Page 155 of As The Shifter World Turns

“It’s close. Let’s walk.” I took his hand in mine.

“Is it ice cream? Please say it’s ice cream.”

“We can do that next.” I stopped in front of the door. “We’re here.”

“A baby store?” I nodded. “Is it too soon? Like isn’t there an old wives tale about buying baby things too soon?”

“Nope. Only one about giving away baby things. Rumor has it that giving away a crib means you're about to get pregnant again.” Or so the sitcoms always seemed to indicate.

“Then let’s go in.”

There was so much to see from onesies to slippers to toys. In the end, we got a sleeper set and two stuffed animals, a stag and a wolf.

“Your little one is going to love these.” The clerk said as we set the stuffies on the counter. “They’re organic, hypoallergenic, and part of the proceeds help with environmental causes making them the most well-loved toy in many nurseries.” They went on and on and I had to school my face.

Our baby might be the best, brightest, and most beautiful on the planet, but there was no way they would love a toy for any of those reasons. Soft? Big eyes? Bright colors? All yes. Organic… not so much.

Micah

I opened the email from the lawyer. I’d known it was coming all day. They had prepared both Daire and I to expect it, but it didn’t feel real until I downloaded the attachment and printed it out.

Someone wanted to buy our business.

When the lawyer first contacted us, I told him to buzz off. It was our job… our livelihood. Why would we want to get rid of it?

Then he told me it was life-changing money.

I didn’t believe him. Daire didn’t believe him. I didn’t even think Patch believed him.

Now, with the official offer in front of us, I finally believed him.

“Ummm Daire. It’s here.” I stammered unsure what to make of all those zeros. “Meeting time.”

I handed him the papers and his jaw dropped.

“We need Archer here to discuss this, and we probably should have our lawyer look at it to make sure it’s okay before we get too excited,” he noted.

I agreed and sent it off to our lawyer who had already known this was a possibility. He said he’d get back to us ASAP and given the speed in which he took care of our incorporation, I had every reason to believe it would be really soon.

We got the official offer.

My phone rang instantly and I answered it.

“Already! Is it bad… like embarrassingly bad?” Archer asked. When I first told him about it, he questioned me about what I wanted to do… what my dream was and when I didn’t immediately tell him it was to run this business, he told me that was my answer. Of course it wasn’t just me. Daire was a part of it.

“Not at all. Do you think maybe we could ask Martin to watch Elune and we could all have dinner together and discuss it. The lawyer has it now to make sure it’s not sketch.”

“Good idea,” Archer responded. “I’ll call him and get back to you. I love you.”

“As I love you.” I hung up and put the phone in my pocket. It was going to be a day of waiting for the lawyer.

Martin said he was happy to watch our sweet girl. Toby adored her and it would be good for Patch too. He and Toby were best buds.

We opted to get take out sushi and meet at Daire’s where we could talk freely.

“I have the printouts of the offer and what Hank said.” Hank was our lawyer. I passed them to everyone. It felt too formal for us. We were family. But also this was a huge deal and not a decision to be taken lightly.

“You said it was good but… Micah this looks too high.” My mate’s eyes remained glued to the page.

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