Running Into Love - The Complete Box Set

by Annalisa Nicole

  “I still didn’t get a gift for the exchange tomorrow. I’ve finished all my shopping, except for that one gift,” she whines.

  “Who did you get?” I ask.

  She sighs, then answers, “Asher.”

  “Oh,” I reply.

  Now that’s one person I’m glad I didn’t get. What do you get a man who has everything?”

  “You don’t have to work today?” I ask her.

  “No. No one is working today. Max made everyone promise not to come in this weekend,” she replies.

  My heart sinks. Why did Levi lie to me? Maybe he wants to go Christmas shopping. But, if that was the case, why wouldn’t he have just said that? He left super early this morning too, way before the malls even open. I suddenly don’t feel so well.

  “Are you still there?” Savvy asks.

  “Yeah, sorry. I’m actually not feeling that great all of a sudden. Look, I know Asher really likes this deli around the corner from his office. Why don’t you go there and pick up a few gift cards? I know he’ll like that,” I say, giving her an idea.

  “Oh! That’s a fantastic idea! That’s perfect and I don’t have to step foot in the crazy mall. I hope you feel better. Thanks for the idea, I’ll see you and Levi tomorrow,” she says and hangs up.

  My phone rings again, I look at the display and see this time it’s Levi.

  “Hello,” I answer, feeling sick to my stomach.

  “Hey, I’m going to have to cancel tonight. This stakeout is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I’m clear on the other side of Washington. I’m really sorry to do this to you. Can you give Jax and Ava my apology for canceling?”

  “Sure,” I say, as my heart sinks.

  “It’s probably going to be really late, or at this rate, maybe not until tomorrow afternoon when I get back in town. Can you ask someone to give you a ride to Samantha’s and I’ll meet you there?” he asks.

  “Sure,” I answer again.

  “I love you,” he says.

  “I love…” but I can’t get the rest out, because he’s already hung up.

  I call Jax and cancel the movie and dinner, then ask him if he’ll pick me up for dinner tomorrow.

  Levi

  This damn car is giving me a fucking headache. I’ve replaced the last part I can possibly think of and it still doesn't work. I’m going to get this thing running tonight if it kills me.

  I feel terrible for canceling our plans tonight, but I have to do this. I lay down on the creeper and get under the car. Everything is how it should be. I get out, then stare at the engine like it should talk back to me and tell me what’s wrong with it.

  I decide to remove part after part to inspect it and make sure everything is connected and installed correctly.

  By three in the morning, I’ve gone over every single part of the engine. I didn’t eat lunch, or dinner and my stomach feels like it has a huge, gaping hole it. I head into the kitchen and open the refrigerator. The only thing in there is beer. I take one out and crack it open, then head back into the garage. I take a drink, then set it on the workbench.

  “Alright girl, you have to do this for me,” I tell her, patting her on the roof.

  I get in the car and turn the key. It cranks over and over, then she finally roars to life. I yell and scream, raise my hands to the roof and give her a good pat.

  Exhausted, I climb out of the car and head to bed for a few hours of sleep.

  The next morning, I uncover the hood of the car leaning against the side of the garage and place it back where it belongs. God, it’s been five years since this hood’s been back on the car. I vacuum the inside and wipe down all the surfaces. I take out the power buffer and wax every square inch of her shiny, red paint until I can see myself in the reflection. I shine up her wheels, then take a step back and smile.

  The final touch, I take out the sticker I bought a few days ago, peel it off its back and place it in the rear of the back window. Now it’s perfect.

  I glance at the time and I have just enough time to shower, then go to Samantha’s.

  After my shower, I grab one thing, shove it in my pocket, then sit in the black leather seats of the Mustang and back her out of the garage. She purrs like a kitten as I drive down the street. I park in front of Samantha’s and walk into the house.

  I spot Quinn sitting with Willow and I smile at her. I start to walk toward her, but Max stops me.

