Tommy “The Easter Bunny” and the young bunny who lived across the street had been together for a whole year. Even before that, Tommy had had a crush on her for as long as she lived across Cottontail Lane.

“One of these days,” he would think to himself as he gazed sheepishly at her from across the room and sipped his carrot juice on the rocks.

When finally he had asked her out, to the Easter Bunny’s surprise, they had quickly struck up a romance. It turns out her name was Mary. First they had dinner with his two friends but they gradually escalated into nights out on the town just the two of them. Before long they were spending every waking hour together. Tommy was as happy as he had been in quite some time.

They took long walks together and talked and talked and talked. Arm in arm they strolled, laughing and getting to know each other. They both liked the same TV shows. They had similar tastes in food and magazines. They both loved Easter. Mary and Tommy were falling in love.

Even after their first fight, Tommy wasn’t worried. They were able to talk it out; at least they were communicating, he thought.

“I think Mary could be the one for me,” he told his friends.

One Saturday morning Tommy invited Mary to move across the street into his house on Cottontail Lane. She accepted. Tommy helped her pack up and together they moved the boxes one at a time.

Living together turned out to be a little tougher than either of them expected. Suddenly there were all of these things to figure out. Once they moved all of Mary’s stuff inside, the house wasn’t as big as it once was. They started getting in each other’s way, then they started to argue more and before long Tommy and Mary were fighting all of the time.

These days, when you passed them on the trail to town, neither of them was smiling. If you asked Mary, Tommy was a bit self-absorbed and didn’t pay enough attention to her. Also, he took Easter way too seriously.

“He takes all of the fun out of it,” she told her friends.

Sometimes Tommy felt like they must be standing on two separate planets.

“I just don’t understand where she’s coming from,” Tommy told his friends.

Things were not looking good for Mary and Tommy, The Easter Bunny.

When Easter came, Tommy started his annual duties. Mary started helping. Together they dyed and hid eggs, made baskets. Tommy made a joke, Mary laughed. Their eyes caught each other. They smiled at each other for the first time in what felt like a long time.

On Easter Sunday, Tommy sipped carrot juice on the rocks and gazed at Mary from across the room like he had before. She was smiling and laughing and having a good time. He felt very lucky. Whatever the future held for them, right now, he was happy.