Like Sweet Potato Pie Read Online Free PDF

smooth wooden table, faces down-turned in the golden glow of the kitchen light and flickering candles.
    Faye twirled an earring, avoiding his eyes as she reached for the serving spoon.

    “Five bucks says it won’t work,” said Stella, fidgeting with the lighter in her pocket. “She ain’t interested.”
    “Five bucks say it will,” Trinity whispered back fiercely. “Look at her! Her hand just shook on her water glass. Did you see it?”
    “Nope. She’s too refined for him.” Stella gestured for us to lean closer. “Word on the street’s that Dreama Simmons is after Earl somethin’ awful,” she whispered. “Ya know, that woman who lives over on Dry Branch Road?”
    Dreama who? I crossed my arms stubbornly. “No way. Faye’s just shy. Haven’t you read
Pride and Prejudice?
”
    “What’s that, a cookbook? I make a mean butterscotch puddin’, y’all. Why, jest last week—”
    “Forget it,” Trinity groaned. “You’re wrong, Stella. They’re perfect for each other.”
    Becky peered through the curtains. “The jury’s still out on this’n, Shah-loh. They’re jest makin’ small talk. I don’t know if no romance is happenin’ or they’re jest eatin’ some really good dinner.” She rubbed her belly. “An’ all that food’s makin’ me hungry!”
    Stella looked sober for a second, face half-lit by the inside glow. “Ain’t gonna work. I’m tellin’ ya. Earl ain’t never gonna move,” she said bluntly, putting her hand in her pocket. “An’ Faye don’t wanna remarry. She tole me so once.”
    The breath caught in my throat. “She didn’t.”
    “Shore did. Sat right here on yer porch an’ said so.”
    I peeked through the window as they cut their chicken and almond-flecked green beans, looking for all the world like a young couple on a first date. Faye laughed easily, and Earl took off his watch and dropped it carelessly on the rose-petal-covered tablecloth.
    “Don’t listen to Stella.” Trinity put her arm around me. “They just need an uninterrupted evening to work the magic.”
    “Hold on, hold on!” whispered Becky so loud we all shushed her. “She jest said somethin’ about Mack! Ain’t that her ol’ husband who passed away?”
    “She did not.” Stella froze, dropping her lighter. Luckily it hit the grass instead of clattering on the porch. “She never talks about him.”
    “Told you.” I stuck out my tongue.
    I let out my breath. Finally something that didn’t end in disaster in Staunton, Virginia. Before this I’d already been mugged and kicked in the side, raced friends to the hospital, and played emergency stand-in nurse.
    But today? I sighed and leaned blissfully against the porch column. Sheer perfection.
    Now I just had to ring the doorbell, swing open the screen door to make my entrance, and …
    “Shiloh!” Trinity grabbed my arm with cold fingers. “Don’t look now, but I think I just saw a cop car.”
    “A what?”
    Like a bad dream unfolding, a squad car with lights flashing did indeed hover at the end of my driveway. And turn in.

Chapter 3
    B ecky blanched, mouth hanging open. “What on earth did ya do this time, Shah-loh?”
    “I didn’t do anything! Honest!” I whispered back, heart hammering.
    I had no next of kin here to worry about… . No parking tickets… . My overdue bills? No. Don’t be ridiculous. They’d send another collection agent, not a police officer.
    Wouldn’t they?
    Red and blue pulsed across the yard, illuminating the front of Mom’s house in eerie light as the car crept closer. Harsh CB radio messages squawked loud enough for people over in Waynesboro to hear.
    Stella and Trinity fled. Becky grabbed my arm, and we ran headlong toward the car, heads down and out of the range of Faye and Earl’s vision. We arrived, panting, just as the trooper stepped out and slammed the car door, hand on his gun and looking surly.
    Wait a minute. Didn’t this big guy with the buzz cut come into The Green Tree restaurant all the