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Busted. Bunny fished in her mind for the perfect excuse, grateful for her smartwatch which chose that moment to buzz against her wrist as a text message came through. She glanced at the notification.
1 message from Ben.
“I was just making a call,” she said, holding her wrist up so Dana could see the notification for herself. “My brother’s had a bit of a rough patch with his wife, and he just needed an ear for a few minutes.” It wasn’t a total lie. Ben had gone through a rough patch with his wife… who was now his ex-wife of many years. She offered Dana an apologetic wince. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Dana said, brushing away the apology good-naturedly as her suspicion melted away. “I hope your brother’ll be okay.”
“He will,” Bunny promised, knowing it to be true because future Ben was thriving, even though he’d elected to stay in Mosswood, their small hometown.
* * *
“So,they have to make full-on outfits from all the random stuff in that pile?”
Death was staring at the bright and colorful drag queens on Bunny’s flatscreen, brows drawn together with interest.
“Yep.” Bunny reached for another handful of potato chips, nodding her head at the materials the queens had been supplied with. “But with a beach day theme—see? That one is using beach balls to make a skirt.”
Death huffed an amused laugh. “Why?”
“Because it’s entertaining,” Bunny smiled. “They do all kinds of different challenges to show off various skills. This one is a design-slash-fashion-slash-sewing challenge.”
There was a short silence while Death apparently contemplated the purpose of the show they were watching. Eventually, he turned to Bunny.
“What would you make?”
She hesitated. Having never really thought about it, she now found herself put on the spot.
“Dunno,” she admitted, beginning to muse. “I think a beach umbrella skirt would look cool—maybe on an angle, painted like a wave? And then I could add some of those cute plastic fish on fishing wire underneath to make it look like they’re swimming.”
“Creative,” Death remarked, nodding his head in appreciation.
Bunny grinned. “Thanks.”
A quiet but firm knock at the door provided another interruption. Bunny pushed up from the couch, padding through the living room in her pink fuzzy socks. She opened the front door to reveal a tall, thin woman with long chestnut-colored hair, and the slightly rounded belly of someone who was sliding into the middle of first trimester of pregnancy.
Bunny broke into a wide smile. “Pippa!”
“Hey!” Pippa leaned forward through the doorway, folding Bunny into a quick and slightly awkward hug before she broke away again. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. Is this a bad time? I thought I heard you talking—do you have company already?”
“It’s fine," Bunny lied. "I was just watching TV. Come on in.” Bunny moved into the kitchen, her hand held out toward the fridge. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Water’d be great,” Pippa said, sounding relieved before she appeared to have an afterthought. “Could I borrow your bathroom, first?”
“As long as you put it back where you found it,” Bunny teased, fetching two classes from a kitchen cabinet.
As Pippa disappeared into the bathroom, Bunny looked through the small service-style window in the kitchen at Death. He had turned on the couch so he could listen in better to the women’s conversation. The action nearly made Bunny smile. She’d had her own private suspicions about his proclivities for eavesdropping before, but now he didn’t know enough to be subtle about it, she found it downright amusing.
“Tell the truth now,” Bunny said jokingly, giving Pippa her glass of water when she reappeared. “Did you really just stop by because you needed to pee?”
“The fact that your apartment has a bathroom was a draw card,” Pippa sighed dramatically, before grinning. “How’s things, girl?”
“Good,” Bunny lied smoothly, conveniently ignoring all the strange and wonderful things currently going on in her life. “Work, sleep—the usual. How are you? How’re the peanuts?”
“Tired and great,” Pippa smiled before taking a sip of cool water. “I knew growing a human inside of my belly wasn’t ever gonna be easy, but heavens to Betsy—growing two ain’t for the faint hearted.”
“Wait until they're out,” Bunny said, scooting herself into one of the two chairs parked around her tiny kitchen table. The two women launched into a full-scale catch-up, ending with Pippa mentioning her addiction to ogling pictures of baby showers on the internet.
“Speaking of baby showers,” Bunny smiled, leaning back in her chair. “Have you chosen a theme? Are you going all out or keeping it simple?”
