But now, there was an excitement between us as we walked around Ivy. Not only did I want to show her off, but I wanted her to feel special and help her find everything sheneeded to feel welcomed in our house. As we made our way inside the mall, Dem led us over to a brightly lit mall map.
Pointing at several areas on the map, he said, “I think you'll like this store for your room. Isaac and Lukas, there’s the lingerie store. And then here in the middle is the nesting and omega supply store. How about we meet at the nesting store in ninety minutes?”
After agreeing with Dem, we each took off to our stores, with Isaac and Lukas turning to leave, all full of jokes as they walked away from us. Ivy stood for a moment, watching them go before she turned and laughed.
“Now I’m sad my whole pack isn’t with me,” Ivy said, pulling my hand up to her chest. “I have this urge to show you all off.”
“I get it now,” I replied. “In the past, you were jealous of the omegas you saw!”
“Maybe,” she said as she reached for Dem's hand and held it along with mine.
Walking through the mall, it took us about five more minutes to reach the bedroom supply store. Standing outside of it, Ivy gasped as she looked in through the window display. “Oh, this store is so fancy!”
Dem turned to her as she looked at the display. “Ivy, this is obviously a pack expense. You’re not paying a dime for anything." Before Ivy could protest, Dem held his hand upand shook his head, pulling her into the store to start shopping.
“Fine. What’s my budget, at least?” she asked as we walked towards the first bedroom set.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied.
Wrong answer, I thought to myself as I subtly shook my head at Dem.
Ivy paused and crossed her arms, turning towards Dem. “That’s not fair. Am I part of the pack? Shouldn’t I understand where our limits are? I’d be too concerned about buying anything, thinking I was about to hit some invisible maximum amount.”
Dem eyed her for a brief moment before nodding in agreement. “Very well then. I was hoping not to spend more than thirty thousand dollars today. If something really catches your eye though, I could probably move some money around.”
“What the hell?” Ivy gasped, reaching for us and pulling us closer. “There’s no way I’d spend that much.”
“Which is why I originally said don’t worry about it,” Dem replied. “Though honestly, the nesting shop might be expensive, who knows?”
“I’ll throw a few thousand in if we need more,” I said, happy to contribute to Ivy's needs.
“There’s no need,” Dem said to us. “I’ve been saving money in a separate fund for this very reason all these years.I want to spoil you and get you everything you need.” He kissed her forehead before adding, “And we both know your little omega heart is loving it.”
She took a deep breath in and then exhaled loudly. “Fine, I accept. And yes, I can’t seem to silence the excited squealing.”
We spent the next hour perusing the shop as Ivy looked through every little thing in the store. I loved chatting with her about her opinion on how she wanted to design her room, which so far sounded very fairylike and soothing—almost the opposite of mine, if I thought about it. Maybe I was a tad intense. She pointed out everything she liked and didn’t like, and behind us, Dem made little notes on his phone, keeping tabs on everything she pointed to. It was probably a good thing Isaac and Lukas left us, as their patience would've been tested here.
As we approached the time to rendezvous, Dem held out his list to Ivy, and they reviewed everything she’d picked out. After they both reviewed the list, Dem worked with the purchasing counter while I took Ivy outside of the store to sit on a nearby bench to let her toe rest a bit.
“Does it feel odd not having to worry about money?” Ivy asked. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.”
“My family was rather wealthy growing up,” I said, thinking back on my childhood. “It actually feels weird to consider a budget sometimes.”
“Really?” She asked.
“Yeah, we lived on the Upper East Side in New York,” I said.
“How’s your relationship with your family? I’ve never heard you talk about them,” she asked.
I rubbed my fingers against her hand as I thought for a moment about my parents. “I was an only child, and was pretty much handed a full daily schedule from the time I woke up until I went to bed. I barely spent time with my parents, both alphas by the way, and I was raised mostly by nannies who alternated in and out of my life. I was lonely most of my childhood. My parents didn’t really allow me time to have friends or play much.” I felt cold talking about my childhood like that, but it was the truth, and there wasn’t much more to it.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m surprised they wanted you to dance ballet,” she said.
I laughed softly, shaking my head. “They originally signed me up for classes to complement my music lessons and reinforce my extracurricular activities list for college. They never in a million years thought I’d be good enough or loved it enough to pursue a career out of it.”
There was still a sharp pang remembering the last actual conversation I’d had with them. They hated me becoming a dancer and had vowed to cut me off completely. It was allironic now that dancing with Ivy would be able to give me the level of success they’d envisioned for me.
“Anyways, we barely speak to one another these days, mostly just happy birthday and merry Christmas text messages, the occasional gift each year.” I looked over to her and smiled. “Tell me more about your childhood. Sounds like maybe your family had to budget a lot?”
