See You at the Finish Line (Run, Love, Repeat #1)

45. Paige

Adam takes the knife from my hands before I can do any more serious damage. I’ve already sliced myself twice trying to cut the pickles. He brings my hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on my palm after he slips the handle from me.

I’m nervous. His whole family is coming over and from what he’s told me, tension is high with his dad.

“Okay, Liam is the oldest, then Simon, you, and Isabel. Liam the ophthalmologist is married to Dana, who is pregnant, and psychologist Simon’s husband is Jake and they have a four-year-old daughter, Rose. Isabel is a fierce defence attorney, and you have no idea who she’s dating.”

Adam places the knife down and rinses his hands, drying them before bringing them to cup my face.

“Paige, you’re going to be fine.”

“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve met a boyfriend’s family?”

Adam’s brow creases as his stare burrows into me.

“What?” I whisper, unsure of his look .

“Boyfriend . . .”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to presume. I mean, I’m moving all my stuff in so even though we haven’t really had the conversation, you did say that we’d fight for our relationship, so I guess I just took a leap and—”

His lips cut me off, my unease melting away as he presses me into the counter. His tongue sweeps into my mouth and the contact calms my mind—more like empties out my mind entirely. He tastes like mint and coffee and my entire future. I know that technically doesn’t make sense, but I swear that’s what he tastes like.

My hands rove over his broad shoulders and he twists my head, getting a new angle. Butterflies erupt in my stomach and heat builds in my core.

We really don’t have time. His family will be here any minute. I slide my hands under his soft white T-shirt, and at the touch of my skin on his, he jerks his hips forward. I feel every considerable inch of him through his joggers, and if I angle myself just right—

Someone clears their throat.

Adam yanks his face away from mine as my hands shoot out of his shirt. I turn to find the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen in my life.

She is clearly Adam’s mother, Margaret, with the same dark hair, but streaked with white, and piercing blue eyes.

Heat rises to my face at her stern look, and I instantly regret all the worry I devoted to meeting his dad. Adam said his mom was easy to love, but maybe I’m not easy to love. Her steely features make me feel like a small child getting scolded .

Just as I’m about to speak, apologize, maybe change my name and leave the country, Adam’s body starts shaking underneath mine and his mother’s expression shifts.

Her disapproving stare transforms into a smile of mischief and a familiar spark of joy, which I’ve seen in Adam’s matching eyes, flashes as she looks between us.

Adam places a kiss on the top of my head and then takes my hand, pulling me to the foyer to officially meet his mother.

“Mom, this is the elusive Paige Harrison.”

She reaches out to take my outstretched hand. Her skin is soft and warm. The heart attack she nearly gave me still looms, lingering nerves making my voice shake.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Dr. Ashford,” I say politely.

“Oh, none of that. Please call me Maggie.” She beams at me. “Are you a hugger or would you like to stick to handshakes?”

Her question surprises me but I feel more at ease. “Definitely a hugger.”

“Perfect,” she says, pulling me into a warm hug. There’s no hesitation, though I’m a stranger to her.

Tears prick the back of my eyes. In the last few months of my mom’s life, her body was frail, so our embraces were careful and gentle. It’s been over a year since I’ve been hugged by any motherly figure.

Leah becoming a mom does not count. Maggie’s arms are soft but firm, and she squeezes me before letting go.

“I am so, so excited to finally meet you,” she says, every word ringing with sincerity.

“Mom,” Adam mutters under his breath. She turns her attention away from me and onto her youngest son.

“Oh, excuse me, I didn’t realize we were pretending you haven’t been sulking around, waiting for her for two years.”

I chuckle as Adam’s face turns red.

“I was not sulking,” he says under his breath as the door opens. A whirlwind of blond hair and grocery bags careens through the door. I’m assuming it’s Isabel when she drops the bags and hugs Maggie from behind.

“No fair, you beat me here!” she exclaims before manhandling her mom and pushing her out of the way. Maggie shakes her head but obliges, stepping to the side.

Isabel throws herself at Adam and me, pulling us into a three-person hug. It’s kind of hilarious because she’s tiny and both Adam and I are taller than she is. She makes it work. Before she lets go, she jiggles us.

“I’m so happy I don’t have to go out with Sadam anymore and hear him whine about you,” she says as she releases us.

“Sadam?” I say, looking between them.

Adam sighs. “Really, Iz?”

“Sad Adam. You broke his poor heart. I know not on purpose,” she says as I open my mouth to correct her.

“Isabel, let the poor woman breathe. Pick up the bags and bring the food into the kitchen,” her mother orders. Isabel rolls her eyes but does as her mom says. Adam and I each take a bag and help carry the meat into the kitchen .

“Did you get the grill going?” she asks Adam, craning her neck to look out the back windows.

“You think I would risk my life by not having it ready for you? Who do you think I am, Liam?” Adam teases her.

“I’m glad you learned his lesson,” Isabel says with a smile as she begins unpacking the bags. She’s clearly been here before because she doesn’t root around in the cupboards like I’ve been doing. She goes directly for what she needs.

“Speak of the devil,” Adam says, his shoulders straightening as the doors open and a tall blond man enters with a curvy, pregnant redhead.

