Teaser

Here is a preview of the first two pages of Chapter Twelve, Penalty Killer. I finished those yesterday and have decided that for the next hour, Chapter Twelve has my attention.



Another doctor appointment down and over with. I slid into my pregnancy capris and slipped my feet into flip flops. As much as I hated coming in for these appointments I couldn’t deny that a part of me was ecstatic to even be in the vicinity of medical tools and gadgets. How long had it been since I’d handled an ultra sound machine myself? Or written a prescription? I longed to hold a scalpel, to stand on my feet for eight hours in surgery, to be busy with something that didn’t involve macaroni portraits of myself in which my head inevitably took the shape of a pumpkin. Macaroni art made me self conscious. Did Max really think his mommy’s head was a misshapen pumpkinoid?

As I shuffled out of the exam room, purse in hand, I tried to convince myself that macaroni art was just art and, like a camera, added an extra fifteen pounds. Even that did little to make me feel better so I went to my fallback excuse; pregnancy symptom. Either I was being too hard on myself as a result of pregnancy or I had gained fifteen pounds in my face as a result of pregnancy. I chose to believe the lesser of two evils.

The nurse behind the glass partition gave a sugary sweet smile when I stepped up with my insurance card already extended. She looked new to the office, carefully thinking out each step of the check out process before she proceeded.

“Doctor Cline wants to see you back here in three weeks for an ultra sound. Don’t forget to bring a blank DVD with you. We can transfer the images onto the DVD as a keepsake.” She clacked a few hundred keys on the keyboard of her computer then handed my card back to me, sugary sweet smile still in place. I mumbled a thank you and braced myself for the waiting room.

The moment I stepped through the door, Max spotted me. A smile puffed up his cheeks and he darted for me, attaching himself to my leg as if I’d gone to war and he never thought I’d come back home. Samantha smiled and grabbed an armful of bags to join us as we walked out and into the continually sweltering daylight.

“So how’d it go?” she asked, reaching down to take Max by the hand as we crossed the parking lot to her minivan.

“Uneventful, thank god. I’ve only put on ten pounds with this pregnancy. I feel like thirty. Look at me. I’m carrying a pumpkin under my tank top and I’ve only gained ten pounds.” I almost laughed at myself and my sudden case of pumpkin-on-the-brain.

“Ten pounds is a normal range. Besides, you look so cute pregnant.” She opened the side door and buckled Max into his car seat.