Running into Love
Page 35
“Seattle. He moved here a little over a year ago, so he’s on his own.”
“Oh,” she says softly, moving her fingers up to run along my jaw. “In that case, I’m glad everyone showed up with food. I’d hate for him to be alone, too.”
“You’ll like him,” I state softly when I see that her eyes have filled with worry, and she nods, then looks past me. “You doing okay with all of this?”
“Yeah, unless you get called into work, I’ll be okay.”
“If I get called in, I’m taking you with me,” I say, and she laughs, dropping her forehead to my chest. I wrap my arms around her and place my lips to her hair, breathing in the scent of berries that always seems to surround her.
“Fawn, are you ready to cook your first turkey?” Katie asks, breaking into the moment. Fawn pulls away to look at her mom, who’s poking her head in the door.
“Do I have a choice?” she asks, and her mom rolls her eyes. “Apparently not. I guess we’re playing Russian roulette with everyone’s lives today,” she mutters, and I laugh, throwing my head back, then drop my mouth to hers and whisper against her lips.
“You got this, baby. If you need me, I’ll be here watching the game,” I say, and she frowns at my smile.
“This is the first time in my life I wish I could say I wanted to watch football,” she grumbles right before I kiss her once more, then let her go, wondering how the hell it’s possible that I’m already falling in love with her. She throws a smile at me over her shoulder before she leaves, making me realize it’s just her.
Chapter 11
WHERE ARE THE GIBLETS? WHAT THE HELL ARE GIBLETS?
FAWN
“Who’s going to cut the turkey?” Mom asks, looking between Levi’s mom and me. I shrug, taking a sip of beer, which I normally hate, but I need alcohol to get through today and there is no wine in the house.
“I think Levi should cut it since he’s the man of the house,” Lisa says, smiling at me, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her the way I would if my mom had just said the same thing. My reaction to her isn’t a surprise—after spending the day with Levi’s mom and mine I’ve realized why they were such great friends. They have the same personality, neither of them understands the meaning of boundaries, and they are both crazy as hell. I mean, they’re even wearing similar outrageous Thanksgiving-themed sweaters with sparkles and bedazzles.
“Oh, I love it, Levi and Fawn’s first Thanksgiving together. This is just too perfect.” My mom claps as she looks at me, smiling.
“Mom,” I warn—not that she’s paying me any mind. No, she’s been like this all day. Which means she’s in make-believe mom heaven, where Levi and I are past the point of dating and onto the baby-making part of our relationship and I’m planning on giving her ten grandkids.
“This is just so exciting,” Lisa gushes, looking at me. “You are so much better than Levi’s ex-fiancée. Ugh, I hated that girl.”
Um, what? I feel my eyes get wide, and my heart skips a beat as I stare at her.
“Levi was engaged?” My mom voices my question, and I wait with my fist clenched for the answer as I study Lisa, who is suddenly looking anywhere but at me.
“It was years ago,” she says, waving it off like it’s not a big deal when it most definitely is. Or in my head it is. In reality it shouldn’t even matter, since I didn’t even know him then and am just getting to know him now. “Let’s not think about that right now.”
“Right,” I agree quietly, knowing that’s all I’m going to be able to think about for the rest of the day.
“Now where are the giblets?” she asks, looking around.
“I don’t know, what do they look like?” I look around myself, wondering what the heck giblets are.
“They were in a bag inside the turkey,” she says, and my head flies in her direction.
“There was something inside the turkey?” I ask, and both sets of mom eyes land on me.
“You didn’t find them when you were stuffing the turkey?” Mom asks, and I shake my head no.
“Oh dear,” Lisa whispers, and I look through the clear glass door on the oven at the turkey inside—a turkey I stuffed myself, a turkey I’ve been basting off and on all day—and know instantly I messed up. Big. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.” She waves once more, and I can tell she’s fighting back a smile.
“You’ve been cooking the turkey with the bag of giblets inside it,” Mom says, fighting back her own smile.
“This isn’t funny.” I shake my head at the two of them as they smile at each other.
“It’s a little bit funny, sweetheart.”
I glare at them as they start to laugh. “I’ve ruined Thanksgiving. I can barely make mac and cheese, and you two thought I should be the one in charge of cooking the turkey.”
“Don’t worry, Levi can cook,” Lisa says through her laughter. “You won’t starve with my son around.”
“I tried to teach my girls to cook, but they never wanted to learn.” Mom smiles, and I look at the ceiling. She never tried to teach us to cook—she secretly liked us depending on her for sustenance.
“I’ll just take out the stuffing and get the bag out of it. Maybe it won’t be so bad,” I mutter to myself when the two women who were supposed to be teaching me to cook the damn turkey start to laugh again. “I don’t even know why you think this is so funny,” I growl, digging through a drawer for a spoon to scoop out the stuffing.
