Page 12 of A Very Oceanport Christmas
I dodged his hand. "It's fine." These bags were stuffed, yeah, but they weren't super heavy.
David glanced at my belly.
I rolled my eyes and walked ahead. "Are you coming?"
Of course, he hurried after me. "Are you sure that you should--"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Look, if you really want to help me, there's something else."
"What is it?"
We both stopped walking and I turned to look at David. I kind of wanted to scratch the back of my neck, but couldn't, with the bags I was holding. "I was thinking, while we're here... They probably have a store with baby stuff, right?"
David glanced ahead, down the hallway that led toward the center of the mall. "They must. You wanna check it out?"
"Only if we have the time."
"Sure. My dad can handle himself for a little while longer. I think there's a map of the mall over there." He jerked his head to a signpost that had some Christmas lights draped around it. "Let's take a look."
* * *
Babies were expensive.I'd known that before setting foot intoBabies and Beyond, but damn. They wanted how much for a pack of diapers? Didn't babies need like... alotof those? Forget having any money for anything else in the near future. I gulped as I stepped farther into the store, realizing that the cost of diapers was the least of my concern for the moment.
There was so much other stuff I was going to need. Like a crib. And a stroller. And... was that a changing table? God, was I gonna need one of those? I hadn't even thought of that. To be fair, I hadn't thought very much about any of this at all.
Forcing my gaze away from the changing table before I could even look at the price tag, I took a step back, only to nearly bump into a shelf with stuffed toys. Great. I must be looking like a total idiot. I sighed. At least the shopkeeper was too busy chattering at other customers to be paying me any mind. We were closer to the heart of the mall now and the little store was packed with people shopping for Christmas or stopping by on their way to see Santa.
"You all right?" David asked, watching me.
"Yeah, sure. I'm great. I'm just... looking at these plushies." I turned around and set my bags down to grab a random stuffed toy off the shelves. It was a penguin with a Santa hat and a cookie clasped in his hands. It was actually kind of cute, with huge sparkly eyes and a wide smile on his soft face. There was something soothing about holding it. I risked a glance at the price tag. Well, at leastthiswas something I could afford.
Kids needed toys, right?
"That's a cute penguin," David said, suddenly standing right beside me. He held a box with pacifiers in his hands. "I just saw this really funny shirt."
Clothes, right, kids needed those too. What was I doing playing with stuffed toys when I hadn't even thought of the essentials yet?
"I, um..." I looked around as if the words I needed to say were on the shelves somewhere. "How many onesies do you think I'll need?"
"I don't know." David's face took on a pensive expression. "I've never had a baby."
"Yeah, neither have I." I forced a laugh, even as I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable in this store. "You think my parents will let me use their credit card?" I joked, my fingers digging into the soft material of the penguin I was still holding.
"You're worried about money?"
I shrugged. How could Inotbe worried about money? If only I hadn't gone to that stupid party that night...
David took the stuffed toy out of my hand. I blinked at him. "You looked like you were about to poke a hole in it," he explained.
Did I? Whatever.
"You wanna buy it?" David asked again.
"I don't wanna buy anything." I huffed like the mature adult I was. Turning away from David, I looked out the store window. Droves of people passed by in the hall outside, many of them with small children holding onto their hands. Was that going to be me in a few years? Taking my child to get their picture taken with Santa? What job was I going to be working to afford Christmas presents?
My thoughts ground to a halt when my gaze landed on a familiar red-head. Conner! There was my excuse to get the hell out of this store. Aiden had wanted me to talk to Conner after all. I'd almost forgotten about that. It seemed he was here with his daughter and his mate--who was pushing the stroller.
Conner turned around when I called his name from the entrance of the store. Several people glanced at me, but I didn't care. If I hadn't been carrying two bags, I would have waved too. LeavingBabies and Beyondbehind me, I approached my older cousin.
