A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"She actually scared the owner!"

"This is hilarious! Never seen anyone this good before!"

Off to the side, Norton grinned and asked, "So, wanna keep playing? If you're having fun, let's go another round. If not, we can just move on."

He already had his wallet half out, ready to pay for another game if Mavis said the word.

If she wanted to keep going, he'd pay without hesitation. But if she was done, he'd just take her hand and keep walking.

"I think that's enough," Mavis said, eyeing the arcade owner, who looked like he might burst into tears any second.

"These are just Nerf guns after all. Next time, let's do something a little more legit," she joked, handing the plastic blaster back.

"Honestly, yeah,” Norton agreed, laughing, "these toy guns just don't cut it. When we get back, I know this awesome paintball range out by the woods. It's a blast!"

"Deal," Mavis replied, handing the toy gun to the frazzled owner.

and stammered, "Thanks for going easy on me, miss! Seriously,

been ready to just pack up shop and call it a day, but clearly, these two had more mercy

problem," Mavis said, accepting the stuffed animals

figured she'd give one to Callie, one to Portia those two would

the prizes were

bags and a giant stuffed

struggle with all the stuff,

suggested. "Let me carry something, at least. We can split the

kind of guy lets a lady carry all this? You just keep looking around, have fun, and if you want anything,

bothered at all, lugging everything alongside

made her feel good, always joking, always keeping things light. It was hard not to relax around someone like

felt a little guilty letting him do so much, but the way he acted, she couldn't help but let her guard

little ways behind them in the crowd, Uriah watched, keeping his distance but never losing sight of Mavis and

the type to keep people at arm's length,

she did, she learned early not to rely on anyone. She hated owing people. If