Now I was the one feeling nervous. Mom had definitely gone above the normal egg decorating extravaganza and I had to hand it to her, even I was excited to dig into all the craft supplies and make the winning egg. But I needed a way to escape and come back as myself.
“I don’t mind sitting next to you, Easter Bilby, but I’m not sure how you’re going to decorate eggs with those giant paws.” She winked at me.
Everyone had already picked seats before we got there, so when Chloe walked to the two chairs furthest from the craft supply area, I had a feeling Murphy had something to do with it — until Asher and August started snickering.
I should have known those two would do something to try to make me lose. Whenever they were together it was trouble, unless they were arguing.
“Easter Bunny, do you have time to decorate an egg with us, or do you have to hippity hoppity Easter your way out of here?” Mom asked. “You must be tired from hiding eggs all morning.”
I nodded and patted my bunny mouth with a giant paw, pretending to cover a yawn.
“Oh my. Bilby is very tired, isn’t he Sophie?” Mia tried to cover a laugh when I went into an exaggerated stretch. “Should we tell him it’s okay to go rest?”
“It’s okay, Bilby. I get stuffed too. You can go rest now,” Sophie called out.
“Thank you for coming to see us, Easter Bilby.” Chloe got up from her seat to stand closer. “Can I give you a hug for sharing your busy day with us?”
A hug? She has no idea how crazy she’s making me feel.
I nodded an exaggerated yes, spun in a circle, then threw my arms open wide.
“Sophie, don’t you want to hug Easter Bilby with Mummy?” Chloe looked to her daughter. “Maybe Aunt Mia will come over here with you, too.”
“Um, I don’t know. He’s still a little bit scary,” Sophie replied, without looking at her.
“That’s not very nice, young lady.” Chloe put her hands on her hips. “Come on now, give it a burl. Easter Bilby needs to shoot through.”
Chloe stepped even closer to me, and all I wanted to do was yank the bunny head off and introduce myself. I glanced toward my mother, who must have known what I was thinking because she slowly shook her head no.
How does she do that? One of these days I’m going to trace her family tree and see if she comes from witches.
I put my head down in a sad gesture because Sophie wouldn’t hug me goodbye.
“Don’t be sad, Easter Bilby. I’ll be your cobber.” Sophie crawled down from her chair and ran into my fuzzy arms. “Mummy, come on, help me hug Bilby so he won’t be sad.”
Chloe joined Sophie giving me… well, the Easter Bunny, hugs. I kinda felt wrong being interested in Chloe without her knowing, like checking her out. She didn’t even know when I was smiling.
I took a step back, took a giant bow, and waved good-bye to the group, then bent over and hopped out of the room on all fours.
I heard the room erupt into laughter as I turned the corner and exited.
Chapter 4
Chloe
I’d joked, almost flirted, with the Easter Bunny and I had no idea why. At first it was creepy with him looking at me with those huge glass eyes, but the more it creeped me out, the more I couldn’t help myself.
“Chloe, let me explain what this is all about.” Victoria stood to be heard over the group. “The Hawthorne Foundation has a charity ball every Easter. When this group was younger, they wanted to be involved, so I started letting them decorate giant eggs.”
“What a lovely tradition to still be doing.” I looked to Mia. “Thank you so much for including us.”
“Yes, it is a tradition, but over the years it has become more than that. We auction off the best three eggs at the ball.” Victoria looked around the group. “It has turned into a major competition amongst this bunch of over-achievers.”
“A competition? So, there is a winner?” I asked.
“Oh yes. Every year we have a winner that gets bragging rights all year,” August added.
“How does that get decided?” I asked, looking to August. Or, at least, I think it was August.