Page 16 of Knot Convenient

There were plenty of smaller, specialized stores closer to town, but the big box store was more useful, given the variety of things we needed.

We already had a room set aside for an omega, but it was bare, other than a bed frame.

“Yes. Because it’s way more than pillows. What if we did all this and she doesn’t decide to go through with this?” Tobias asked.

“I hear you, truly. But what if she does? Can you imagine if she comes here tomorrow, and there’s not even a crib for her son? I would rather be overprepared than underprepared.”

Tobias grimaced. “Good point.”

“It’s not like we got that much.” I patted him on the shoulder, trying to inject a little optimism into the situation. “Just some basics so she’ll be comfortable for the next few days. If she decides she doesn’t want us, I’m sure we can find a home for this stuff.”

Usually, if we wanted to decorate, we would have consulted our mothers. But we knew that we needed to keep things on the down low for now. Our mothers were wonderful women but very…enthusiastic. If we were lucky enough to be chosen by Summer, then we would ease her into meeting our families.

We took the bags up to the omega’s room—Summer’s room. It was impossible to look at the space and not think of her now. It wasn’t the largest, but it was decent. A good walk-in closet, its own bathroom, a massive bed and crib. There was a smaller adjoining room, designed for when our future omega had a baby and wanted them near, but not right next to her at night.

It was a good space. Maybe not as luxurious as some packs could offer, but it was decent. Hopefully Summer would like it. Milo too.

Once we had placed everything in the room, Marshall and Noah got to work assembling the crib. It was oddly challenging for such a seemingly simple piece of furniture, but there was a way to raise and lower the mattress for when Milo got bigger. After consulting several books and customer comments, we decided to put it on the second one down, seeing as the baby might be able to pull himself up on furniture if not actually walk. We decided to place the crib next to the bed for now, as we had no idea what Summer was comfortable with.

We didn’t finish setting everything up—bedding, diaper station, changing table—until late, so we ordered pizza and piled onto the couches in the living room to eat.

“I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight,” Tobias said, clearly still twitchy, though I hardly blamed him.

“I’m going to stay up grading for a while,” Noah said. “Usually that puts me right to sleep.” He chuckled, and I raised my brows as I considered just how mind-numbing that could get.

Grading the same paper over and over again sounded like a literal nightmare to me. Then again, I was the guy who spent the majority of my day going through legal contracts, so I wasn’t one to talk. I thought about what Summer had said, how she’d been going to school and liked numbers, very different from most of us. But there was that drive, that desire to do more.

“Summer seems sweet,” I commented, smiling.

“Fucking beautiful as well. I didn’t expect her to look like that,” Noah said, the tips of his ears turning red. “Her scent, please tell me I’m not the only one who was dumbfounded by how good she smelled?”

Marshall swatted at him, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t even think about trying to jump into things from day one. She needs to get comfortable first. As for her scent… yeah. It’s fucking amazing.”

Noah narrowed his eyes back, sighing as he got up to grab his bag and get grading. “I wasn’t planning on it. I’m allowed to comment on how beautiful she is. Besides, I know you were thinking the same thing.”

Marshall didn’t respond, but we could all see the firm set to his jaw. We’d all thought about it. There was no denying how lovely Summer was, and I really hoped Tobias’s fears were unfounded. I wanted Summer here. We all did.

How would Summer fit into our home? We had worked as a unit for so long that the idea of adding someone new was both exciting and terrifying. How I was meant to sleep knowing that the next day we may have an omega was beyond me.

But right now, we just needed to wait.

And for a normally patient guy, I was chomping at the bit.

“What happens now?” Tobias asked.

“I call the matchmakers, make it clear that we want Summer, and present our final offer… Actually, I was thinking. I know we gave her a pretty low offer, and we did that because we wanted to weed out any omegas who were just in this for the money. But Summer has her son to look after. I think we should offer her more. You know, the initial payment? Of course we’d be paying for everything, but I think giving her a larger lump sum upfront would help her feel more secure—she won’t have to ask us for every little thing.”

Marshall, while being a grump, could be one hell of a softy.

“I think that’s a brilliant idea,” I told him as the others nodded in agreement.

“We will go over everything tonight,” Tobias said. “Though my vote is we give Summer everything we can.”

“Also, we need to make it clear we are on board with her son. If we are bonding with her… how does that work?” Tobias asked.

I thought about it for a moment. “He will be part of our pack, but we could also adopt him, just to give her that security?”

“Fuck, yes, let’s do that,” Marshall agreed.