“What’s going on?” Levi startles me as he comes into the kitchen, and I feel my face heat. I wonder if his ex-fiancée did all the dumb things I can’t seem to stop doing. I doubt she did—she was probably perfect in every way.
“Nothing. Your Fawn is just funny,” Lisa says softly as Levi gets close to me, wraps his hand around my waist, and places a soft kiss to my forehead.
“What’d she do?” he questions, with a smile on his face that says, She’s always doing stupid shit, so what did she do this time?
“Nothing,” I cut in before they can tell him about my latest disaster. “Do you need another beer?” The guys have been over at his place most of the day watching the game, only coming over now and again to get food and beer that they stocked in my fridge while everyone else was watching the parade and walking around in Times Square, since Madeline has never been to the city before.
“Nah, just coming to check on my girl. You’ve been out of my sight too long,” he says quietly, and my stomach fills with butterflies. He really is always making me dizzy, and I don’t know what to do with that or him, which makes me start to panic a little.
“What time is Wesley getting here?” Lisa asks, and Levi thankfully pulls his eyes from me to look at his mom.
“Any time now.”
“Good. We’re going to need you guys to start getting everything set up. I know you have those foldout tables in your storage, so go on over and tell your dad and brothers to help you get them,” she says as she pulls him away from me and starts to shove him out of the kitchen.
“Trying to get rid of me?” he jokes. His eyes lock on mine and narrow slightly, like he sees something he doesn’t like. Pulling my gaze from his, I pretend to look through the drawers for something.
“Yes,” Lisa huffs right before I hear the door close.
“You okay, honey?” Mom asks, and I close the drawer and smile at her.
“Yep, totally okay, just gonna scoop out the turkey and hope I can salvage it,” I say, then go about doing just that while secretly wondering why the hell a guy like Levi is with a girl like me. I don’t have long to think about it. Levi returns and introduces me to Wesley, then they start to set up the tables, and before I know, it we’re sitting down to eat.
“This turkey is delicious,” Wesley says, and I take my eyes off my plate, where I have been pushing around my food for the last twenty minutes, to look at him. He really is a nice guy—and he’s hot. Superhot. Not as good-looking as Levi, but he’s definitely not hard on the eyes, with sun-kissed golden skin, dark hair, blue eyes, and full lips that would look feminine if it wasn’t for his sharp jaw.
“Oh,” she says softly, moving her fingers up to run along my jaw. “In that case, I’m glad everyone showed up with food. I’d hate for him to be alone, too.”
“You’ll like him,” I state softly when I see that her eyes have filled with worry, and she nods, then looks past me. “You doing okay with all of this?”
“Yeah, unless you get called into work, I’ll be okay.”
“If I get called in, I’m taking you with me,” I say, and she laughs, dropping her forehead to my chest. I wrap my arms around her and place my lips to her hair, breathing in the scent of berries that always seems to surround her.
“Fawn, are you ready to cook your first turkey?” Katie asks, breaking into the moment. Fawn pulls away to look at her mom, who’s poking her head in the door.
“Do I have a choice?” she asks, and her mom rolls her eyes. “Apparently not. I guess we’re playing Russian roulette with everyone’s lives today,” she mutters, and I laugh, throwing my head back, then drop my mouth to hers and whisper against her lips.
“You got this, baby. If you need me, I’ll be here watching the game,” I say, and she frowns at my smile.
“This is the first time in my life I wish I could say I wanted to watch football,” she grumbles right before I kiss her once more, then let her go, wondering how the hell it’s possible that I’m already falling in love with her. She throws a smile at me over her shoulder before she leaves, making me realize it’s just her.
Chapter 11
WHERE ARE THE GIBLETS? WHAT THE HELL ARE GIBLETS?
FAWN
“Who’s going to cut the turkey?” Mom asks, looking between Levi’s mom and me. I shrug, taking a sip of beer, which I normally hate, but I need alcohol to get through today and there is no wine in the house.
“I think Levi should cut it since he’s the man of the house,” Lisa says, smiling at me, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her the way I would if my mom had just said the same thing. My reaction to her isn’t a surprise—after spending the day with Levi’s mom and mine I’ve realized why they were such great friends. They have the same personality, neither of them understands the meaning of boundaries, and they are both crazy as hell. I mean, they’re even wearing similar outrageous Thanksgiving-themed sweaters with sparkles and bedazzles.
“Oh, I love it, Levi and Fawn’s first Thanksgiving together. This is just too perfect.” My mom claps as she looks at me, smiling.
“Mom,” I warn—not that she’s paying me any mind. No, she’s been like this all day. Which means she’s in make-believe mom heaven, where Levi and I are past the point of dating and onto the baby-making part of our relationship and I’m planning on giving her ten grandkids.
