Page 21 of Leo and His Love Bunny

I could go from not knowing how I’m going to pay my rent to not knowing how I’m going to be able to make enough cupcakes to fulfill all my orders.

But not only that, this whole breast cupcake thing could blow over and evaporate like a wisp of steam on a winter day.

And yet... Why would he do this? I just don’t see the benefits to him. All I can see are huge, almost unbelievable benefits for me and nothing but a pain in the butt for him, because someone has to call all the people he’s scheduled to speak with, and let them know that there’s going to be a cupcake vendor, and then demand that she get paid.

I don’t know how these things work. I’ve never been a speaker at any kind of event, baking cupcakes is all I’ve ever wanted to do. But surely it’s not just as simple as making a phone call and announcing that they needed to pay a cupcake provider, and that is all there is to it.

But it seems like the perfect example of not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

As we talked, I’ve folded several airplanes, and my fingers have been running over them. I almost smile when I glance over and see that Leo has made the three sheets of paper I gave him into three rather fancy-looking airplanes. Mine are the standard fare that every third-grader makes. Although when I was in third grade, paper airplanes were outlawed because they were too dangerous.

Sometimes life needs a little bit of danger. We stunt ourselves. So scared that something might hurt us, we don’t realize that every bit of pain is an opportunity for growth. Not that I want to get my eye poked out by a paper airplane, but I don’t want to miss the opportunities I have for growth, and I definitely don’t want my children to miss those opportunities, if they’re provided. Not that I think it’s good to be dangerously irresponsible.

“How many speaking engagements do you have?” I ask, and I’m thrilled that my voice isn’t shaking with excitement. In fact, I sound rather cool and collected. I’ve a tendency to go into damage-control mode when I’m hyperexcited. This is not damage, this is...a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A once-in-ten-lifetimes opportunity, and I don’t want to mess it up.

“I told you, I’m pretty much busy all my off-season. I have every weekend but two booked. I deliberately carved those two weekends out, because while I believe I should work hard to build my business, I also believe it’s possible to work so hard you burn out. So, I have the Fourth of July blocked off, not that there will be too many people clamoring for me to speak that weekend.”

“You never know,” I say, thinking that if his ability to speak is even half as impressive as his character is, I would listen to him speak anytime, anywhere.

He doesn’t know me, and he’s doing all this just to make his lie a truth? While I can understand the reasoning behind that, it just seems too good to be true.

He shrugs, like he’s modestly brushing off what was most definitely a compliment. “I have another weekend right before training camp starts. I figured I’d need a little bit of time to rest and recharge before the season.”

“You don’t think your busy summer schedule is going to inhibit your ability to play next year?”

He pauses. I love the way it seems like he actually thinks about my questions and doesn’t just give me a canned response.

“I don’t think so.” He closes his mouth for a moment, then picks up one of his paper airplanes, holding it in his hand and rubbing his finger along the bottom creases. “I haven’t told anyone this, but I’m planning on this being my last year.”

“No wonder you’re trying so hard to keep your summer schedule booked, because...”

“Because that’s what I’m hoping to do next year this time. For a living.”

“I would have thought that you would have made enough money as a hockey player that you wouldn’t have to work the rest of your life.”

“Stay home and just sit around? God didn’t put me on this planet just to kick back and make myself happy. I don’t think He put any of us on earth for that reason. And yeah, it’s taken a lot of work and dedication to be a professional hockey player, but I hope that my life is more than working to meet my own goals.”

For some reason, his words leave me breathless.

Is that what I’ve been doing? Working so hard on building my shop that I’m more concerned about being a success, paying my bills—which is a good thing, I’m not knocking it—and impressing the people around me than I am in always beingkind. Compassionate. Honest. Showing the world my integrity. Living to help others.

Maybe, if I were more concerned about that, I wouldn’t have sold those breast cupcakes today.

That’s a moral dilemma that I’m not sure about. Matt said it was okay, and I have a tendency to agree with him, since they weren’t actual breasts. It wasn’t like I had naked ladies in my shop. It wasn’t like I was marketing them as such. I was marketing them as cupcakes. It was the rest of the world that thought they looked like something else and brought attention to that.

“Do you think I did the right thing today?” I ask, before I even realize the words are coming out. Leo has impressed me because of his dedication to character, his own, and it feels almost old-fashioned in the way that he is concerned about not his reputation, but doing the right thing.

One side of his lip pulls back, and he blows out a breath as he looks away, his eyes landing on the parakeet and the cat. Goalie has wrapped herself around the bottom of the cage and has one paw sticking through the bottom of the opening. Trixie has hopped down off his perch and is standing on the cat’s paw. A part of me wants to go over and shoo the cat away. After all, it’s not my bird, and the ladies downstairs are going to be extremely upset with me if anything happens to their parakeet. Plus, I don’t know how much parakeets cost, but I’m guessing it’s more than I can afford to pay to replace him. As if a pet is replaceable.

It feels like time ticks by slowly as we sit there in silence. It’s not a bad silence. I actually appreciate him taking the time to think about my question and care enough to give me a thoughtful response.

After all, he could have shrugged and said, you did what you thought you should. Or something along those lines. Something about not judging or not being qualified to say. I assume that’sthe way he is with everyone and I’m not special, but it’s a quality I appreciate.

Anyway, he finally says, slowly, “I don’t see anything wrong with what you did. Maybe you’re asking if your desire for your business to be successful got in the way of what is morally right, but I don’t think so. You didn’t deliberately make the cupcakes look the way they did, and you didn’t advertise them as such. I suppose you could have thrown all the cupcakes away, but you could argue that being wasteful is just as much of a sin as...selling cupcakes that have a resemblance to human anatomy?” He grins a little, and oh my goodness, the guy is gorgeous. That grin makes my heart quiver and my toes curl.

I pick up my paper airplane and turn toward the wall over top of the birdcage, aiming for the middle of the mirror that is right there. I throw it.

I don’t know why I did it. I guess I was just trying to get my mind off the way that grin made me feel. Or maybe the way my mind keeps circling back to how comfortable I feel with Leo. How much I admire and respect him, after just this one conversation. How much I appreciate what he did for me, and honestly am happy and excited that this is not going to be the last time I ever talk to him. I will be going to every single speaking event he has over the summer, and he already said he is booked almost every weekend. I will be seeing this man practically every week this summer.

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