Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
While I’d built the bunnies a sizeable bunny mansion in the backyard and even given in to Christopher’s insistence that we put up some birdproof netting to cover the entire yard so none of our “kids” would be grabbed by a hawk, more often than not, the bunnies were in the house with us when they weren’t gorging themselves on grass.
When Christopher had first decided he’d bring in the rabbits each night for dinner, I’d watched on in humor as he’d tried to wrangle them all. Within two days, he’d only had to call out to them, and they were all racing up the steps to wait by the back door.
I sighed because it was yet another moment that made me keenly aware of how much I missed my man.
“Okay, guys,” I called as I swallowed down the last of my beer and resigned myself to spending the evening channel surfing surrounded by at least one bunny butt pressed up against some part of my face. “Thumper, Bugs, Hazel, Snowball, Bunnicula, come on, dinnertime.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the three names Christopher had come up with to replace my ill-advised numbering system. He’d absolutely refused to use Google to find some famous bunny names, but after he’d only managed to come up with Hazel, the only female rabbit name he could remember from Watership Down, he’d sought out expert help from a younger generation.
His sister, Rory, had come up with Snowball from the Pets movies while Luca’s daughter, Violet, had insisted that the last rabbit be named Bunnicula. When questioned, the little girl had insisted not only was Bunnicula a female name but that it fit perfectly because Bunnicula the movie rabbit and our Bunnicula both loved to suck the juice out of vegetables.
Since there was no arguing with that kind of logic, rabbit number five had been christened as such.
As predicted, all the rabbits came hopping up the steps followed by an excited but still pretty wobbly Pip. I was in the process of following everyone inside when something white caught my eye. I looked over my shoulder and saw a white rabbit in the grass. “Snowball, what the hell—” I began only to notice that while the rabbit in the grass was white, it wasn’t solid white like Snowball.
I put my beer bottle down and slowly made my way down the porch steps. “Hey, sweetie, where did you come from?” I said softly. Since I’d checked the fence for holes just that morning, there was no way the rabbit had gotten into the yard that way.
To my surprise, the rabbit didn’t run away as I approached it. It continued to munch on the grass like I wasn’t even there. I gently picked the bunny up but stopped short when I realized the little creature had some kind of sheer, pink material tied around its neck. “What the—” I began but stopped short when a ray of sunlight hit something shiny that was dangling from the makeshift collar. More confused than ever, I lifted the rabbit up higher so I could see what had caught the light. Assuming it was some kind of ID tag, I tried to get a better look, but the bunny wasn’t loving the idea of being held so high off the ground, so I tucked her against my chest and searched out the object with my fingers.
As soon as the smooth material hit my skin, I knew what it was.
The soft click of a door shutting had me looking up. I nearly dropped the rabbit in surprise when I saw who it was that was standing on the back porch surrounded by five confused and hungry bunnies and one very happy orange tabby.
“You said you were coming home tomorrow,” I blurted even as I drank in the sight of Christopher.
“Did I?” Christopher said in all innocence.
Bullshit innocence.
Not that I cared at all. As he slowly made his way down the stairs, I met him there in just a few big strides. I kissed him before he could object, but when the bunny in my arms began struggling, I realized I’d been squishing the poor thing between us in my haste to get closer to Christopher.
“Hi,” I said softly.
“Hi,” he said, his skin flush with color. He’d never looked healthier. He’d filled out quite a bit as the stress of his illness waned and his body had started to become used to the medications. But today, there seemed to be just a little bit more pink to his cheeks.
I held up the rabbit a bit. “If you’re home early to break up with me, it’s not happening,” I growled, even though I knew that he had no such plan. Not after feeling what I had on the rabbit’s makeshift collar.
“I think the last boyfriend you’re ever going to have should be the one to give you your last rabbit,” Christopher said with a smile.