn’t go anymore. Oh my, it’s a small world.”
“Yes, and now, look—our babies are seeing each other,” Katie says happily, pulling my mom in to hug her once more. “I’ve searched and searched for you on Facebook,” she whispers, and I watch my mom’s arms tighten.
“Me, too. I can’t believe this,” Mom says, looking like she’s about to cry. Pulling my eyes from our moms, I look at Fawn, who is watching them hug with a look of disbelief on her face. My girl has had a crazy morning, and it seems it’s just getting crazier by the second.
My cell rings, and I pull it out of my pocket as Fawn’s eyes fly to me and fill with worry. I have no doubt that she’s scared I’ll be called in and she’s going to be left to deal with all of this alone. Looking at the caller ID, I see it’s Cole calling.
“Yeah.” I put the phone to my ear, shaking my head at Fawn; her body relaxes.
“What’s the code?” he asks, sounding out of breath.
“Mom, you locked everyone out.”
“Oh.” She jumps away from Katie. “I needed to come up and meet Fawn quickly.” She grins, leaning over to kiss Fawn’s cheek before pushing past me and heading down the steps with Katie following her.
“Mom’s coming,” I mutter into the phone and hang up.
“Let’s get the babies out of the hall,” Allison suggests, and we all head into my apartment, which is currently empty of Fawn’s family. Heading for the kitchen, needing a cup of coffee, I watch Fawn walk across the living room toward the couch with Emma.
“Do you want coffee, babe?” I ask, and she smiles at me over her shoulder.
“Yes, please.”
“Wow, this is really happening . . . You’re really in a relationship,” Allison mutters from my side, and I turn to look at her, seeing a smirk on her face.
“Don’t start.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She grins as she pulls a bottle out and heads for the couch to take a seat next to Fawn. My family has been giving me a hard time for the last couple of years about finding someone to settle down with, but I’ve always ignored them. After I ended things with Heather, I refused to settle for another woman who didn’t really give a shit about me, what I wanted, or what I needed. Until Fawn came along, I thought it would be next to impossible to find that woman, so I know my family is surprised.
“I have the perfect plan,” Katie says as she comes through the front door with my family following her. “We can all have Thanksgiving together, since we are all here.”
“Mom,” Fawn says from the couch, but Katie ignores her and looks at my mom, who is nodding like a loon.
“I think it’s a great idea. The more the merrier,” my mom agrees, huddling in the kitchen and whispering with Katie.
“It will be fine, baby,” I state, handing Fawn her cup of coffee as Ruby comes over to take Emma from her. “Baby, I’d like you to meet Emma’s mom, Ruby, and her dad, my brother Cole,” I introduce them as Fawn stands to greet each of them with a hug.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Fawn smiles, and I tuck her under my arm.
“You’re the pizza girl,” Ruby says, and I look at Fawn, wondering what she’s talking about.
“Um, yeah.” She blushes. “Thank you for the birthday cake—it was delicious.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it.” Ruby grins, then steps aside, whispering to Cole as my dad pushes his way in front of Lucas and Eva.
“Dad, Fawn. Fawn, my dad, David,” I say as Dad picks her up off the ground in a bear hug.
“Nice to meet you, girl,” Dad says, and Fawn laughs.
“Nice to meet you, too, sir.”
“Don’t sir me. That title is better for my boss’s boss,” Dad says, then looks at me. “You did good, boyo.” Shaking my head at him, I grin, then watch him move to the kitchen when my mom calls him over.
“Baby, my brother Lucas and his wife, Eva. Their daughter is Madeline,” I say, and Fawn hugs Eva, who does not return the hug.
Eva lets out a huff as Lucas pulls Fawn into a hug next, muttering, “They like to save the best for last,” before letting her go, gaining a glare from his wife, which he ignores.
“Nice to meet you guys.” Fawn smiles as I wrap my hand around her waist.
“Now, seriously, what the hell are you doing with this uptight asshole?” Lucas asks, looking between the two of us.
“He’s not so bad,” Fawn says looking up at me.
I dip my head and place a kiss to her forehead, then pull away when Libby comes through the front door, stating loudly, “I vote that only one apartment has the game playing and the other one is free rein.”
“I want to watch the parade,” Madeline says, taking a seat on the couch—she’s holding a cookie that she got from god knows where.
“We’re only a few blocks from the parade. We should go see it in person,” Libby says, and Madeline’s face lights up.
“I’d like to get out of here for a while,” Eva says, looking at Libby. Eva wanting to get out of here isn’t a surprise—she’s not the most friendly person, and I seriously wonder what the hell my brother is still doing married to her.
“I’ll go with the girls,” Lucas says, then adds, “or with anyone else who wants to come along.”
“Do you want to go, baby?” I ask Fawn, and she shakes her head no.
“Not really unless you want to. I went last year, and it was a little too much for me.”
“That’s cool, we can stay.”
“You can go,” she says softly, and I shake my head no.
“I’m going to go next door and see who else wants to come out with us,” Libby says as my cell starts to ring.
Giving Fawn a quick kiss, I pull my phone out of my pocket, seeing it’s my partner, Wesley. “I gotta take this, baby,” I say quietly, and she nods as I put the phone to my ear and move to my bedroom.
“What’s up?” I ask as soon as the door is shut behind me.
“Just seeing if you wanted to get a bite to eat later. I know you’re on your own today.”
“Actually, my whole family—and Fawn’s—just showed up with bags upon bags of food,” I say. Wesley’s been giving me shit about Fawn for the last few weeks, asking if I needed any help with her since I was having a hard time pinning her down.
“Lucky bastard,” he grumbles, and I grin.
“Why don’t you come over here for dinner?”
“Nah, I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not imposing. We’ll have plenty of food, and I’d like you to meet Fawn.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
“That wasn’t hard,” I mutter and hear him laugh before he hangs up. Shoving my cell back in my pocket, I leave the room, finding Fawn in the kitchen.
“Do you have to leave?” she asks as soon as she sees me.
“No, but my partner, Wesley, is gonna stop by for dinner.”
“Where is his family today?” she asks quietly, and I move into her, wrapping my hand around her hip, then sliding it around her back to pull her closer.