Page 62 of Enticing the Elf
I point to the handset. “You can use that if you need to—I swear I won’t be long, and I’m not going far.” In fact, I’m not even leaving reception. I grab my cell and hit to dial as I pace toward the elevators.
It’s answered on the first ring.
“Rescue, Bobby speaking.”
“Hi, Bobby. It’s Eoin, returning your?—”
“Eoin! Great timing—I was going to give it another ten minutes and then call the next name on my list.”
I blow out a breath. “It’s been a chaotic morning, but I’m glad I got you before you had to.”
“So you want her, then?”
“Yes, please. Your message said she’s healthy?”
“A little underweight, but otherwise fit as a fiddle,” he confirms.
Perfect. “I’ll be by tonight, if that’s okay? Around six thirty.” The office officially closes to visitors at five thirty, plus a few minutes to make sure everything’s in order for when Dáithí’s back tomorrow, and then I’ll need to check in with my team and make sure I don’t have any time-sensitive emails.
“No problem. I’ll be off shift by then, but Darren will have all the details.”
When I return to the desk, relieved that at least one thing is going my way today, I’m met by three curious faces.
“Sooooo…” Ari raises a brow.
“None of your business.” Has he always been this nosy?
“Dude, you know I love you like a brother, right?” Hagen asks. “Because it’s as your honorary brother that I’m telling you that call sounded weird. Like, call enforcement levels of weird.”
I blink at him, barely noticing as Caolan gets out of Dáithí’s chair and circles back around to the public side of the desk. “What? It did not.” I replay the call in my head. Okay, so… “Only if you have a depraved criminal mind.”
“Or have dealt with depraved criminals in the past,” he counters. “What was it about?”
I sigh and lean against the raised part of the desk. “When I was building the extension to Elsking’s hutch, I?—”
“Elsking’s the rabbit Dáithí got, right?” Caolan interrupts.
“Yes. Anyway, I found out that rabbits are pretty social. They don’t always do well on their own, and they usually thrive whenthey have friends. So I started asking around at a bunch of rescues for them to let me know if they got any rabbits.” I shrug, a little uncomfortable.
Hagen’s mouth has dropped open. “You’ve been trying to find a friend for Dáithí’s pet rabbit?”
“Well… yeah. She doesn’t deserve to be lonely.”
“Um…” Ari screws up his face. “Isn’t it uncool to assume Dáithí even wants another pet? What if he doesn’t?”
I wave it off. “No, that’s fine—I’m the one adopting this bunny. If Dáithí’s okay with having another pet in the house, she can live with Elsking, but I’ve already got a hutch ready at my place in case he’d rather not. They can still have playdates. It might be better to start out that way anyway, so they can get used to each other before they have to share space.”
Caolan’s smiling. “You have a hutch?” He types something into his phone.
“It would be irresponsible of me to adopt a pet without making sure it has what it needs.”
“Let me get this clear,” Hagan starts, shaking his head. “You’re so worried that Dáithí’s rabbitmightbe lonely that you’re going to commit to pet ownership yourself so they can have playdates?”
Why do I feel like that’s a trick question? “Yeah.”
“Have you ever wanted to adopt a rabbit before?”
“I didn’t know they existed until a decade ago,” I point out. “And I’ve been kind of busy.”