“This is just so exciting,” Lisa gushes, looking at me. “You are so much better than Levi’s ex-fiancée. Ugh, I hated that girl.”
Um, what? I feel my eyes get wide, and my heart skips a beat as I stare at her.
“Levi was engaged?” My mom voices my question, and I wait with my fist clenched for the answer as I study Lisa, who is suddenly looking anywhere but at me.
“It was years ago,” she says, waving it off like it’s not a big deal when it most definitely is. Or in my head it is. In reality it shouldn’t even matter, since I didn’t even know him then and am just getting to know him now. “Let’s not think about that right now.”
“Right,” I agree quietly, knowing that’s all I’m going to be able to think about for the rest of the day.
“Now where are the giblets?” she asks, looking around.
“I don’t know, what do they look like?” I look around myself, wondering what the heck giblets are.
“They were in a bag inside the turkey,” she says, and my head flies in her direction.
“There was something inside the turkey?” I ask, and both sets of mom eyes land on me.
“You didn’t find them when you were stuffing the turkey?” Mom asks, and I shake my head no.
“Oh dear,” Lisa whispers, and I look through the clear glass door on the oven at the turkey inside—a turkey I stuffed myself, a turkey I’ve been basting off and on all day—and know instantly I messed up. Big. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.” She waves once more, and I can tell she’s fighting back a smile.
“You’ve been cooking the turkey with the bag of giblets inside it,” Mom says, fighting back her own smile.
“This isn’t funny.” I shake my head at the two of them as they smile at each other.
“It’s a little bit funny, sweetheart.”
I glare at them as they start to laugh. “I’ve ruined Thanksgiving. I can barely make mac and cheese, and you two thought I should be the one in charge of cooking the turkey.”
“Don’t worry, Levi can cook,” Lisa says through her laughter. “You won’t starve with my son around.”
“I tried to teach my girls to cook, but they never wanted to learn.” Mom smiles, and I look at the ceiling. She never tried to teach us to cook—she secretly liked us depending on her for sustenance.
“I’ll just take out the stuffing and get the bag out of it. Maybe it won’t be so bad,” I mutter to myself when the two women who were supposed to be teaching me to cook the damn turkey start to laugh again. “I don’t even know why you think this is so funny,” I growl, digging through a drawer for a spoon to scoop out the stuffing.
“What’s going on?” Levi startles me as he comes into the kitchen, and I feel my face heat. I wonder if his ex-fiancée did all the dumb things I can’t seem to stop doing. I doubt she did—she was probably perfect in every way.
“Nothing. Your Fawn is just funny,” Lisa says softly as Levi gets close to me, wraps his hand around my waist, and places a soft kiss to my forehead.
“What’d she do?” he questions, with a smile on his face that says, She’s always doing stupid shit, so what did she do this time?
“Nothing,” I cut in before they can tell him about my latest disaster. “Do you need another beer?” The guys have been over at his place most of the day watching the game, only coming over now and again to get food and beer that they stocked in my fridge while everyone else was watching the parade and walking around in Times Square, since Madeline has never been to the city before.
“Nah, just coming to check on my girl. You’ve been out of my sight too long,” he says quietly, and my stomach fills with butterflies. He really is always making me dizzy, and I don’t know what to do with that or him, which makes me start to panic a little.
“What time is Wesley getting here?” Lisa asks, and Levi thankfully pulls his eyes from me to look at his mom.
“Any time now.”
“Good. We’re going to need you guys to start getting everything set up. I know you have those foldout tables in your storage, so go on over and tell your dad and brothers to help you get them,” she says as she pulls him away from me and starts to shove him out of the kitchen.
“Trying to get rid of me?” he jokes. His eyes lock on mine and narrow slightly, like he sees something he doesn’t like. Pulling my gaze from his, I pretend to look through the drawers for something.
“Yes,” Lisa huffs right before I hear the door close.
“You okay, honey?” Mom asks, and I close the drawer and smile at her.
“Yep, totally okay, just gonna scoop out the turkey and hope I can salvage it,” I say, then go about doing just that while secretly wondering why the hell a guy like Levi is with a girl like me. I don’t have long to think about it. Levi returns and introduces me to Wesley, then they start to set up the tables, and before I know, it we’re sitting down to eat.
“This turkey is delicious,” Wesley says, and I take my eyes off my plate, where I have been pushing around my food for the last twenty minutes, to look at him. He really is a nice guy—and he’s hot. Superhot. Not as good-looking as Levi, but he’s definitely not hard on the eyes, with sun-kissed golden skin, dark hair, blue eyes, and full lips that would look feminine if it wasn’t for his sharp jaw.
