**Chapter 14: Bullies**
**Penny**
The sommelier finished explaining the wine pairing, poured, and slipped away from their table while smiling. Penny grabbed her glass, and Nadia did the same. They both raised them, and Penny smiled.
“To new beginnings and happy endings,” she said.
Nadia smiled, lifting her drink slightly. “Hopefully a very happy ending tonight,” she said. They both clinked glasses and drank.
Penny warmed from the wine and Nadia’s intense gaze. After a few simple weeks in The Rabbit Hole each night, Nadia was more attentive, loving, and romantic than ever. When she told Penny she loved her, it didn’t sound robotic. These were no longer the forced actualizations of a doll or drone. Nadia was actually in love with Penny.
And Penny was undoubtedly in love with her. She was sure of it. She couldn’t imagine life without Nadia now. She had never been happier. Her stage career had taken a back seat to more interesting, challenging, and lucrative efforts. She no longer travelled across the country using cheap tricks to wow people that wanted her to get volunteers to act like chickens. She was working on a movie, a book, a software program, and a series of online classes for hypnotists and subjects alike. Nadia was her secretary, maid, best friend, counselor, confidant, and lover. She was a wonderful partner in every sense of the word.