“If you ever decide to sell Sir keep us in mind.” Jordan said. Mister Thompson nodded and went back into his office.
Jordan went home disappointed and deflated. “Damn it!” He hissed pulling his dress shirt off and pulling his tee shirt on. He would take his aggressions out on the firewood. He and Lettie spent only a few minutes convincing the pack that this would work. They’d thought that the pack would be hardest to sell the idea to, that Mister Thompson would be easy since he wanted to retire. Jordan scoffed. Convincing the pack took ten minutes. He’d been in Thompson’s office for nearly an hour and got nowhere. What now? Thwack! The logs flew. He would have to break the bad news to them. This alpha business was harder than it looked and Jordan felt like he was failing at it, miserably.
Lettie finished the cleaning aisle, ordered stock, and filled the candy displays at the registers. It was a nice dream while it lasted. She shrugged and shook it off. What bothered her most were the pups. Jordan wanted them and she wanted to give them to him. She wanted them too if she were honest with herself. Maybe if she’d gotten pregnant when they were young, everything would’ve been different. The money would still be theirs, they would be raising teenagers by now, and Jordan wouldn’t be the alpha. He’d done that for her. He thought that she needed it to be secure. She blew out a shaky breath. Now they couldn’t take care of themselves let alone pups. Lettie sniffled the tears back and went back to the gum and candy bars willing herself not to think about it. Her shoulders shook with it though. No pups. She missed her window. All of this time wasted, fighting Jordan, all wasted and stupid. She should’ve given him pups the first time he asked. She stifled the sob with her fist and headed to the storeroom. It was the most private place to have her breakdown.
“Lettie?” Mister Thompson found her like he always did. He had radar for tears. Lettie dabbed her face and sniffled loudly. “I’m sorry that I can’t sell you the store dear.” She nodded and tried to smile.
“It wasn’t that, well that was in there but…oh, I’m sorry Mister Thompson. This isn’t your problem. I’ve finished everything. I’ll just go home. Good night Sir.” Lettie tried to ease passed him.
“Please Lettie.” He put his hand gently on her arm to stop her. “We’re still friends aren’t we? Maybe I can help.” She shook her head. “Lettie. Please?”
“I just realized how much time I’ve wasted and how much I’m going to miss out on because I was too careful.” She sniffled again. “It’s just poor Lettie day, that’s all Sir.”
“What are you missing out on dear?” He looked at her quizzically. Drawing a trembling breath, the words fell from her lips.
“Children. I didn’t want them when I was young but I was saving up for them because I knew that I would want them one day. Jordan wanted them from the moment we mated. Then when I told him no, he got it in his head that he needed to be alpha so that we could start our family. When he got that into his head, it started a series of events that led to our mutual rejection. Once he got the alpha position, we weren’t together and the pack needed money. He spent the money I’d saved for pups on the pack and now that we’re together, there’s no money left for pups. I wasted my youth being overly cautious and now I can’t bring a child into the world not knowing if I can feed it. Like I said Sir, it’s just poor Lettie day. I’m going to head home Sir. Shall I come back for an extra shift tomorrow?” Lettie nibbled her lip. “I can use the overtime.”
“I need a cashier if you are willing to pull a shift I’d be grateful.” His wrinkled face creased with his smile and concern.
“I’ll see you in the morning Sir.” Lettie hurried out of the back door of the store and shifted into her wolf. She could call Jordan but she needed to clear her head, and a run would help with that.
***
“How did it go Jordan? Are we rolling in the dough again?” Mark asked grinning as he walked around to the back of Jordan’s house. Jordan turned from his fire wood. “Shit.” Mark murmured. “What now?”
“Now we all go back to work. I have an idea about a heating and air company. You, Terry, Lucas, and I will all be pitching in. Everyone else will be going to work at the grocery store or finding a job somewhere. We need to pool our resources so that we can keep the human’s from foreclosing on any of the houses and so we can all have electricity this time next year.” Mark nodded. Jordan’s voice had gone from neighborly to alpha by the end of his speech. “I will have a pack meeting tonight at seven, let everyone know please.” Mark nodded and left. Thwack! Jordan swung at the log on the stump in front of him. Where was Lettie? He looked at his watch. It was starting to get dark. He was getting hungry and she would be too. He needed to hold her and make it all go away for them both. Jordan went inside to start dinner.