Read Online The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) by Ellery Adams - Free Book Online

decidedly uncomfortable around Emilio, and pretty soon Cooper was going to have to do something about it.
     
    • • •
     
    After work on Friday, Ashley called to see if Cooper wanted to join her for dinner.
    “Is Lincoln working late again?” Cooper asked when Ashley parked in the driveway an hour later.
    “I don’t know why I have the car washed before I come here,” Ashley complained instead of answering. She blew a speck of dust off the dashboard. “Lincoln’s kicking off the Labor Day Sale-a-Thon at the dealership.”
    Cooper slid into the passenger seat and reached for her seat belt.
    “Are you ever going to opt for an accessory other than that brooch?” Ashley eyed Cooper’s butterfly pin. “I know Grammy gave it to you, but retro isn’t in vogue right now.”
    Cooper frowned. “I don’t care what’s in. I love this pin. It represents a story and—”
    “Grammy’s love. I get it,” Ashley said, sounding a little jealous.
    Ashley drove to Five Guys, where the two sisters gorged themselves on burgers and spicy Cajun fries. Afterward, they stopped by Barnes & Noble so Ashley could buy a book on pre-pregnancy health routines. By the time they were done shopping, Cooper had a new historical fiction novel while her sister had an entire bag filled with reference books on conception.
    Ashley showed two of the larger tomes to her sister. “Aren’t these babies adorable?” She showed Cooper the covers of Getting Pregnant: What You Need to Know Right Now and From Conception to Birth: Life Unfolds.
    “Don’t you know how conception works by now?” Cooper teased as Ashley loaded her bag into the trunk.
    Slamming the car door closed, Ashley snapped, “I’ve had more practice than you, that’s for darned sure.” Cooper was surprised by the vehemence in her sister’s tone, but Ashley’s voice softened slightly as she changed the subject. “So what is your story with Nathan? I thought you were becoming a couple. Have you gone out again since that night you made out on his porch swing?”
    “Not alone,” Cooper admitted. “But he said that he wants to see more of me.”
    Ashley snapped her fingers. “There you go! He is interested.”
    Gunning the Lexus’s engine, Ashley nearly backed into a knot of teenagers meandering toward the sidewalk. They made a few rude hand gestures at her, but she didn’t even notice.
    “If you and Nathan get serious, you’ll have to think about what you’re wearing under your clothes.” Ashley turned on to the main road. “Do you own any lingerie?” she yelled over the wind noise.
    “I can’t believe it,” Cooper muttered, thinking back to the Victoria’s Secret catalog stuffed to the bottom of her workbag. “My baby sister and my grandmother are both trying to talk me into dressing like a hooker.”
    But that night, Cooper resolved to at least buy a bra that wasn’t made of white cotton.
    “I might as well take the Boy Scout motto to heart,” she said to herself, “and be prepared.”
     
    • • •
     
    The following Saturday at Door-2-Door, Cooper had just finished loading the last of route #10’s pair of coolers when Lali entered the kitchen.
    “Would anyone be willing to stuff envelopes instead of delivering food this morning?” She shot Campbell a look of appeal. “If that’s all right with you.”
    “Of course.” Campbell beamed at her and Cooper was reminded of the adoring looks Jake gave Savannah from time to time.
    “I’ll do it,” Cooper said.
    “You sure you don’t want to come with me?” Penny asked Cooper for the second time as they loaded coolers and three weekend food boxes into Penny’s Buick.
    Cooper nodded. “I might go with Nathan when he drives a route next week. People usually deliver in pairs, right?”
    “Yes. It gives one person the chance to talk to the client while the other unloads the food. We don’t have much time at each stop because folks at the end of the route are waiting for their meals, so it’s