Page 185 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
“Mercy, I know you enjoy being a big tipper, but that was pretty massive. Is Ladybug still behind on rent or something?” Jonas asked as he drove.
“She got caught up. But her boyfriend has no parents, so she’s taking extra shifts to pay for his graduation fees and graduating player hockey shit. It’s a lot for her.” Mercy shrugged as she texted someone. “Excellent service should be rewarded.”
Fair. I remember working extra shifts to cover things so there was less to ask my parents for. Graduating got expensive.
“Hey, I know what restaurant I want you to take me to,” she looked up from her phone. “Can we go to Wilderness Cafe?”
AJ looked puzzled, sunglasses nestled in his hair as always. “I don’t know what that is.”
It was a chain of family restaurants done up to look like you were eating outdoors in the woods. There’d be servers dressed like park rangers and bear sounds and shit. Not AJ’s family’s style, though he’d like it.
“Great idea, I haven’t been there in years.” I told her. A juicy burger sounded amazing right now.
“Love it. Our hockey team in high school always had their end-of-season banquets there,” Dean added, giving me a fond look. “Their onion rings are the best.”
Those were always fun times.
“Ooh, they are. And that cheese dip they have for the fries,” Verity agreed, licking her glossy lips.
AJ looked up from his phone. “Are you sure that’s where you want to go?”
“If it’s too expensive, that cafe you recommended to Verity and I, the retro one, is fine,” Mercy added.
“More like feel free to choose something fancier? I expected a nice steak house. Though it’s your choice and I’m always up for trying new places,” AJ assured.
“That sounds great, Squirt,” Jonas told her. “That’s the place where you can roast marshmallows on the table, right?”
“Yep.” She grinned.
Yeah, I wanted to see AJ’s reaction to singing park rangers and animatronic bears.
“You know, once the updates are finished to the pack charter, we could all dress up and go out for a nice steak dinner together?” Jonas suggested, giving us a look in the rearview mirror as we drove through the dark streets.
“I’d like that. Um, are you going to tell me what you’re getting me?” While I didn’t need anything, I understood getting an asset was a legal issue, and I was very curious.
Especially since AJ had given me a nice watch and Verity had gotten me a beautiful chain to wear with her grandfather’s ring and a bracelet engraved with the coordinates of where we met.
A smug look crossed AJ’s face. “Nope. You waived your right to choose, so you’re going to have to wait and find out.”
“You’ll love it.” Verity squeezed my hand.
Okay, if she was involved, it probably wouldn’t be ridiculous. That’s what I feared, it being some crazy extravagance.
“Question. What if you’re a poor pack and can’t afford to buy your omega a house or an island?” Mercy turned around in the front seat to look at us.
“It just has to be some kind of asset that belongs to the omega alone. It can even be money in an account in their name only. The center has a calculator to help you figure out what’s fair based on income, but there isn’t a threshold,” Jonas explained.
We pulled into our space, right next to Verity’s car, still safe and sound. We took the elevator up. Mercy took off her coat and hung it on the beautiful hand-carved coat rack–with an umbrella bin. It appeared while we were at the cabin. She’d won it in the silent auction at the gala, along with a basket of purses for Verity.
Jonas shook his head and hung up his coat. “I don’t understand it, but it is pretty.”
AJ took mine and Verity’s coats and hung them up in the coat closet with his.
“I do see the appeal of the umbrella bin,” AJ admitted, taking Verity’s crutch and putting it in said bin.
“Does anyone want a late-night snack?” Dean half-threw his coat on the rack and went into the kitchen.
Jonas repositioned it so that it hung nicely.
