Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“It’s me,” I say, locking up behind me. “I’ll be right there.”
I slip off my shoes and set my bag and keys on top of an old dresser I refurbished from a salvage store. After some elbow grease and tender loving care, the piece of furniture doesn’t look as good as new, but it gets the job done. And I’m pretty freaking proud of it.
“How do you feel?” I ask, coming around the corner.
Mimi looks up from her soap opera and smiles. There’s a cut on her forehead from her fall in the bathroom this morning. The immediate area surrounding the burgundy line is turning a nasty shade of purple and her hair has seen better days. Out of all the damage from this morning’s incident, the hair would bother her the most if she could see it.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is … humble. The paper-thin walls are peach, but I’m pretty sure they were white at some point in the distant past. The brown floor would’ve been an odd choice in any era, but the yellow appliances are straight from the seventies. That they work—most of the time—is a small miracle.
The biggest issue I have with this unit is the bathroom tile. They’re uneven, and a few are broken. Mimi has fallen three times since we moved in a year ago, each incident ending a little worse. I’m scared shitless there will be a fourth time … and what that might look like.
“Let me see you,” I say, reaching for her chin.
She swats my hand away like a toddler. “I’m fine. I told you that this morning.”
“Your head says differently.”
“I’ve kept ice on it most of the day,” she says. “Greta has come by every couple of hours and checked on me, swapping out my cold compress.” She rummages on the table beside her until she finds an ice pack shaped like a heart. “She brought this about an hour ago. Before that, I was using a pack of frozen carrots.”
I laugh, kissing the top of her head and sitting on the couch beside her. “Your color is back in your face. That’s good.”
She tosses the heart down on top of a crossword puzzle book. “I feel fine, Chloe. You act like I jumped off the Grand Canyon. It was a little stumble. No biggity.”
“No biggity, huh?”
“Yes. That’s right. No biggity, boo.” She wiggles her shoulders and makes a kissy face.
I snort so hard it hurts. “No biggity? What’s that mean?”
“You were listening to it the other night. No biggity. No doubt. Boo.”
I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it. I let loose a flurry of giggles.
She settles back in her recliner, grimacing as she gets comfortable. “I really am okay. Just a bit sore.”
“How did it go with Greta?” I ask, knowing Mimi isn’t a huge fan of our nosy neighbor whose grandson sent me the gorgeous flowers I left on my desk.
“She was her typical cheery, lovely self,” Mimi says, rolling her eyes. “We played cards a little while this afternoon, and she told me about how you and Thomas would make a great couple.”
“No.” I shake my head, resolute that Mimi will not find out I occasionally bang Thomas. “I’m not dating. You know that.”
“I agree that you aren’t dating Thomas. You can do better. But I do think you should let me set you up with Sherry’s grandson. We talk about it all the time on Social. You’d make the cutest couple.”
“No blind dates, Meems. We tried that once before, and the guy you hooked me up with wound up puking off my roof at three in the morning. I’m still not sure how he got up there in the first place.”
She laughs. “He was singing love ballads in your honor. How mad can you get?”
“Very! He woke up the whole neighborhood with a terrible rendition of ‘Always.’ He wasn’t exactly a Romeo, but we almost saw his blood when he slipped on his puke and almost fell off the house.”
Her face lights up. “He was cute, you must admit. And he was spi-cy. I guarantee you would’ve had a more exciting time with him than you did with that last dud you had. What was his name? Harrison?”
Her ability to recall names might be rusty, but her instincts haven’t faded a bit.
If there’s one thing you can’t get past my grandmother, it’s a bad character. She can sniff out an asshole from a block over. I should’ve listened to her when she warned me that Harrison was a bad seed, but in my defense, he did have great shoulders.
When he broke up with me, I told Mimi that I caught him with his physical therapist even though that wasn’t true. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Harrison made me choose between them. He was tired of me giving so much time to Mimi.