Page 15 of The Love of My Afterlife
I schlep through the smoggy heat with my pile of books, and by the time I reach home, I’m sweating so much my thin white shirt has plastered itself to my skin. I shift the books over to one arm while I fiddle with my key. Getting it into the lock and twisting it the correct way without dropping the books takes every ounce of concentration I can muster. I’ve almost succeeded when suddenly the door is yanked open from the inside. I jerk forward, and the books fall from my arms, tumbling down the dusty front steps of the building.
“Nooo,” I wail gently. I glare at the opening door to see who I should blame.
Of course.
Despicable Cooper stands on the top step. He is now sans leather jacket, though the rest of his clothes are still black. He must be sweltering, but his face looks perfectly cool and calm.
“Are you going to apologise?” I hiss, heading down the steps to pick up the books that I didn’t even want.
His stubbled jaw tenses a smidge. “I didn’t know you’d be on the other side of the door, did I?” He reaches down to pickup one of the books—something calledGeographic Profiling:The Essential Guide.
“Why would you yank the door open like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re angry at it!”
“It’s a heavy door, so you really have to pull it. I can’t help my natural strength.”
Is he joking right now? Seeing as I’ve never witnessed him joking, I’m gonna go with no.
“Natural strength? Wow. Congratulations to you on that. Can I get past now, please?”
Cooper’s frame blocks my entrance to the building. He doesn’t move, but frowns, picking up the top book from the pile again.
“You’re searching for someone?”
“Maybe.”
He bends his knees to squint at the spines of the other books in my pile. “That’s some hefty reading for a maybe.” He taps the bottom book with his forefinger. “That one’s not bad. The rest of them are unhelpful.”
Now it’s my turn to frown. “You’ve read them?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
He avoids the question. “Are you really trying to find someone? Who? Why?”
“Would you like me to make a written statement down at the station, Detective Cooper?”
His eyes harden again, hands up in the air. “Fine. Jesus. Good luck with it.”
I think about what Leanne said this morning. About mebeing rude and snippy sometimes. I didn’t think I was, but the way I just spoke to Cooper echoes back at me. Yeah. Little bit rude, definitely snippy.
“I’m trying to find my uh, ex-hookup,” I blurt. I almost saidboyfriendbut Cooper would know that was a massive lie on account of me never having any visitors to the building.
“Oh.” The pitch of his voice rises and it rankles me that he seems surprised. I could hypothetically have had a hookup. Yes, not a single man apart from Jonah has ever shown an interest in me, but Cooper doesn’t know that. For allheknows, I could be hooking up all over this town.
I huff. “You’re not the only one having, you know, saucy liaisons in this building!”
“Saucy liaisons?”
“Yeah. But unlike you, I just stuck with one. He’s called Jonah and he isgreat; very good looking, super smart. Dreamy eyes…” I smile to myself, getting lost for a moment.
Cooper arches a single brow. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is so. We, er, we hooked up all over this town.”
