Chapter 5 - THE RABBIT
Ava’s rabbit was named Major.
Daniel bought it at an airport gift shop when Ava was three.
He had missed her preschool recital because of work.
He came home carrying the ugliest gray stuffed rabbit either of us had ever seen.
One ear longer than the other.
Plastic nose slightly crooked.
Ava loved it immediately.
After Daniel died, Major became the one object she carried whenever something changed.
First day at a new school.
Dentist appointments.
My interviews.
Airports.
Funerals.
Most adults saw a battered toy.
I saw a survival mechanism with stuffing inside.
Grant saw leverage.
When the physical round began, he deliberately walked past Ava.
Major sat beside her chair.
Grant stopped.
Looked at me.
Then kicked it.
Not hard enough to damage it.
Hard enough to make the intention unmistakable.
The rabbit slid across the floor.
Ava jumped up.
Grant planted his shoe directly in front of her.
“Pick up your kid and leave,” he said. “You’re embarrassing everyone here.”
The room froze.
I walked toward them.
He expected anger.
Probably shouting.
Maybe physical contact.
Anything he could label unprofessional.
Instead, I picked up the rabbit.
Brushed dust from one ear.
Placed it back in Ava’s hands.
“You stay with Ms. Benton.”
The recruiter nodded from beside her.
Ava looked at Grant.
Then whispered:
“He’s mean.”
Children simplify things adults spend pages explaining.
“Yes,” I said.
Grant heard.
His jaw tightened.
“On the mat.”
I turned.
Cole was already standing there.
He looked furious.
Not at me.
At Grant.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said quietly.
“Yes,” Grant answered for me. “She does.”
I stepped onto the blue mat.
Grant smiled.
Maybe he thought the rabbit had rattled me.
Maybe he thought motherhood made me soft.
Maybe he simply needed one public failure badly enough that he stopped thinking clearly.
He shoved me from behind.
Not part of the drill.
A real shove.
I stumbled two steps, planted my feet, and turned.
Grant waved Cole forward.
I looked directly at him.
“You wanted to humiliate me.”
His smile widened.
May you like
I settled my stance.
“Come try.”
