Chapter Twenty-One
Riglan
Time to set up a nursery.
Past time, really, but we’d been so busy.
Malone was trying to tie up loose ends at work before he went on paternity leave, and I’d had some contracts I wanted to finish as well.
And we couldn’t find a healer who kept the hours we did.
Turned out, even shifter healers preferred bankers’ hours when possible, so we had to shift our schedules a bit for that.
But every night, we said “tomorrow” we’d go shopping and buy the furniture.
I’d drag the boxes out of the bedroom next to ours, which we’d both been using as storage, so we could paint and decorate.
We’d do it all. And babyproofing! From what we read online, nearly every square inch of our home was a potential landmine for a growing, curious child.
And if it was a ferret baby? They had the tendency to start shifting early, and that would bring a whole new set of dangers with their incredible agility.
Now, as he grew nearly too big to fit behind the wheel of the car, we had accomplished nearly nothing. This could not go on unless we wanted our child to sleep in one of our dresser drawers until they outgrew it.
Rolling over in bed, I kissed my mate’s forehead. “Omega mine, we need to go shopping.”
“Mmm, we’ll just order online. I have a list started. We need bacon.”
We did a lot of online grocery shopping.
“No, not food. We need baby furniture, clothes, diapers…paint for the walls, and a rug for the floor. A car seat. Everything.”
“Online?”
While that did reflect our lives, I thought we should go out of our way for our new little person. “Did you want to do it online? Don’t you want to touch things? See if the blankets are soft? If the wood on the furniture is nice?”
He rolled over, his belly standing straight up under the sheet. “The baby kicked when you said that. I think they want us to shop in person.”
I never argued about how the baby communicated with my omega.
Sometimes I wondered if it was similar to how my beast and I connected.
But I went on the theory that if someone was living inside you, you had the best shot at knowing what they wanted and needed you to understand.
“Then we’d better get dressed and head out to beat the crowds. ”
“Are there crowds at baby stores?” He yawned, sitting up and fishing around to find his slippers. Not easy when he hadn’t seen his feet in months.
“I’m not sure, but let’s go anyway. We can go to breakfast on the way,” I offered, prepared to bribe as needed.
Of course, my omega was excited once he was fully awake, and by the time we sat in the diner devouring stacks of hotcakes, he was using his phone to find the best deals and selection, laying out a map of where he wanted to go and in what order.
And by noon, we had hit four of those stores, making the days of the salespeople who were on commission and exhausting those who were not.
“We have the crib, the dresser, and changing table,” he noted while I drove to the fourth store.
“The rug store is next, and there are great reviews, but also people say they have a tendency to talk you out of what you really want—in favor of something they have too many of. I need you to back me up on this, alpha.”
“Yes, sir. You can count on me.” Lately my omega had been getting tired and not wanting to move around as much as the healer wanted. Today, he was on a mission, and his watch would show a lot more steps than usual. “Did you already pick one out?”
At the next stop sign, he showed me the woodland design he had in mind.
“And then we can paint the walls pale green to carry the theme.” He told me how he planned to negotiate to get a good deal and not get tricked into the wrong one.
I wasn’t sure it would be worth the effort.
We could buy a similar rug online surely, but okay.
We went inside, and he marched right up to a rack of room-sized rugs and flipped through them. “Here is it, Rig. What do you think?”
“It’s great.”
Sure enough, while we stood there admiring the design, in swooped a salesman, wearing a shirt in such loud colors, I was afraid my eyes would bleed.
He was some sort of cat shifter with a scent like dried grass topped with heavy cologne.
“Welcome! I see you are looking at one of last-year’s designs. It’s nice, isn’t it?”
Malone winked at me before shrugging. “It’s okay. Last year, huh?”
“This year is all about brighter colors, neons. I can show you some now. They’re flying off the racks.”
“Sure.”
I hung back while my omega admired the hideous selections the salesman showed him then said, “I don’t know. I like these, of course, but my alpha is always interested in a classic.”
“I can promise these will be classics in the future,” he enthused. “Because we’re selling volume. Everyone loves them.”
Everyone my ass.
“I think,” I put in, “that a design from the previous year should be the best price. Can you show us the discount on the faded foresty one?”
“Alpha!” Malone thrust out his lower lip. “Are you sure? You don’t like this year’s models?”
“Not really, but we don’t have to buy here.” I started for the door. “Come along, omega.”
“Wait.” The salesman had the speed of his cat as he blocked our path to the door. “I’m sure we can make some sort of agreement.”
And so we did, before continuing on our travels.
We didn’t get everything on the list; that would have been too much to hope for in one trip, but we decided it was okay to finish up online.
The next morning, I hauled the boxes to the garage and painted because all the deliveries would be coming soon.
Our baby was going to have a really beautiful and, more important, complete nursery when they arrived.