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)
“Look who’s turn it is next,” came the singsong voice in the hallway just outside what the residents and staff affectionately called their Beauty Room.
Mimi sat in a wheelchair in the doorway, the wheels creaking with her joy as she smiled wide and wiggled in the seat. “It’s me!”
The LPN—Licensed Practical Nurse—maneuvering Mimi’s wheelchair through the door only laughed at the old woman’s antics. Mimi’s crown of white-blonde curls bounced as she reached for Gracen before she was even close enough for a hug.
Not that it mattered to Mimi. Mimi knew good and well what she wanted when it came to Gracen, and distance had never been a problem for her before.
“Get over here,” her grandmother demanded. “They made me wait all godda—”
“Not that language again, Miss Mimi,” the nurse admonished with a pointed look over her shoulder as she headed for the door.
“Well, they did,” Mimi shot back.
The nurse, who’s name tag said Nanci, pretended as if she hadn’t heard Mimi’s accusation. She looked to Gracen with her next question. “Call me when she’s ready to head back?”
“Could I walk her back to her room? She’s my last one today. I think Piper in HR worked out the schedule for me that way, so I could get a bit of time with her before visiting hours ended,” Gracen explained.
She did add how she had specifically asked Piper to do that after two Tuesdays in a row where Gracen had needed to leave after her shift. Not taking a lunch hour, and putting Mimi at the end of the schedule on the days she would be sitting in Gracen’s chair, fixed the issue with no problems. For the Tuesdays she wouldn’t have to do Mimi’s hair, if her grandmother couldn’t get time with her throughout the day, she still had that extra hour at the end of the day to make something work.
After all, the whole point of her starting this side project was to spend more time with Mimi. However, she was glad it brought a smile to the faces of the residents she was able to meet, as well. Things had a way of working out.
If she let them.
Nanci waved the query off, unbothered. “Yeah, no worries. Just let her block desk know, okay?”
“Right, I can do that,” Gracen agreed.
The block desks were huddle and rest spots for the nurses and other staff, but there was one for every corridor of residents. Only so many residents, and not all the residents, could be designated to a certain block of private suites where they spent most of their days and called home, for the most part. Mimi was in block four.
Once the LPN had exited the Beauty Room—a small salon with the basics and necessities for a stylist to work, including a sink, mirror, chair, and a handful of products and tools just across from the cafeteria and dining room—Gracen turned on Mimi with a smile.
“Are you sitting in that or my chair?” she asked.
Mimi eyed Gracen. “Did you remember the purple?”
Not once did her grandmother’s sharp gaze waver even as Gracen reached over to pull out the surprise from her bag. All month, Mimi asked. Every Tuesday despite the fact she was not due for a haircut because the manor’s regular stylist, Carol, had done her grandmother’s regular monthly trim.
“Oh,” Mimi squealed happily, taking the bottle of royal purple dye from Gracen’s hands. “It’s perfect.” Then, her grandmother beamed up at Gracen. “Don-n’t you thin-nk?”
“It’s gonna look just like that because your hair is so light. But—”
Mimi playfully scowled. “But what?”
Gracen didn’t want to waste a lot of their time together going over the facts of how hair follicles absorbed—or didn’t—color. None of that would really make a difference to Mimi, and Gracen had already thought far enough ahead to take care of any problems that her grandmother might face because of the new vibrant hairdo she wanted to sport.
Out of Gracen’s kit came another item.
A shower cap.
“I have on-ne of those,” Mimi said to Gracen.
“I know, but this one has the little hearteye emojis,” Gracen replied. “I thought you’d think it was cute, so now you have an extra. The less you wash your hair, the better the color will stay in. Okay?”
“Twice a week?” Mimi asked.
“Once, if possible.”
Mimi made another face that said she wasn’t very impressed with that answer.
Gracen had a plan for that problem, as well. She really should thank Delaney—who had reminded her of the shower cap and extra item—that would help Mimi after getting the purple dye job. She produced a can of dry shampoo from the black bag.
“A little goes a long way with this, and I will show you how to use it when we’re done,” Gracen told her grandmother. “It’s not hard, but it will keep you looking fresh, fresh.”