  “I had Chloe buy a gift card for the exchange for you. I’m not sure if you got a bro, or a chick, you never told me. So, here,” he says, holding out the gift card between us.

  “I got it covered,” I tell him with a smile.

  “You do?” he questions.

  “Yeah,” I answer.

  I walk up to Quinn and kiss her on the cheek, as Samantha comes out of the kitchen and says, “Dinner is ready.”

  I take Quinn’s hand and walk her to the table. I give her hand a squeeze and look into her eyes.

  “You feel alright?” I question.

  I don’t think she’s said a word to me since I got here.

  “Fine,” she says with a weak smile.

  She’s quiet all through dinner. I missed her last night. It’s hard to believe just how much I missed her last night. We’ve only been together less than a month and I honestly don’t want to spend another night alone without her.

  After dinner, everyone works quickly to clear the table, put away the leftovers, and clean the kitchen. Everyone want’s to open gifts. I think the adults are worse than the kids.

  Samantha’s tree sparkles with hundreds of lights, ornaments handmade by the kids, and pretty Christmas balls. There are mounds of gifts, so many that they all don’t fit under the tree. They’re stacked at least two feet high all around the tree. The fire in the fireplace is lit and crackles in tune to the Christmas music softly playing in the background.

  Everyone sits in the family room. The adults are sitting on couches and chairs, while the kids sit on the floor around the Christmas tree. I watch as the older kids pass out gifts to the little ones, then they all dig into their gifts from their Grandma, Aunts, and Uncles. They squeal with delight, as they shred the paper off the gifts and toss it into the air. It literally takes all of ten minutes for the kids to be done.

  Samantha sets out cookies and milk on the table, and all the kids go into the dining room with their hands full of their favorite gift to play with while they eat their cookies.

  “Adult time,” Samantha says, coming back into the family room. “I’ve put everyone’s name into this hat. I’ll pick the first name. That person will give their gift to whom they drew. Then they can pick a name,” she says.

  She reaches into the hat and picks Savvy’s name.

  Savvy goes to the tree and removes an envelope perched between two branches and hands it to Asher. He opens it and gets a big, huge smile on his face.

  “Thank you! This is my favorite deli,” he says, giving her a hug.

  He reaches into the bag, swirls his hand around, and makes a big deal about picking a name. He pulls a name out, unfolds it and looks at me.

  “Levi,” he says.

  I stand up, walk over to the pile of discarded wrapping paper from when the kids opened gifts, and remove a shiny red bow. I dig in my back pocket and remove a piece of paper, unfold it, then place the bow on it. I walk over to Quinn and hand it to her.

  She takes the piece of paper and looks at it like I’ve lost my mind.

  Chapter 12

  Quinn

  Levi walks over to me and hands me a piece of paper. I look at it and it’s a shiny, thick piece of blank paper. I’m confused. So, I flip it over to look at the other side. The only difference is this side isn’t shiny. I look up at Levi and he has the biggest smile on his face.

  He takes my hand and pulls me through the house, and then out the front door. I immediately notice his Mustang sitting at the curb.

  “You got her running! That’s great!” I say, excited for him.


  He walks me to the car, then pulls me around it, showing me all four sides of the car.

  “She’s beautiful!” I tell him, proud of him.

  He looks at me with a huge smile on his face, then walks me around the car again, stopping at the rear of the car.

  Then I see it.

  In the lower left hand corner of the windshield is a hot pink owl and underneath it says, book nerd. It’s exactly the same as the one that was on my car that was totaled.

  “No,” I whisper, as my eyes fill with tears.

  He’s worked way too hard and way too long on this car to give it to me. The rest of the family now gathers on the front lawn watching us.

  “She’s yours,” he says, holding out the keys. “I worked all night on her, she runs like a dream,” he says with big hands waving in the air.

  I run into his arms and squeeze him around his neck and smack kisses all over his face. So, he didn’t technically lie to me yesterday. He lied, so he could finish the Mustang…for me. God, I love this man.

