Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Mimi shot a conspiratorial grin up at Gracen after watching a resident, an elderly man who used the seat of his walker to sit while taking his shot, miss the hired deer a second time. “Pew, pew.”
In other words?
Where’s my gun?
*
Gracen’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but somehow it stretched wider when Mimi’s searching gaze found her near the snack bar. She waved back to her grandmother before returning to filling the Styrofoam cup with fresh punch sent out by the kitchen. By the time she crossed the rec lobby, Malachi had reloaded Mimi’s gun and sent her in for another hunt.
Three more employees, who found headband reindeer antlers from the Christmas before shoved in a cabinet, joined in to make it more fun.
Keeping hold of Mimi’s drink, Gracen slid in beside Malachi as he popped off the cartridge for another gentleman’s rifle.
“Here, I snagged an extra round,” the old man told Malachi, proudly presenting a third foam dart for him to take.
“Nice, Gerald,” Malachi returned, no longer concerned about his mask.
It probably helped that he noticed other visitors wearing one—like she’d said they would—and the nursing staff that also opted to wear masks in common areas and while serving food.
He popped the bullets in, slammed the cartridge down into the butt of the orange Nerf rifle, and handed it back to Gerald once he pulled the hammer back.
“It’s too bad some of those guns are hard to load and discharge,” Malachi told her when the support worker helping Gerald pushed his wheelchair closer to the far line of trees.
“They don’t care if they can get the bullets in or out,” Gracen replied, nodding at her grandmother who aimed every shot very carefully. Lots of staff, and people who were sweet like Malachi, were there to help the residents maintain guns or pull back the hammers before their shots. “And she just wants to shoot.”
Malachi cracked up with a laugh when Mimi once again hit her target. In the side of the cheek, actually, as the nurse who’d joined in with a pair of reindeer antlers jumped between one taller tree to the next shorter one. Not quickly enough to avoid a rubber tipped foam dart to the face, unfortunately.
“Ow, Mimi, not the head!”
“She’s great,” Malachi said to Gracen.
She leaned into the painted white brick wall of the lobby, smiling once more when Mimi searched the room and found her standing with Malachi. Squinting one eye, her grandmother made it a point to glance between her and the man standing close at her side.
She’d introduced him as a friend, at first.
Malachi had been busy getting guns ready and already helping the residents figure out their individual weapons—which had been apparently donated by the high school—when Gracen brought Mimi to the rec room. He’d won Mimi over with laughs as he readied a Nerf gun that looked vaguely like a pistol and shot off five rounds for her to use, but she didn’t think her grandmother had paid much attention to the fact the two seemed to be at the manor together.
At the time, she’d barely noticed Gracen’s friend comment regarding Malachi, but that could have been because of her excitement to get her gun.
Gracen had a feeling her grandmother had taken notice now.
Mimi eyed the two again, and then pointed her Nerf gun between them while raising her left eyebrow in a silent question. Despite being across the room and not saying a single word out loud, Gracen understood what Mimi communicated clearly.
“Is she threatening to shoot me?” Malachi asked after noticing Mimi’s attention.
“Watch it. She could probably get you right in the eye.”
If he got close enough.
Mimi simply needed the opportunity.
“I won’t load her gun again,” he warned.
With a hell of a lot of false bravado.
Gracen laughed and swatted him lightly in the stomach before pushing off the wall. With her grandmother temporarily distracted by another resident taking her chance with a Nerf gun, Gracen didn’t immediately think to check on Mimi when Malachi grabbed her wrist. He tugged, pulling Gracen close enough that he could lean in to kiss her cheek. Beneath his mask, obviously. His hand slid from her wrist to her palm, and her fingers weaved with his.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“For what?”
Malachi nodded toward the room. “Asking me here. She’s important to you, I know.”
More than, really.
In a way, Mimi was one of the only people in her life that Gracen had left before she would be all alone.
Malachi’s gaze cut across the room, and his grin widened. “She’s aiming the Nerf gun at me again.”
Of course, she was.
Gracen pulled her hand from his, and headed for her grandmother. Malachi didn’t follow but that was only because the gentleman with the walker gestured nearby for help.
While the darts were gathered for another round by the staff, Mimi sipped the punch Gracen brought her. Quiet, but plainly contemplating in her chair, Mimi continued to watch Malachi while he fixed the resident’s gun.