The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag: All Washed Up: (Book 3 in the Misadventures of the Laundry Hag series) Read Free Page B

raised my spirits. That was the way I’d looked at Neil when we were first married.
      Yeah, but when was the last time you looked at him that way? a snarky inner demon prodded.
     As though he’d read my thoughts, Neil took my hand and raised it to his lips. “I see you, Maggie,” he said. We watched as Marty and Penny disappeared around the corner.
     That was what I was afraid of.
     
     
     
     

 
    Chapter Two
     
     Hours later, I sat slumped on a waiting room couch that at first glance looked all right but had most definitely been designed by some closet sadist. My back ached, my shoulders throbbed and my ass was completely numb. I’d bet my trashy romance novel collection that Mr. Kline, the man I’d alibied out of his wife’s murder last fall, had one exactly like it in his new home. Wherever that might be. He’d packed up his creepy mansion on the hill and got while the getting was good. Part of me wanted to follow his lead.
     Josh futzed with his smartphone and Kenny sighed for the millionth time. Neil stared at his sneakers with great concentration. I rose, stretched, and moseyed to the waiting room door just for the hell of it. Grunts and cries of labor and the occasional wail of a newborn comingled with the beeps and whirs of various machines and the soft footfalls of medical personnel. I breathed through my mouth, unwilling to accept the scent of hospital into my brain. No good came from hospitals, at least in my experience. If I ended up here it was because someone was dying, or I’d been attacked.
      But this time will be different, I told myself sternly. You’re going to have a little niece or nephew. Happy hospital, good things this time.
     A scream echoed down the corridor, the distinctive sound of what could only be ritualistic disembowelment. A white lab coat appeared fresh from the slaughter and speckled with blood. The world tilted and I swayed precariously and would have gone down if Neil hadn’t caught me.
     “Maybe you should—” he started.
     “I’m fine.” I closed my eyes and breathed in for two beats, out for two, the way Sylvia had shown me. Maggie the squeamish wuss. Hell, I’d just been here a few weeks ago. Treated for my burns. If I could handle that, then waiting for baby Sampson should be a breeze.
      Should being the operative word.
     Instead of replying, Neil turned to the boys. “Guys, head down to the cafeteria and grab some food.” He didn’t make it optional.
     At twelve and ten, Josh and Kenny never said no to a meal, especially when I wouldn’t be there to guide their choices. They’d load up on French fries and chocolate cake with nary a green vegetable or apple in sight. Josh plucked the bill from his father’s hand and led the way with a sardonic, “Come on, dorknut.”
     Kenny hesitated at the doorframe. “Is Aunt Penny’s baby going to be all right?”
     I opened my mouth, but couldn’t form an answer. Penny’s estimated due date was at least six weeks away and she’d been seriously lacking in prenatal care until she and Marty came to stay with us. My little niece or nephew would be a preemie, small and perhaps underdeveloped. But lots of babies thrived after a rocky start and she had proper medical care now. Though I desperately wanted to reassure him, I couldn’t flat out lie.
     “We hope so,” Neil said. “We just have to wait and see. Go on.”
     Kenny nodded and scuttled off after his brother. That left the two of us alone.
     He led me to a chair and squatted in front of me. “Maggie,” he began, but my cell phone cut him off mid-sentence. Darth Vader’s theme music was only programmed in for one person, Neil’s mother, Laura Phillips.
     “Ignore it.” I waved a hand at my bag in dismissal.
     “Is that a new one?” He jerked his head toward the da da da, dum da da, dum da da.  “Yeah, Josh programmed it for me. It used to be the theme from Friday the 13 th .”
     He smiled, but the amusement didn’t reach his