  “Oh, crap,” Chloe says.

  “Oh, crap, what?” Max asks.

  “I think my water just broke,” she says, grabs her belly, then doubles over.

  “Call an ambulance! Call a doctor! Get some sheets! Boil some water! Here, sit down. NO! Lay down,” Max shouts hysterically.

  “I am a doctor,” Chloe says calmly, grabbing onto Max’s arm.

  “I am, too,” Kyle says, walking up to his sister. “Let’s get you to the hospital,” he finishes.

  “Let’s go,” I say, removing the keys from Levi’s hand.

  Levi opens the door for me, then gets in the back seat while Max gets in the other door in the back seat next to Levi. Kyle helps Chloe sit in the passenger seat, then closes the door.

  I drive to the hospital and pull up outside the emergency room. Max pushes Levi out of the way and pushes my seat forward with me still in it, then opens the driver side door. He squeezes out, then runs around to the passenger side and opens Chloe’s door. He gently helps her out, then he walks inside.

  “Out of my way! Pregnant woman coming through,” he yells at people in the doorway.

  I park the car, then Levi and I walk inside to find them. Max is fluttering around Chloe saying incoherent gibberish.

  “Sir, are you going to need Valium?” a nurse asks him.

  “No,” he simply replies.

  Chloe is taken up to maternity and the rest of the family gathers in the waiting room down the hall while they check her progress.

  “Tomorrow is Christmas. We could have ourselves a Christmas baby,” Willow says with tears in her eyes.

  At 12:57 AM Christmas morning, Chloe and Max welcome Payton Lilly Jones into the world. She’s absolutely beautiful. Everyone makes their rounds into Chole’s room and holds the precious new addition to the Wellington family.

  Tired and exhausted Levi takes my hand and we head back to the car. I grab my purse from the chair and sling it over my shoulder reminding me that I wasn’t able to give Levi his gift. I take my purse off my shoulder, then remove his gift.

  “Merry Christmas,” I say, holding out the small box.

  “You got me a gift?” he asks surprised.

  “I drew your name,” I tell him with a tired smile.

  He stops in the hallway and opens the gift. He looks at the watch and just like I knew it would, it puts a huge smile on his face.

  “Thank you. I love it,” he says, wrapping me in a hug.

  He takes the watch out of its case and puts it on his wrist. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and we walk out of the hospital to my new Mustang.

  Levi

  The next morning, I wake with Quinn sleeping peacefully in my arms. I kiss her on the side of the head, then pick up a piece of her hair and play with it between my fingers. Lucky gets up from the foot of the bed and plops down next to Quinn’s back. I reach down and give Lucky a pet, then go back to playing with Quinn’s hair. She takes in a deep breath through her nose, as she wakes up.

  “Morning,” she says.

  “I think we should move in together,” I say out loud what I was thinking.

  “OK,” she replies, not moving a muscle.

  “OK?” I question, lifting my head to look at her.

  “Your place or mine?” she questions.

  “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. What do you think?” I ask.

  “Well, from an investment point of view. It makes more sense to move into your house that you own, than to live in a condo that I don’t own. Unless…” she starts to say.

  “My place it is,” I tell her, giving her a squeeze.

  I’ve made peace with my house. With Quinn moving in, it will make it feel like a home once again.

  That morning, Quinn and I get to work packing up her place. Chase drops by with another Explorer and helps us take loads over to our house. By the end of the day, most of Quinn’s things are moved in.

  “I’m thinking even though this was the best investment choice, the amount of things to move over here outweighed the amount of things to move to the condo,” Quinn teases, standing in our front room full of boxes and furniture.

  “Well, should we call it a day and tackle this in the morning?” I ask.

  “I’m good for a few more hours. I think I’ll at least unpack my clothes,” she says and walks out of the family room, then down the hall.

  I follow behind her and stop at the entrance of the hall when I see Quinn standing in front of Ivy’s room. Quinn’s never seen Ivy’s door open. I walk down the hall and stop behind her. I press myself to her back and wrap my arm around her. I bend my head down and place my lips on her shoulder.

