For now, I would put all of my helping, healing energy into making sure that she was the healthiest and happiest she could be.
The big box store was beautiful.
Hailey walked through the electric doors. “You know, as much as I love the small nesting boutiques, these large stores have such a great variety.”
“Yeah, like eight different colors of giant stuffed bunny. I didn't even know they made that many colors of giant stuffed bunnies, but I was pleasantly surprised.”
“So, pink was your first choice?”
I nodded. “It was a hard decision. There was a tie-dye pastel, one that looked really pretty with ruffles, a checkerboard-themed one, and there was even one that had like thesoftestgray fluff. Well, you'll see for yourself. Where to first?”
Hailey looked around for a moment, trying to orient herself. “I think bedding first. The new bed is gigantic, and I need some sheets for it. None of my old stuff will fit.”
I glanced around, my eyes landing on one of those large signs that hung from the ceiling. “This way,” I said, pointing at the sign. Hailey turned, following me with a spring in her step.
Not long after, I was scratching my head as Hailey rummaged through the shelves of sheets. “Okay, feel free to call me stupid here, but what's the deal with thread counts? Is that literally how many threads are in a blanket?”
“Basically, higher thread count often feels a lot nicer,” Hailey explained. “Then there's different materials. I really like bamboo sheets at the moment. They feel light and soft and really comfortable. Here, feel this.”
She held out one of the unwrapped sheets. Taking it in my hand, I was pleasantly surprised at just how soft the fabric was.
“Oh, thatisnice.”
“I know! I've always wanted to get a full set of those, but they're expensive.”
“Well, get them today, then.”
“I can't! It's too much money! I—” Hailey paused, her head dropping as she breathed hard. “Whoa, sorry. I just got really hot for a second. But it’s gone. Huh, weird.”
“I think we’ll be starting those prenatals right away.” I studied her for a moment, but it did look like it was just an odd hot flash, which did happen occasionally. “And to remind you, you're not paying for anything, andI'mnot paying. You wanna know whose credit card I'm using? Preston's. So if you want my advice, cutie, go ahead and spend his money to be as comfortable as you want.”
“Well, that logic is hard to argue with. I suddenly don't feel bad about my desire to buy extra throw pillows.”
“Preston’s a big boy who’s made a lot of money. Go do some real damage to his card. I want you to use it so much, the plastic starts smoking.”
“Well, that's a mental image, but challenge accepted,” she said with a smile.
And, boy, did Hailey excel at a challenge.
Twenty minutes later, we had two carts filled with nesting supplies and several items that Hailey had flagged down a worker to bring up to the register for us.
“How did you do that so fast?” I asked in wonder as we made our way toward the front of the store.
“I know what I like.” She shrugged. “Half the stuff here, I've been wanting to get for a while so it was easy. The other half? Well, monkey see, monkey like, monkey buy.”
“If there's more stuff you want, we can go to some of the fancier boutiques as well.”
Hailey pursed her lips, looking at her haul of goodies. “I think this will do for now, but I'll take a rain check because I may decide on something else later.”
I made Hailey sit while I loaded the car full of the many nesting supplies. My omega certainly wasn't going to be doing any lifting while pregnant if I could help it.
“You know, it won't be life threatening if I pick up a pillow,” Hailey pointed out. She was sitting in the passenger seat with her legs outside the car, watching me with a curious expression.
“I know you could, but you don't have to.”
I walked by, taking my opportunity to lean down and place a quick peck on the tip of her nose, startling her some. Her expression was well worth it.
“Well…okay,” she said in a small voice.
