Scarlet Awakening (Sweet Secrets #2) Read Online Free PDF

for the next item on the list. “Found it!” she exclaimed suddenly, dropping to a crouch to grab two bags of rice from the bottom shelf. “What’s next?” she asked, tossing the bags into our cart.
    Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled the list out and examined it, mentally checking off the items we had already found. “Snacking legumes.” As soon as the words left my mouth, a frown settled on my face.
    Ella furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her face in confusion. “What the heck is that?”
    “Don’t ask me,” I replied with a shrug. “Text Grandma and ask her.”
    She scoffed in response to my suggestion. “She hardly ever checks her phone. I wouldn’t get a reply until next week.”
    “Call the house,” I offered. I would have called myself, but I had left my phone in my room by accident, so I was going to be little to no help with solving this situation.
    She shook her head and began pushing the cart to the end of the aisle. “We can just find someone who works here. They can tell us what ‘snacking legumes’ are, and hopefully point us in the right direction too.”
    We exited the aisle together, heading toward the front of the store in search of an associate who could be of assistance. It didn’t take long for us to hone in on a tall, gangly teenage boy who was wearing the store’s purple and orange uniform shirt. As we got closer, I was able to read his name tag: Nathan. He smiled, showing off a mouthful of braces when we approached.
    “Hi ladies, is there anything that I can do to help you?” he asked, smiling hard at us. I noticed how his gaze lingered a little too long on Ella. She didn’t notice.
    “Yes, please. We’re trying to find this item on our list.” I held the list out to him, and pointed at the item as I said, “Legumes?”
    Nathan nodded. “Uh yeah, that’s in the beans and nuts aisle.” His gaze flicked to Ella, who was examining her nails. “I can take you there if you’d like?”
    I nodded, thankful that we wouldn’t have to search for it. Why didn’t we ask for help sooner? “That’d be great, thanks.”
    Nathan led us to an aisle not far from where he had been standing, and even helped us by pointing out a few snacking legumes. Basically, ‘snacking legumes’ was just a fancy way of saying snacking peanuts.
    I grabbed a container of unsalted almonds from the shelf and tossed it into the cart, hoping that was what my grandmother had wanted. “Thank you, Nathan. You’re a lifesaver,” I said graciously, ignoring the strange look he gave me before he headed back to the front of the store.
    Ella called a thank you after him, and when he turned back to say, “You’re welcome,” his face was as red as a beet.
    “Look at you, stopping young boys’ hearts from the East Coast to the West Coast.” I grinned at Ella.
    She rolled her eyes, but laughed too. “I guess.” Then, not wanting to stay on that topic for much longer, she turned her attention back to the task at hand and asked, “What’s next? I’m ready to get out of here.”
    I glanced over the list again. “Fresh broccoli.”
    “Oh, I think we passed that when we came in.” With those words, she turned and headed off the way we had come. She pushed the cart out in front of her, and was moving pretty fast.
    Speed walking to catch up, I fell into step beside her. For being a few inches shorter than me, she surely had a longer stride. Just as we turned the corner and exited the aisle, my eyes fell on a familiar face; one I hadn’t seen since I broke up with him and left for Virginia last summer. His dark hair was still cut short like when we were together, and he was just as tan as I remembered. He was facing in my direction, but he hadn’t spotted us yet. If it was up to me, he wouldn’t see me at all.
    Needless to say, I reacted instantly.
    I grabbed Ella’s arm and yanked her back into the aisle, pulling her out of his line of sight and dragging the cart backwards with her.
    Ella let out