  “This is my daughter, Ivy’s room,” I whisper, lifting my lips to the side of her face.

  Her cheeks are wet with her tears, as she looks in the room.

  “You can go inside,” I tell her.

  “No, I couldn’t,” she whispers, turning around in my arms.

  “It’s OK. When you’re ready,” I tell her, take her hand, then lead her into our bedroom.

  We work for an hour moving my things around, making room for her things. It definitely looks like a totally different home now. I always gave Asher a hard time about wearing pink after he met Willow, but now I understand. It’s not that Quinn is a girly girl and has overly feminine things, because she doesn’t. Her things mixed with my things, just make this house, our home.

  The next morning, I wake missing the heat of Quinn against my body. I roll over and her side of the bed is empty. Lucky is also gone. I get out of bed and walk down the hall. I stop by Ivy’s room and look inside. Lucky is laying in the middle of Ivy’s pink and purple braided rug, and Quinn is standing in front of her bookshelf with one of Ivy’s stuffed animals clutched to her chest.

  I stand there and watch her. Lucky lifts her head to look at me, making the tags on her collar clink together. Quinn looks at Lucky, then sees me standing in the doorway. She smiles at me and I walk into Ivy’s room. Quinn places the stuffed animal back on the shelf, then reaches for my hand. I place it in hers and give it a squeeze, returning her smile.

  We eat breakfast, then tackle the rest of the boxes and place Quinn’s furniture and decorations around the house.

  ~ TWO MONTHS LATER ~

  Payton is now two months old. Shortly after Payton was born, Amelia gave birth to a beautiful baby girl they named, Sofia Grace. Two days after that, Savvy gave birth to a son, Declan James.

  Quinn and I are hosting our very first Sunday family dinner at our house. Not only is it our first family dinner here, but it’s Valentine’s day. I, honestly, never in a million years, would’ve ever dreamed of having this in my life. Our home has become so much more than I ever expected. To belong to something so loving, so big, is phenomenal. I get to call all of these people my family.

  Quinn has the house decorated with red and pink hearts and has goodie bags for all the kids. That’s right, hype them up on sugar, then send them home. O
ur table is set with all the dishes we own and even at that, there are more paper plates than actual real dishes. No one minds. We all just love coming together as a family. Everyone starts to pile into our home and the noise level is through the roof. But God’s honest truth, it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Quinn calls.

  Everyone takes their seats and, for a second, it takes my breath away to see so many family members sitting at our table.

  “Can you help me bring food out?” Quinn asks me.

  “Sure, babe,” I tell her and head into the kitchen.

  She takes a dish, then stands in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. She turns around, then waits for me.

  I stop next to her, give her a kiss, and she smiles at me.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Look up,” she says.

  I look up and I see a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the doorframe.

  “Oh, mistletoe. You know what that means. We don’t have to kiss, you can just make a wish,” she says.

  “How’d that get there?” I ask confused.

  “Do you remember what you said to me the last time I said those exact words?” she asks.

  I do remember. I said ‘wishes are for idiotic, adolescent fools. Don’t waste your breath.’ So much has changed since then. I’ve changed. I’ve learned to let go of my anger and to love again.

  I nod my head at her. Well, I’ll gladly admit that I was wrong.

  “You may not have made a wish that night, but I did. When I looked around the room at the Wellington family, I wished I could have a love like theirs someday. That wish came true. Do you remember what you said to me when I pushed you to make a wish?” she asks next.

  I think about it for a second, then I remember our conversation when I ordered her a turkey and swiss sandwich. I said, I wished I could hug my daughter.

  I look down at Quinn and at the huge, proud smile on her face. My whole body starts to tingle. The noise from our family sitting at our dining room table becomes silent.

  “Quinn,” I whisper in a shaky voice.

  Ava comes to Quinn and takes the dish from her hand, then Max takes the one from me.