“Let me see this list,” said Ginny as Meg pulled out of the driveway. Meg handed her the list. She and Luc had planned the meal and as much of the sundries as possible. Ginny looked it over and then put it down. “I guess we are headed to the Mall?” she asked.
“They have the party store and some of the catering supplies I want. Plus, I need to stop by and see Andrew at the Silver Lode,” said Meg.
“Why?” asked Ginny.
“Well, I have a snag on my chain. Seems Unky Wolfie chewed my chain,” said Meg.
Ginny laughed for the first time in ages.
They got to the Mall and headed to the Silver Lode first. Andrew was at the counter when they walked in.
“Hello ladies, and how are you today?” he asked.
“Fine,” said Ginny although the smile was a little tight on her face.
“I have a snag on my chain,” said Meg. She took it off and showed Andrew where Luc had nicked it.
Andrew shook his head. “Going to have to give that boy a teething ring,” he said jokingly. Ginny and Meg laughed. “I’ll have this fixed in about thirty minutes. Come back on your way out,” he said.
“Alright Andrew. Thanks,” said Meg as they turned to leave the shop.
The two of them headed for the card shop first to pick up invitations. After that, they talked to the caterer at ‘Lunch is on Us’ to arrange for various chaffing dishes and the cake. At the party store, they picked up balloons, silly party gifts and the paper products.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m really hungry,” said Meg.
“Yeah, that Chinese place down in the food court smells really good,” said Ginny as she lifted her head sniffing the air.
“Chinese it is then,” said Meg as they headed to the food court.
*
Forty-five minutes later, the two women gathered their bags and headed back to the Silver Lode. A twenty-something woman was at the counter. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, I left a chain with Andrew to be repaired,” said Meg.
“Oh yeah, He got it finished and I’ll go get it,” she said. She headed to the back of the shop. She reappeared a minute later with Meg’s chain in her hand and a box. “The chain is fixed, and there’s no charge,” she said handing it back to Meg.
Meg slipped it over her head and then looked at the box the woman was handing her. “What’s in the box?” Meg asked.
“I don’t know. Andrew said it was a present for Luc,” she said and walked off to help another customer.
“Hmmm, guess we’ll have to wait until Luc opens it,” said Meg looking at the nicely wrapped box.
“Yeah. Let’s go to the grocery and get the rest of this stuff ordered,” said Ginny.
*
They left the Mall and headed for the little Italian grocery store that did deli orders and made things like handmade ravioli. It always smelled so good in the shop that Meg was tempted to lick the walls. Mrs. Giovanni took their order, and gave them each a piece of tiramisu as a treat. Meg and Ginny headed for the door licking their fingers and waving goodbye.
“The cocoa on top isn’t going to make you sick is it Ginny?” asked Meg.
“No, just give me the burps for a while,” said Ginny. “Where to now?”
“Not sure. I want to buy a nice dress and some sexy undies,” said Meg. “We probably should have done that at the Mall, but I forgot.”
“We could go to Carter’s over by the box stores,” suggested Ginny.
“Hmmm, haven’t been there in ages. Yes, let’s go.” said Meg as she started the car and backed out of the space.
*
Carter’s had just the right undies for Meg and a little black dress that would fit the occasion. Ginny found some new undies too which she finally bought after Meg teased her into it. They headed home and had just gotten all the bags in as Luc arrived home.
“Looks like you two had a good time shopping,” said Luc.
“Yes, and I’m off home to see what trouble those kids got into this time,” said Ginny. She grabbed her bags and headed out the door. “Bye Meg, and thanks for the lovely day,” she said.
“Bye Ginny,” said Meg with a wave.
“Wow, did I forget deodorant?” Luc asked.
“No, but that was amazing. She was really civil for most of the day. A little touchy around Andrew, but otherwise she was fine,” said Meg.
“Ohhhkay,” said Luc.
“Okay what?” asked Meg.
“Okay as in she really needs to get laid if she gets grouchy every time she’s around a male shifter,” said Luc.
“Oh,” said Meg. “Want to see what we got?” she asked. Luc nodded and they started unloading the bags. The dinner was in two weeks. When they got to the box from Andrew, Luc looked at it puzzled.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Andrew said it was for you,” she said. “His assistant gave it to us, so I couldn’t ask him.”
“Hmm,” said Luc. He took the package and read the label. “To Luc, Use it in good health, Andrew”. Luc tore through the wrappings and opened the box. Inside was an ivory colored ring about three inches across with a silver handle. Luc picked it up and started laughing.
“What’s so funny Luc?” Meg asked.
“Oh, it’s just Andrew’s way of telling me to be careful,” he said and handed the piece over to Meg. “It’s a teething ring.”
Meg took it and started to laugh. “He said something about a teething ring when we dropped off the chain. I never expected him to actually give you one,” said Meg.
Both of them collapsed to the bed giggling.
*
Tuesday morning, Cal stuck his head into Luc’s office. He didn’t say a word, just smiled and gave Luc a thumbs up sign. Luc nodded. It was the prearranged signal that Cal’s cousin Patrick would be coming by some time today. They had decided on silent communication because Ginny seemed to hear everything said in the office lately. It had brought most conversations to a halt, and Luc had had just about enough. He really hoped that Patrick and Ginny hit it off. The phone rang and Luc answered it as Cal headed out the back way to the warehouse.