“I don’t require it. It just would’ve been … helpful.” I poke at the top of my foot. “At least nothing looks broken.”
“How did this happen anyway?” Sienna asks. “What were you doing standing on top of a washer? You do know your clothes go inside it, right?”
“Very funny. I was just trying to clear some cobwebs while I waited. They intentionally make you have to wait forever so you spend money in the vending machines. I’m sure of it.” I press the bone in my ankle and recoil as a shot of pain shoots up my leg. “And what do you know about laundromats, anyway? Have you ever even been inside one?”
“That’s totally irrelevant.”
“It is not.” I pause, trying to remember where I was going with that. “I had a way to draw that back around to my point. I just can’t remember what it was.”
Sienna laughs.
I pop my foot on top of the chair across from me. Settling back, I listen to the whirl of the washers and dryers.
Suds N Spins is vacant, per usual. A daytime talk show plays on the antiquated television hanging above the vending machine. The redhead says something that must be hilarious because the co-host nearly falls out of his chair. It’s a little dramatic, but it’s better than the news station. Talk about dramatic.
“You know what is irrelevant? For real?” I ask.
“What’s that?”
“The fact that I’m actually sitting here waiting on my clothes to finish. I mean, I could just leave and go get lunch. They’d be here when I got back. It’s not like someone is going to take them.”
“So, why don’t you?”
I chew on a fingernail. “Because it grosses me out to think about someone touching my stuff.” I sit up. “Listen to this. So, I got here earlier, right? And this guy came in and just dumped his stuff in a washer in the washer on the end. The good one—”
“Can I interrupt this to say that I find it mildly disturbing that you know which washer is the good one?”
“I’m not thrilled I know this either, but such is life, okay? Once I save the eighty-six million dollars for a new washer, I’ll never step foot in here again.” I wipe a bead of sweat from in between my boobs. “Trust me.”
“Fine. So, back to the guy with the good washer …”
“Right. So, he puts his stuff in and leaves. No big deal, right? I even mentally applauded him for not letting his laundry rule his life. But then something happened. Something so disgusting that I know I’ll never, ever be able to walk away like that.”
“Do I even want to know?” Sienna asks.
“A woman came in as soon as the cycle ended and took his stuff out. Piled it on the table behind her and put her stuff in. She touched his wet clothes.” I make a face and shiver at the thought. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
“Maybe it was his wife?”
“Don’t think so.” I sit back in my chair again as the shivers wear off and the pulse in my foot picks up again. “I kind of wish I spent more time in Linton than just at the laundromat. I think the people over here might be entertaining.”
Sienna laughs. “You could find something entertaining wherever you go. I mean this with all the love in the world, Delaney, but it doesn’t take much to entertain you.”
My gaze lands on the ceiling as I mull that over. I study the cheap tiles and wonder if they could have asbestos. I bet they could. I should’ve let the cobwebs hang because I’m probably covered in … whatever asbestos is.
“I guess I’m lucky like that,” I say, forcing all thoughts of asbestos poisoning out of my mind. “I just wish I could find a man to entertain me.”
“I’m taking it that your date last night didn’t go well?”
“Ew. No.” I draw in a lungful of air and release it with a hiss. “He used the word emoticons. That’s not even a word. I mean, it is but it isn’t. No one says that.”
Sienna tries to hide her chuckle but fails.
“This isn’t funny,” I say with a smile. “It’s like I have standards, right? A guy needs to have a job. Shouldn’t live with his parents. Must bathe regularly—which I know is a weird thing to require, but that’s dating in this day and age.”
“If you have to include showering, I have questions about where you’re looking for men.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. I don’t even know where to look.”