Christmas in Good Hope (A Good Hope Novel Book 1) Read Free

want details.” Hadley glanced at the It’s Cupcake Time clock on the wall and grimaced. The small hand pointing to the carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting showed her shift had ended.
    Hadley removed her apron and sighed heavily. “Darn second job. I need to scoot. Promise you’ll tell me tomorrow?”
    “I’ll give you all the gory details.” Ami shivered for effect, then paused. “Is it cold in here?”
    “I can’t believe you just noticed.” Hadley laughed. “I can practically see my breath. Old Ralph hasn’t kicked on since you left.”
    Old Ralph was the ancient furnace she’d hoped would last at least another year. By then she planned to have enough money saved to get a new one. With parts impossible to find, replacement was the only option. “I asked for a bid, just in case Ralph croaked. I wanted to know how much a new furnace would set me back.”
    Hadley inclined her head. “What did you find out?”
    When Ami told her the quote, the other woman whistled.
    “That’s a chunk of change. Do you have it?”
    Her directness was only one of the many things Ami liked about Hadley.
    “I have some of the money. I suppose I could charge the rest.” A knot formed in the pit of Ami’s stomach. “The problem is I use that credit card for business expenses. Right now I’m able to pay off what I charge each month. Carrying a balance would mean paying high interest.”
    Hadley tapped a finger against her lips. “I may have a solution.”
    “You’re a rich heiress and I can be your philanthropy?” Ami joked.
    A startled look crossed Hadley’s face, then she laughed. “Yeah, right. I’m wealthy. That’s why I work two jobs.”
    Ami snapped her fingers. “Bummer. Okay, what’s your idea?”
    “Muddy Boots is looking for a cook.” Hadley cast a speculative glance in Ami’s direction, then pulled a tube of lipstick from her bag and expertly applied it to her wide mouth. “Janey got a call and left right after lunch today for Milwaukee. Something to do with her mother. Supposedly she won’t be back until the first of January.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.” Ami knew Janey Eversoll’s mother had been struggling since her stroke last month.
    “It’d be a perfect way for you to earn some extra cash over the holiday,” Hadley said, returning to her earlier point.
    Ami hadn’t considered taking a second job, but it might be the answer. If Beck would allow her to work in the café on the days the bakery was closed, it could be a win-win for both of them. Assuming he’d hire her, of course.
    “I am a good cook,” Ami murmured.
    “You’re an excellent cook.” Hadley added another coat of mascara to her already thickly coated lashes. “Not to mention you have an in with the boss. You and Mr. Cross have quite the thing going in the mornings.”
    “It’s called being neighborly.” Ami ruined the righteous tone by flushing like a guilty teenager.
    That made her angry. At herself. At the gossipmongers. She had no reason to feel guilty. It wasn’t as if her banter with Beck had ever had any sexual connotations.
    Simply thinking of sexual and Beckett Cross in the same sentence caused her cheeks to burn. Out of simple embarrassment, she told herself, nothing more.
    Thankfully, Hadley’s gaze was on her purse as she rummaged through the contents. Emitting a sound of triumph, she pulled out her cell phone.
    “Now that I’ve found my baby”—Hadley gave the phone a loving stroke before her gaze pinned Ami—“let’s talk about what being neighborly means to Amaryllis Bloom. I mean, some neighbors have sex. And Beckett Cross is überhot.”
    “I’m not sleeping with Beck,” Ami protested.
    “Even if you are, it’s not my business.” Though Hadley’s hands rose in a gesture of surrender, a smile played at the corners of her lips. “Though if you’d want to share what he’s like in bed, I’m willing to listen.”
    “I don’t even like the man,” Ami retorted, then immediately