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“All right, if you say so” She stops what she’s doing and cleans her hands on a striped dishtowel She holds her hands out for the present and I hand it to her “So to ju a brow

I shake my head “I wouldn’t do that to you, now please open it,” I beg, impatient

When I was in the city today I drove by a store with all kinds of baby things so I stopped and went inside When I saw this I knew I had to get it It was made for our baby—and I selfishly wanted to be the one to buy the baby’s first anything because I know Thea’s going to go crazy once she knows the gender

She peels the paper back slowly, her lips lifting into a s this take as long as humanly possible

“Thea,” I practically beg and she laughs

She rips the paper off then, revealing the small white box beneath

“A box?” She asps “What could it possibly be?” She shakes it, and listens

“Thea,” I warn again, and her srows

The girl is evil

She lifts the flap of the box and pushes aside the pale pink and blue tissue paper

“Oh, my God” Her jaw drops as she removes the slippers from the box “Xander,” she barely whispers my name “They’re perfect”

I grin, pleased that she’s happy “I did good?” I confirm

She nods, clutching the slippers

to her chest “They’re perfect”

When I looked over in the store and saw the hand-knitted shark slippers, alo, except baby-sized, I knew I had to get them