Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
No matter what her mind told her, or left her thinking, Mimi’s good mood never faltered, and greeted everyone that came into her presence. Including Delaney.
Today seemed to be a good day for Mimi, too.
“A wash and set, then?” Delaney asked Mimi.
“Can-n I have my tea, too?”
Gracen shook her head behind Mimi, and her eyes rolled playfully. “Yes, I’ll get your tea.”
“A splash of rum!” the old woman added.
“And you’re so lucky the doctor said a tablespoon wouldn’t kill you,” Gracen said under her breath.
Just not low enough.
“Hey,” Mimi returned over her shoulder.
Gracen instantly bent down to press a kiss to Mimi’s grinning cheek, muttering, “Love you—yes, I’ll make your tea to drink while Delaney sets your hair. It’ll be cooled down by the time your wash is done.” Standing straight once more, her friend asked Delaney, “She’s good in here with you for a few?”
“She’s never a problem with me,” Delaney assured.
Mimi’s eyes twinkled. “But I could be, Lan-ney.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the familiar nickname Mimi had once used for Delaney as a teenager who seemed to try to spend more nights in Gracen’s home than in her own.
“But you won’t be, Mimi,” Delaney replied, just as smart.
Gracen’s snickers disappeared back into the house while Delaney headed for the wash basin in the corner of the salon where she put the broom and dustpan away first. She moved the reclining chair off to the side to make room for Mimi’s wheelchair to back comfortably into the sink, and then grabbed a rolled up hand towel from the shelf over top, and a cape hanging from one hook of many on the wall.
“Are you taking your quilt off or on?” Delaney asked, rounding the back of Mimi’s wheelchair.
The old woman patted the blanket made of patchwork covering her legs. “On-n.”
Delaney made sure that the cape she placed around Mimi fell far enough around the chair to keep any water from going where it shouldn’t. Mimi, always happy to get pampered and attention, sat pleased and quiet while Delaney fit the towel around her neck under the cape, and moved them over to the sink basin.
“Let me get the water right for you first,” Delaney told Mimi as she turned on taps with one hand, but kept Mimi from reclining fully with her other hand. “Nobody likes a shock.”
“Mmhmm—a little birdy told me you have a n-new frien-nd.”
“Was that birdy Gracen?”
“N-no.”
“It was Gracen,” Delaney returned.
Mimi, as serious as ever staring back at Delaney when her head was finally reclined into the curved neck rest of the sink basin, only replied, “I’ll n-never tell.”
“Are you trying to ask me about my new friend?” Delaney asked.
Mimi had yet to meet Lucas, if only because her arrival at the farmhouse came after his first visit of her initial move-in. By a couple of days, unfortunately. Having so many people on the property made it feel almost like a makeshift family, especially when the whole group, including Mimi’s nurse most days, joined the large family table for dinners.
Lucas had come up.
More than once.
“She did n-not tell me much,” Mimi whispered.
Delaney’s grin spread wide while she used the removable spray nozzle to wet Mimi’s short, white hair for the wash with warm water. “Ah, I see. Now we’re getting closer to the truth. Did you consider that maybe there isn’t much for Gracen to tell?”
Mimi didn’t look the least bit ashamed. “Well—”
“What am I telling, now?”
“Apparently,” Delaney returned over her shoulder to where Gracen had returned to the open double doorway, “it’s what you’re not telling her.”
“Lucas,” Mimi clarified. “The n-new frien-nd.”
Gracen sighed but didn’t suppress her tired smile as she crossed the salon floor with Mimi’s teacup sitting neatly on a tea plate in her hand. “I thought we weren’t being nosy? Wasn’t that what you told me this morning?”
“You said that, maybe,” Delaney said under her breath.
If there was anything Mimi loved the most, after her family, it was gossip. Harmless, really. She just liked knowing everything that happened around her. Especially with those she loved, and more importantly, when things were going well in the lives of those she cared about. Mimi simply wanted to feel included in those milestones and events.
Mimi’s smirk down below confirmed Delaney’s comment was probably true.
“Quiet, you,” Gracen returned, but not very severely.
Closing her eyes when Delaney worked in a pump of shampoo that smelled like almonds into Mimi’s hair, the older woman said, “So, about this Lucas …”
“See, you’ve started it,” Gracen said, “and now you can talk about it until her heart is content. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Delaney shrugged, winking down at Mimi who opened one eye to peek up at her from the sink basin. “What do you want to know, huh?”
Mimi’s eyes squeezed shut again, but her smile remained. “All of it. A little birdy told me you love him.”