Karl looked faintly embarrassed. “I was going to ask if you would turn into a bunny so I could watch you hop along because I thought it would be cute, but then I thought how much better it would be to follow the human you down the trail and watch that wiggle.”
“Why not both?” With a laugh, Emmy turned into a rabbit and bounced several yards ahead of him, then returned to her human form and added a little extra swing to that back door as she headed down the hill.
Behind her, Karl audibly groaned, “Oh myGod,yes,” and to Emmy’s surprise, delight, and faint embarrassment, he made no effort at all to catch up, just walked behind her the whole way, making sounds like he was already eating—
Carrots?her rabbit asked hopefully.
Emmy, giggling, said,Exactly that,and went back into Virtue’s town limits with a smile on her face.
CHAPTER10
The carrot cake was as good as Emmy had advertised.
In fact, everything at the little cafe, from the sandwiches to the decor to the staff, was excellent, and Karl didn’t think it was just being out with Emmy that gave him an appetite for life. He was button-burstingly proud of her, and didn’t know if that was either appropriate or welcome, but he still felt it in his bones. She didn’t seem shaken, in the wake of leaving Virtue for the first time. Karl was relieved about that, but mostly, he was proud. It clearly hadn’t been as hard as she’d expected it to be, but that was a good thing.
Part of him wanted to ask her to explore the world with him, now that she knew she could get out of town if she wanted to. More of him didn’t even know ifhewanted to explore the world. He did know that whatever he did, he wanted it to be with Emilia Jones, part-time bunny rabbit and the most wonderful woman he’d ever met.
His smile faltered, and although Emmy was in the middle of an animated story about digging a rabbit warren during a particularly snowy winter, she noticed it instantly and slowed her story to put her hand on his. “Karl?”
“I’m okay. I just—I was just thinking I wish my mom could have met you.” It was true: he’d gone from thinking Emmy was the most wonderful woman in the world to thinking about his mother, who had previously been the most wonderful woman he’d known. From there, rather than try to determine which of them deserved the title more (neither: they held completely different places in his life), he’d simply wished what he’d said: that his mother could have met this laughing, vivacious woman that actual fate had brought into his life.
Emmy’s smile softened. “I wish I could have met her too. I hope you’ll tell me a lot about her.”
“I’d love to. She’d be thrilled with you. She always hoped I’d meet somebody amazing and settle down and have lots of babies.” He suddenly remembered Emmy saying something like that earlier, when they’d realized they had no condoms, and felt himself blush. “I’m sorry, that’s kind of getting ahead of ourselves, isn’t it?”
“Probably, but I’m on board for the lots of babies thing anyway. I know,” she said, holding her palms up in visible embarrassment. “How unbelievably stereotypical, right? I mean, I’m arabbit shifter,” she said, dropping her voice to hiss the last two words, “withsixbrothers and sisters. And I want a lot of kids? How mortifying. And yet here I am.”
“Well, I have zero brothers and sisters and also want a lot of kids. A big family has always sounded wonderful to me. So if you don’t mind, I’m pretty good with leaning into the stereotype there, whenever you like. If I don’t sound like a crazy person, suggesting kids twenty…” He looked at his phone, counted the hours, and bobbed his head. “Yeah, about twenty-one hours after I formally met you. I’m not sure our little encounters in the woods and fields qualify.”
A woman's voice said, "You're having encounters without telling me, Em?" and a sturdy blonde sat at their table without invitation. Emmy laughed, though, and leaned over to hug the other woman.
"No, I told you about these ones. Donna, this is Karl. I told you about him. Karl, this is my best friend, Donna Arnesen."
"You're at least twice as handsome as she told me you were," Donna informed Karl cheerfully, "and she told me you were the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. I'm the deputy here in Virtue. It's nice to meet you."
Karl, feeling like a kid, actually said, "Oh, gosh," and ducked his head with embarrassment. "Thanks? Did she really say that?"
"Something like it. Look, Em, I don't mean to interrupt your lunch—"
"You totally do."
"I totally do. I absolutely wanted to meet your new man here. But also, I needed to make sure you're ready for the Easter festivities tomorrow. We're counting on that big fluffy bunny of yours to hand out the baskets."
Karl's eyes widened as Donna mentioned Emmy's rabbit form so casually. "Is that okay?" he whispered. "To just talk about it? Is that a thing here in Virtue?"
Donna gave him a slow neutral look that he thought might hide humor. "You know. The pet bunny," she said with the slightest emphasis. "Emmy's exceptionally well-trained and cleverpet bunny?"
"Oh! Right! Yes! Right. Of course. The pet bunny." He dared a glance at Emmy, whose eyes were bright with contained laughter. "It's a very nice bunny. I like to…stroke it."
"Oh my God, that's my cue to leave." Donna stood up and strode away as Emmy blushed a most becoming shade of pink. Then Donna obviously remembered she hadn't finished the conversation, turned on her heel, and strode back to sit at the table again. "If we could get through the rest of the Easter preparation discussions without further innuendo?"
"Probably not," Emmy said happily. "But yes, I'm all ready. Ten a.m., right? In my heart I feel like that's intolerably early, but I don't know why, since I'm usually up by six anyway."
"Because you often don't leave the B&B until noon or later," Donna said. "That means your day interacting with the rest of the world doesn't start until after noon, which makes ten shockingly early. But yes, ten. Or even nine thirty, for discretion's sake. Congratulations," she added to Karl. "You saved Virtue's holiday by rescuing that bunny yesterday. Don't know what we'd have done without you." She clapped him on the shoulder, and this time when she rose to leave, she didn't turn back.
Emmy looked after her fondly. "My bestie. She's a dork, but I love her."
"She obviously knows about, you know," Karl all but whispered. "But not everybody here does?"
