“Yes. Can I get real rainbows in my hair?” she asks.
“Of course.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
I grin. His youngest kid is now seven, his oldest is seventeen. There’s rarely a time when he’s playing games with us that wedon’t hear at least one of the kids come in. Sometimes we hear his wife Letty, too.
“She’s getting so big,” Lo says. “I can hear it in her voice.”
“It’s hard to believe you’ve been gone for almost two years now,” Etna says. “It doesn’t feel that long and feels longer at the same time.”
“I know,” Lo says.
“And Jules has been gone almost a year too,” Horny says.
“In reality, we’re lucky to still be here in Arizona,” Keno says. “The more we talk about it, the more we’re challenging the hockey gods to split us up.”
“Maybe,” Lo says. “Caulder’s agent says that he’s had a ton of teams try to trade for him, but Buffalo refuses to let him go. There’s a chance that the same is going on for any of us who don’t get traded.”
“Awe. That’s awesome,” Horny says.
I’m at the edge of the dock closest to the helicopter and climb out under a bridge. Hilt and Etna are right on my tail. I’m not sure where the other three are. As soon as we come out of the water, rapid fire shots surround us. Before I can figure out where it’s coming from, the three of us are down.
Worse, I fell backward off the deck into the water when I was hit. There’s no reviving that. Scowling, I set the controller down. “I’m out. Going to drown over and over again.”
“Same,” Hilt says. “Lost all my shit.”
“It’s the bunny suits,” Keno says.
“Sorry to abandon you, but I’m heading in the opposite direction,” Lo says. “Heading to Keep 99 to glitch.”
I push the mic up to mute it and pull the headset from my head to lie beside my controller. “Need anything from the kitchen?” I ask Arush.
He shakes his head.
With another glance at the screen to make sure they’re still moving around and haven’t reset the game, I head for the kitchen. Figuring I have a minute, I pull the blender out to make us a couple mango lassis.
I’ve made them a few times now and am slowly refining the recipe so it matches Arush’s taste. In goes freshly chopped mangos that I bought from the market; milk, sugar, and cardamom powder into the blender. Once blended smooth, I add the yogurt.
It has this lovely, bold yellow color and smells like mango. I pour it into glasses, add a couple glass straws, and then turn the blender pitcher over into the sink and press down on the cup washer so it sprays a high-power stream of water through the pitcher. One of the best things I’ve ever bought since I use my blender constantly.
I’ve gotten pretty quick at making this drink, so the guys are still working their way out of the game by the time I return. I hand Arush his drink, earning myself a big smile. With my now free hand, I lift his face by my fingers under his chin and kiss him.
He sighs, leaning into my touch and my mouth.
Now, with a permanent smile on my face, I head back to my seat. I take a few sips of mine as I watch Arush sip his.
He nods. “Best one yet.”
Grinning, I set my glass on the table and put my headset back on but don’t bring my mic down. The three remaining are just shutting down the game via a glitch mode that allows them to keep everything in their backpacks without having to get out via an extraction point and risk being killed.
“Did you really tell Anabel she can dye her hair with rainbows after I told her she couldn’t?” I hear Letty ask. It’s not loud, but we all hush when she gets that tone.
“She didn’t say anything about dyeing her hair nor that you told her she couldn’t,” Hilt says. “She asked if she could put rainbows in her hair and I thought she was talking about barrets or something. How was I supposed to know she wanted to dye her hair?”
Letty sighs. “Hello, boys.”
I pull my mic down and join the others in saying, “Hi, Letty.”
