Page 68 of As The Shifter World Turns

68

GIMME A brEAK AND NOT THE CHOCOLATE KIND, ALTHOUGH IF YOU’RE OFFERING CHOCOLATE I’M HERE FOR IT

Ryder

“You’re doing too much.” The baby wasn’t even going to be here for a while and Ivor was rearranging the room for the twenty-fifth billionth time. “Maybe we can take a break? Get some ice cream?”

His face curled up in disgust.

“Moved on from the ice cream phase?” It had been all ice cream all the time for a bit. But then again before that it was cans and cans of black olives. Babies were funny like that—giving their daddies weird cravings that turned on a dime.

“Yeah. No more ice cream… possibly ever. And I can’t stop.” His eyes suddenly discovered something very interesting on the floor. “It has to be perfect.”

I crossed over and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly. “It’s going to be perfect no matter what. Do you know why?”

He shook his head against my chest, soaking in all the comfort I was offering him.

“Because there is no baby on this planet as loved as our little one and a room filled with love is always perfect.”

“We still need to take down the blinds.” He looked up at me. “Because safety. We can do those window clings or something else but not blinds.” At first I hadn’t understood why the baby needed additional window coverings as well as curtains but trusted my mate knew best.

“I can take those down today.” It had already been on my list, but I could easily move it up. They wouldn’t be an issue until our little one was both born and mobile, but I got it. Putting it off wasn’t ideal.

“And can you get paint chips? This is nice, but it’s wrong. I don’t know why but it’s wrong.”

The whole apartment had been newly painted before we moved in but my mate wasn't happy with the color in the baby’s room.

“Of course. I can do anything and everything you want doing. I just need you to tell me and not take it all on yourself. You’re growing a baby… let me grow the environment.” I kissed the top of his head.

“That sounded weird.” He wasn’t wrong. “You don’t grow an environment,” he chuckled.

“No, but you grow a baby so it was half making sense.”

“Okay.” He stepped out of my arms. “Let me show you what’s bugging me about the space.” It was a huge step, at least it felt like one. I typed them all into my phone to make sure I got everything right.

“Let’s get something to eat and then either I can go to the home store and get a bunch of samples and bring them back while you nap or we can go together.”

“Can we get egg rolls?” he asked.

“Absolutely.”

We ended up at his favorite Chinese place and sure enough he had egg rolls, one after another. The server was highly amused and said that when they had their youngest, all they wanted was egg drop soup for months. I doubted that Ivor would be all about his egg roll cravings for very long. He tended to flit from one thing to another.

“Let’s get you home and nap?” He was yawning during the entire second half of lunch.

“But then I can’t pick anything out.” He buckled his seatbelt.

“I have our list on my phone and can take tons of pictures, and grab all the samples. And if you think I’ve missed something, we can go back together.”

“You would do that too and you wouldn’t be mad about it?”

“I’d do anything for you, Ivor. Anything. I love you, omega mine.”

“As I love you.”

I ended up not only coming home with paint chips, but also tiny samples of paint to slap on the wall as well as some wallpaper samples—because he wasn’t happy with the original one he’d chosen and had hung before we moved in—and pictures of more lighting fixtures than I even knew existed. I needed to check with Daire about the blinds, but I did find some shades with a fancy name that were approved for use in children’s bedrooms.

It took us hours to go through them all and it was fun. Never had I understood how people liked this kind of thing. It was work and I always thought plain white walls were fine. You could always throw a picture up on it to break the plainness up. But now that I was in the midst of it and it wasn’t for me, but for this amazing being that was coming into my life, I saw the thrill .

We were making a space for our wee one to call their own. And who knew… maybe when they turned three they would decide they hated the colors we chose and we’d have to do it all over again. But that would be okay. It meant that we gave them the wings to decide what they liked for themselves.

“You’re thinking hard.” Ivor settled his hand on my shoulder.

“Not hard as much as being filled with awe. This room isn’t for us, it’s for the being our love created and that’s a bit… just wow.”

“Wow indeed.”

Daire

When Nate told me that we should be on a break, I just accepted it. I mean what else could I do? His world couldn’t be just about me or us. And really, I’d been a flakey mess in the beginning, projecting my past mistakes onto him like a fool.

But now… now that we’d taken a step back, now I saw what I’d been doing and I wanted to fix it.

It wasn’t fair to do that to him, to be all We’re on a break but I don’t wanna be and be pushy at the same time. But also he said take a break, not breaking up and that told me that maybe this was exactly why he had done it.

He didn’t come across as the kind of guy who was playing games and wanted to go fuck a dozen other people without the guilt of being tied to one person.

Nate had given me exactly zero red flags, and I had kept trying to hand him some just so I could protect my heart, and in return I messed with his. I needed to make it right.

Maybe you could come over and see what I did on the roof? I sent the text before I could change my mind.

When? Came back almost immediately. It wasn’t a no.

I’m home every night this week. I didn’t care if it sounded pathetic. It was the truth and I wasn’t going to play games with Nate. I liked him too much.

Tonight after work?

Perfect. I almost asked if he wanted to grill something but that felt like pushing it.

I popped in the shower trying to remind myself this wasn’t a date.

He did come straight from work and it was awkward. Do I hug him? Do I kiss him? Can I hold his hand?

So, I did none of it. “Let’s go up.” I said.

“Are you planning to push me off the roof?” he chuckled, no sense of belief that it was a legit concern.

“Naw. Then the cops would come and want me to fill out paperwork. I hate paperwork.” I shrugged and led, loving his laughter as I headed on up to the roof.

“What is it you wanted to show me?” he asked. “I sort of expected the others to be here.”

“We mostly do that on Fridays,” I explained. “And I did do something cool up here, but that’s not why I asked you. But I do want to show it to you.”

“Why did you ask me then?”

“I don’t like being on a break and I understand why you wanted to be on one. I was projecting all the red flags of my past relationships onto you and acting as if they were yours to bear. That was shitty of me.”

He just stared at me, so I continued. “You matter to me. Like a lot. And I want to not be on a break anymore and if you do, I will respect that, but… I just wanted you to know how I felt and to show you the herb greenhouse I made.”

I walked across the roof to the tiny little greenhouse. It was all herbs for cooking and anyone in the building could use them as they wanted. Archer and Micah too, of course. It was adorable and functional and I was thinking of potentially selling them.

He came up behind me. “Tell me about your new greenhouse.”

“Are you sure? I didn’t mean to pressure you or whatever.” Please don’t use this as a reason to break up for real.

“I’m sure.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Maybe we can cook together some time. And for the record you matter to me too. Thank you for telling me how you feel. I needed to hear that. I was… I was afraid you would never look past your ex’s to see me.”

“I see you, Nate.” I turned to face him fully. “I see you.”