On their heels are two dark-haired men with the cutest four-year-old in tow, pigtails bouncing. Damn. The gene pool in this family.

I can tell immediately which one is Simon because he looks like Adam, except leaner and with a beard. More like the ultra-Adam that I remember, and not the big hulking hockey coach who currently has his hand on my hip.

His fingers inch under the fabric of my shirt as he traces reassuring circles on my skin. I shiver. I think the reassurance is for himself, though, because he’s very stiff with the addition of his brothers.

Simon weaves behind his older brother and comes over to me first.

“Can I hug you?” he asks me, not even greeting Adam.

As soon as I nod, he sweeps me up and spins me around. A laugh bubbles out of my throat, and I don’t think I’ve felt so welcome anywhere this quickly. Maybe it won’t be so bad.

Simon sets me down on my feet and grins at me, then claps Adam hard on the shoulder. That kind of force would have knocked me on my ass, but Adam’s shoulder barely moves.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Paige. Maybe we’ll actually be able to spend quality time with Adam now that he isn’t sulking.”

“I was not sulking,” Adam says again, exasperated. “Is everyone going to comment on how empty I was without her?”

He’s so open with his family about his feelings, and I have to try to stop the wicked smile that tugs my lips. His eyes flash to me like he knows how much I’m enjoying hearing about this.

“So if I talk to Leah, she wouldn’t say the same thing?” Adam asks me. I shake my head and laugh, pinching his side.

“Leah’s not here so it doesn’t matter.” I wink at him.

“Adam,” a deep voice says from behind Simon.

“Liam,” Adam replies, tugging me closer to his side.

The silence is loud. Liam is tall and lean like Simon, but he’s a couple of inches short of Adam’s six feet, three inches. His eyes are a dark brown that holds no kindness. Liam reaches a hand out for mine and I take it. He gives me the quickest handshake known to mankind.

“While I’m happy to see my brother happy,” Liam says, staring at me like he’s assessing every one of my facial twitches as I try not to fidget, “I hope you’re not going to break him again. It would be a shame to find out you’re after his money or—”

Multiple people come to my defence as I stare in shock at the boldness of Adam’s oldest brother. The woman beside him smacks him with a force I wouldn’t have expected from her. The fact that his wife is angry at him too makes me feel a little bit better.

“If you speak to her like that again, you will no longer be welcome in our home,” Adam says.

“ Our home?” Isabel squeaks. Liam’s brows are still furrowed and his eyes haven’t left mine. I figure it’s probably time for me to say something.

“Yes, I’m moving here.” Very eloquent.

Adam tugs me closer. “Since you all seem to like pointing out how miserable I was without her, it should come as no surprise that I’m not letting her go again.” He turns his emotional eyes on me. “In the least stalkery way possible, of course.” He smiles at our secret joke and my heart melts. He kisses my forehead.

Dana pulls Liam over to the kitchen to put the drinks they brought into the fridge and all of a sudden, the tension is gone. There’s laughing and joking as they work like a well-oiled machine to prepare the food. Isabel takes the meat to the barbeque and the scent fills the space around us. It smells like heaven.

Adam doesn’t let go of me the whole time.

With the exception of Liam, everyone welcomes me warmly, bringing me into conversations and making me feel at home in their family dynamic. Jake and I bond over our mutual love of yoga.

The face Adam makes when his family finds out he went to a class with me is priceless. The teasing is relentless—and I love every second of it.

It’s been just me and Leah, and even before it was the two of us with Mom. While we could get loud and rowdy, it was nothing like three brothers and a sister and their partners. I bring a drink to Maggie and sit with her on the uneven deck as the siblings begin competing with each other.

As soon as I sit, she rests her hand on my arm.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“For what?”

“For bringing so much light back to him.”

The wave of emotion I feel is so strong because that’s what I feel Adam has done for me, not the other way around.

“I should be thanking you for raising such an incredible son,” I tell her sincerely.

She smiles. “Out of all my boys, I worry about Adam the most. Not because of what you might think.” She turns to me with a knowing look of sadness in her eyes. “I worried that he wouldn’t be able to find someone to match his relentless spirit. I was worried he’d find someone who tied him down, instead of flying with him.”

I mull over her words as I watch Adam lift Isabel onto his back and his niece over his shoulders, carrying them. They’re playing football, and Isabel had tried to tackle him while the four-year-old carried the ball. It’s absurd, of course. I love all of it.

“Sometimes we marry people who are our exact opposites because we need what we don’t have. Like me and my husband. I could never have married anyone like me—I would’ve floated away completely. But Thomas grounds me, and that works for us.

“Adam is so much like me, but he doesn’t need grounding like I do. He does have some of his dad in him. He won’t float away but he needs to soar. And you, dear, you make him soar. ”

Emotion clogs my throat so all I can do is smile at her.

A few minutes later Adam looks over to us, a huge smile on his face, and before I know it he’s charging towards me. He picks me up, flinging me over his shoulders, and carries me down to the grass, laughing with my face against his back.

“Okay,” he says, placing me on my feet but keeping an arm around my waist. “It’s time to race.”