Cookie Cutter Read Online Free PDF Page A

the stairs.
    “Thank you,” I say. She doesn’t bother replying but she grabs one of the trays of cookies off of the table and takes it to the car. As we get everything situated on the back seat, I sneak a peek over at Carter’s house but I don’t see him outside today. I’m glad. Really I am.
    “Can we listen to 102.9 this morning? They’re supposed to mention the bake off.”
    “What? No, I don’t care, go ahead.” I pull out of the driveway and take one more look at my neighbor’s house but there’s no movement going on whatsoever over there, so I press on the gas pedal and off we go to another fun filled day at the office. Not.
    When I pull onto the campus of Ally’s school, she looks around. She’s calm at first but it’s not long before she becomes restless in her seat, shifting to search behind us.
    “Crap, Lilah said she would wait for me; can you help me carry the cookies in, mom?”
    “I don’t have time for this today, Ally.” I grab a hold the steering wheel, tightly.
    “Mom, please .”
    I sigh. Her desperate pleas get me every time. It won’t be the end of the world for her if she has to take the cookies in, gasp , alone. But I help her because I’m her mother, dammit, and because it’s either wait in the car while she makes several trips or suck it up, park, and make this go as fast as I can. I park and suck it up.
    We hurry ourselves into the school and once Ally has placed her tray of cookies onto the counter in the office for me, I tell her to go ahead and get to class so she doesn’t get marked late. She has too many tardies as it is, this year. I head out to the car and grab the last two trays. It’s difficult to balance the both of them with my purse over my shoulder and my phone in my pocket, but I manage. Until I get to the front door again, that is, because it’s stuck.
    “For the love of . . .” It happens. A lot actually, but I don’t have the patience for this and when I’m finally able to push it open, I nearly drop every cookie I’m holding. It shuts on me and I reach out to try again, but before I can, someone pulls it wide for me.
    I smile and am about to thank the Good Samaritan but when I see who it is that’s holding the door open for me, I stop short.
    “What are you doing here?”
    It’s Carter freaking Blackwood. Of course.
    He smiles that ridiculously bright, white smile of his and lets out a soft snicker. “I’m fixing a floor for a friend, what are you doing here?”
    It’s completely obvious what I’m doing here, seeing as I’m carrying two huge trays of sugar cookies in my arms.
    “A friend? You just moved in. How do you have friends already?” I say it a bit harsher than I probably should but honestly, how does he have friends already?  James and I were here a good six months before people started really talking to me.  It was a year before I could call any of them friends. The edges of Carter’s mouth turn down and his head dips to one side as his shoulders hunch then settle.
    “People like me, I guess.”
    The smug look on his face is enough to make me want to slap it.  Or kiss it. Wait. Not kiss it. I didn’t mean kiss it. Why am I staring at his lips?
    “People who don’t want to kill me that is.  Are you okay?”
    I blink and search my brain, but I’m still not quite sure what to say to him, so I extend my arms. “I brought cookies.” As soon as I say the words, I hear them. I sound ridiculous and Carter’s bright eyes crinkle with amusement.
    He closes his lids and he breathes the baked goods in. Then hums. The sound of his voice sends a vibration through me and I shiver. I am eternally grateful that he doesn’t see it happen.
    His eyes open slowly. When they reach mine, I’m glued to his stare like a deer in headlights.
    “Those cookies smell really fucking good, Iris.”
    The bedroom eyes catch me off guard and my mouth falls open so I snap it shut. I’m a buffoon with no ability to speak.
    “Can I have one?” He