King insisted that I didn’t need to work at all, and it was true… financially, I didn’t. But at least until the baby came, I really needed to for my own wellbeing. It wasn’t as if my mate could just take off and stay home with me all the time. Maybe then it would be different. We’d get hobbies, go on day trips, that kind of thing. But with him going to work every day, it made sense that I did as well, at least part-time.
Today was my last day for a while. Tomorrow, we were getting on a plane to go see my father and brother and his family for the first time in far too many months. They’d Zoomed with my mate and me quite often, but it wasn’t the same. I was excited.
I stared at the two suitcases open on the bed. King’s was already packed, just waiting to be closed. Mine was a hot mess, with most of the clothing ending up on the bed beside it. I wasspiraling so much about what to bring for myself that I didn’t even hear my mate come home or enter the room until his arms wrapped around me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Had my center of gravity not been so skewed, I most likely would have.
“I didn’t hear you.”
“I noticed,” he said, kissing my mating mark. The things that did to me. “Do you want help packing your bag? Looks like mine is done. I told you that you didn’t need to do that. Thank you.”
I leaned back against his chest. “I know I didn’t need to, but I figured packing two was just as easy as one, and you were working.” I’d been wrong, but at the time, the logic made sense.
“You spoil me.”
“Says the man who had his father literally purchase my place of work to make it less stressful for me.”
“I didn’t have my father do anything.”
I turned in his arms to face him. “You didn’t think to yourself that I would turn it down from you, but if your father gave it to me, I’d feel the need to accept it?”
I’d suspected it was the case, but the look on my mate’s face when I called him out affirmed it.
“Moving on…” He nipped at my bottom lip. Anything but admit his part in my new business venture. It was all kinds of adorable. “What’s the deal with your bag?”
“Nothing fits right.” And I hated it. Even the shirt I had on now was a tad too short, and I found myself tugging at it repeatedly.
He scented me deeply, something I never stopped finding sexy. “If only there was something we could do about that.”
I’d been fighting him on getting new clothes because, to me, new clothes meant defeat. I wanted to be in the paternity size that was equivalent to my pre-pregnancy shape, which was vanity and nothing more. Cognitively, I knew this. Emotionally, it was hard.
My body was growing to fit the shape of our young. Of course, it wasn’t the same shape as before, and that was because it was better. It was giving our growing cub what they needed. But understanding that and taking the steps to go buy new clothes were two different things.
“I don’t want to.” I faux pouted.
“Well, I think we’ve gotten to the point where your choice is to wear my old sweats or go shopping. Do you want to be wearing my clothes when you see your father again for the first time in a long time?”
Of course, he had to be logical about things.
“Fine, I’ll go buy new clothes if you take me and we stop for tamales on the way back.”
“Deal.”
I’d gone through such interesting food phases this pregnancy. There was a time when I had to force myself to eat anything because I wasn’t hungry. Then there was a time when, if it was salty, I was putting it in my mouth. There was also my cookie phase, which came and went pretty regularly, my scrambled egg phase, and this week, I couldn’t stop thinking about tamales. Specifically, tamales from the food truck on the corner of Larch. I wasn’t sure what they put in those, but it was infused with some sort of magic, because it was to the point where I was dreaming about them.
Dream marketing. Was that a thing?
“Done,” he said, kissing my cheek and then grabbing my hand.
“Wait, I need to get dressed.”
“Look at me.”
I tilted my head up so I could meet his eyes. “You’re handsome in everything you wear, and especially when you wear nothing. And right now, you look like somebody who needs new clothes, and we’re going to get new clothes.”
I tugged at my shirt, making sure my belly was covered. “Fine.” No point in arguing with him. All it did was put time between me and my tamales.
There was one paternity store in town, and it wasn’t particularly large, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many options they had for me. My initial clothes were all purchased online. It was when I was still working full-time and didn’t want to be bothered with going and trying things on, not when there was another option that came with free next-day shipping.
“We should get you everyday clothes and something nice for when we take your family out to eat,” he said.
