Maggie Lee (Book 11): The Hitwoman Hires a Manny Read Online Free PDF Page B

sure if I was more angry or sad by his abrupt desertion.
     
    Before I could figure it out, there were three sharp knocks against the basement door.
     
    “Are you down there, Margaret?” Aunt Susan called.
     
    “I’m here.” I jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs to open the door for her. “What’s up?”
     
    “I have wonderful news,” she gushed, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the kitchen.
     
    “The twins already showed me the room. It’s wonderful. I can’t thank you enough.”
     
    “It did turn out well, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I have an even better surprise.”
     
    “Better?” I asked suspiciously. Marlene was right, I really didn’t like surprises.
     
    “I found someone to take care of Katie.”
     
    Frowning, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I thought we were going to take care of her. That’s why I quit my job at the insurance company.”
     
    “Yes, yes, dear,” Susan soothed. “But I found someone to pick up the slack.”
     
    “Who?” I asked as Loretta wandered into the kitchen.
     
    “A manny.”
     
    “A manny?” I practically shrieked.
     
    “I adore mani pedis,” Loretta interrupted. “Nothing says femininity like a pretty mani.”
     
    “Not that kind of manny,” Susan corrected.
     
    “There’s no such thing as an ugly mani,” her sister countered, batting her false eyelashes.
     
    “I don’t want a manny. I don’t need a manny,” I roared.
     
    “Of course not,” Loretta soothed. “You’re beautiful without one.”
     
    “I already hired him,” Susan told me.
     
    “Hired him?” I shouted. “I’m Katie’s guardian, not you. What the hell makes you think you can hire someone to care of her without consulting with me?”
     
    Susan blinked. “I was just trying to help.”
     
    “By cutting me out of the process and making unilateral decisions?” Fighting for control over my emotions, I lowered my voice. “You can’t just do what you think is best for Katie.”
     
    “You’re right,” Susan agreed. “I shouldn’t have hired him without talking it over with you first. It’s just that the arrangement was so perfect…”
     
    I squinted at her. “What arrangement?”
 
    “Well, he needs a place to stay while he figures out where he wants to live, what he wants to do…” Susan began to explain.
     
    “You hired a homeless man to take care of Katie?” I shrieked, giving up all pretense of having a calm, logical conversation.
     
    Susan arched an eyebrow. “Of course not, he’s a qualified and respectable individual.”
     
    I frowned at her, feeling the beginnings of a headache throb at my temples. “Who happens to be environmentally friendly because he lives in a recycled cardboard box?”
     
    Loretta, who’d watched the conversation like it was a professional sporting match, interjected, “Is he handsome?”
     
    “Who cares if he’s handsome?” I grabbed my skull with both hands, trying to make the pounding in my head stop.
     
    “He’s quite good-looking,” Susan told her, ignoring my outburst. “And he has wonderful manners.” She gave me a pointed look.
     
    “Are those his qualifications?” I sniped.
     
    “I’ll have you know he already chased off an unsavory character who was lurking in front of the house.”
     
    “We already have a guard dog,” I snapped.
     
    “Before you get yourself all worked up--” Susan began.
     
    “I’m already worked up!” I yelled.
     
    “Why don’t you at least meet the young man?”
     
    “Meet him? I don’t want to meet him. I want to fire his homeless ass.”
     
    Susan shrugged. “Okay. That’s your prerogative. He’s waiting in the dining room.”
     
    I stared at her in horror. If he was in the next room, he’d no doubt heard everything I’d said. And yelled. And shrieked.
     
    I was pretty sure my head was literally going to explode like an overfilled water balloon at any moment.
     
    Susan ushered me toward the dining room,