Page 5 of Sven

She got home and called her best friend.

“Hey, Nat, how’d it go?”

“Just like you thought it would,” she said, defeated. She flopped down on her couch and flung her toes out of her shoes.

“Fuck.”

“I don’t know why I thought it would be any different.”

“Because you still have hope in humanity... My hope in humanity died years ago.”

“Yeah, well... I wish mine did. But I’m just so mad. This is all utter bullshit!”

“Yep. Utter bullshit.”

“What am I going to do?” she asked, trying to push away the tears.

She would not cry for ignorant assholes who fired her or the foundation her family had built who refused to help her.

“Babe, why don’t you just come stay with me? New York is a world away from Alabama. You can get a fresh start here.”

That did sound promising.

She fiddled with the Afghan on the back of the couch. “I don’t know, Sydney, that’s a big ask.”

“Natalie, don’t make me come down there. Drive your ass to New York and stay in my guest room. What else do you have going on?”

“Well, when you put it that way.”

“Do you need any help getting here?”

“No. I can get there, but that’s about all of my money.”

It wasn’t like the career she’d just been fired from was lucrative, but no one went into teaching for the money.

“Don’t worry about that right now. You can find a job once you’re here. And there’s no rush. You’re going through a lot. And, hey, what are best friends for?”

“You’re a lifesaver, Syd,” she said, feeling a small glimmer of hope. “I’ll start packing.”

“My guest room is waiting.”

She hung up the phone and started packing. In the morning, she would start the trek from Alabama all the way up to Glendale, New York. Then she would figure out the next step in her life.

3

Sven

Sven was enjoying the rare sleep-in on a rest day, only to be awakened by a knocking at his door. One look at his alarm clock told him it was nine in the morning. He wasn’t expecting anyone. His housekeeper wasn’t in until the next day. Rolling over, he tried to fall back to sleep. Until the knocking on the door continued.

He groaned, sat up in his bed, and pulled on shorts and T-shirt before making his way downstairs to answer the door. He should have moved into Rolling Hills next to Cash and Conner, then he would have a gate to keep the bunnies out. Not that he brought any back here, but he’d had a few find him in the past.

A yawn escaped his mouth as he ran a hand through his messy hair. Soon, he was at the front door, and through the frosted glass was the silhouette of a woman. Great, another bunny had found him. Maybe it was time he took a page out of Cash’s book and stopped all this messing around.

He could just not answer it, but then the knock sounded again. He observed the woman’s silhouette, deciding what he should do. Then he heard another sound and watched as the woman bent down and appeared to be rocking something by her side.

He was intrigued and decided to open the door.

As he swung it open, he saw a woman who looked vaguely familiar. She was pretty, with long dark hair and pretty brown eyes, but those eyes looked tired. He was pretty sure they’d hooked up. The longer he looked, the more he thought she might be the woman from the gala last year who had been acting strange. Then he followed her hand down to what she had been rocking.

---