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It’s then that I have the same wake-up moment as I did last night in my kitchen. Abby’s lighting a candle and it’s not the only one burning. There are several. Not too many, just enough, and on the floor next to her bed is a picnic-style blanket.
“Soak it in, Logan. This is the most you’ll ever get out of me for romance.” She blows out the stick she had
used to light the candle and I soak in the glorious sight.
Abby’s rocking it in a pair of tight jeans and a halter top I’ve never seen on her before. It’s dark purple, glitters in the dull candlelight, but hugs her right. Her dark chestnut hair falls over her shoulders and has this beautiful wave.
I step forward to touch the silky strands. Hell, I’m stepping forward to devour her body, but a door opening below causes me to remember my own surprise. “I’ll be right back.”
Her forehead furrows. “You’ll be right what?”
Even though my fingers twitch with the need to caress her body, I force myself back down the stairs and meet a confused Nate at the landing. “I’m assuming this is yours?”
My response is to take it from him and then dash back up the stairs. Abby raises an eyebrow when I enter, close the door, and put the massive covered object on the floor. “I bought you a present.”
Abby shines. “Really? Can I open it?”
“Yeah.”
Abby kneels on the floor, removes the blanket and she freezes. My heart stops as what’s frozen on her face is panic.
“It’s a bunny,” she says.
“It’s a bunny,” I repeat.
Abby lowers herself to peer inside the cage. “It’s real.”
“Yes.” I shove my hands in my pockets, doubting this idea. “I know you say you have to vanish, but maybe it can just be temporary. Maybe we can stay in touch. I can visit. You can visit. I can take care of this until you’re ready.”
An excuse to stay in contact. An excuse to see her again.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” she asks.
That brings me up short. “I don’t know.”
“Only one way to find out.”
Abby carefully opens the cage like she’s dismantling a ticking time bomb. She reaches in and extracts the massive ball of brown and black. Abby squishes her face and talks like a parent to a baby. “Aren’t you the cutest little lop bunny ever?”
Little? “That thing is massive.”
Abby glares at me. “Don’t you dare talk bad about my baby. He’s just pleasantly plump.” Then back to the bunny. “Aren’t you? Don’t worry about what he has to say. You’re perfect just the way you are.” Then back at me. “And his name is Thumper.”
I join Abby on the floor. “Thumper? A bit cliché, don’t you think?”
“You can leave.” She flashes that I-can-murder-you-now-or-later grin. “His name is Thumper and that’s how it is.”
A smile stretches over my face as Abby nuzzles the huge fluff monster with massively long ears. “Then that’s how it is.”
“I had a rabbit once,” Abby says as she cradles the bunny on her lap. “Dad gave it to me as a Christmas present when I was six.”
“What happened to it?”
“He died. Old age. Dad didn’t know he had bought an old man.”
Guilt flickers through me. “I didn’t ask how old this one is.”
“Thumper is his name, not this, and it’s okay.” Abby gives me one of her rare genuine smiles. The type that lights up a room. The type that steals my breath. “Age doesn’t bother me. Old fellows deserve a good home as much as a baby.”
