Free Stirring Up Strife (2010) by Jennifer - a Hope Street Church Stanley Page B

her cheek and then rushed to examine her reflection in the toaster oven. "Oh yeah! I had a glycolic peel at the Red Door Spa this afternoon. They told me I might be a little discolored for a few hours, but that my skin would be smooth as a baby's butt afterward. Lord, is it! Wanna feel?" Ashley rushed back over to Cooper's side and held her face out to be touched.
     
Curious, Cooper reached out and stroked her sister's face with her index finger. "You're right. Your cheek feels like velvet."
     
"I hope Lincoln notices," Ashley said with a slight frown. "I do all this stuff to make myself pretty for him and half the time he can't even tell the difference."
     
"I'm sure he's good and aware of it every month when the mailman drops off your credit card bills," Cooper replied caustically.
     
Ignoring the jibe, Ashley removed the shopping bags and sat down at the table. "Mama told me all about the murder." Her sapphire eyes sparkled. "That must have been some first day at church for you! Go on now, give me the dirt."
     
"It's not dirt, Ashley, it's someone's life," Cooper retorted and then softened her tone. "Fine. If you promise to return what ever's inside those bags." She pointed at the silver Nordstrom bags. "I can't afford their clothes no matter how fab they might be."
     
"But it was all on sale," Ashley persisted.
     
Cooper silently got up from the table, removed a bill from a basket on her kitchen counter and handed it to Ashley. "I can't afford it, Ashley. Here's my Visa bill to prove it."
     
Her blue eyes springing open, Ashley glanced from the bill to her sister and back again. "This is a lot of money, Coop! How did this happen?"
     
"When Drew moved out, I was left with that green contact he liked me to wear and about five grand in debt," Cooper confessed. "Together we'd picked out our coffee-table-sized plasma TV, that silly karaoke machine, a cappuccino maker that required NASA scientists to operate, and a superhip living room set from Ikea. See, Drew really wanted to start his own home inspection business and he was saving money for that and I really wanted to support him, so a lot of the day-to-day expenses and all those big ticket things ended up on my Visa card."
     
"I always thought you guys split all your bills down the middle," Ashley said. "And Drew ... he was always such a gentleman. Have you asked him for money?"
     
Cooper shook her head. "Drew was a gentleman, Ashley, until the very end. He treated me like a queen, told me I was beautiful every single day, and ..." She folded the bill and returned it to the basket, fighting tears. "We laughed together, Ashley. We had fun together. I thought we were happy."
     
"We all did too," Ashley responded. "We were all waiting for you guys to announce your engagement any second. I never imagined I'd be marching up the aisle before my big sister."
     
"I didn't realize until those last few months we were together, when he started drinking three or four beers a night that he wasn't happy anymore. I thought it was work stuff and that he'd sort out what was eating him and we'd move on. Well, he didn't sort it out. He blew up and Anna Lynne was there to help him pick up the pieces." Cooper sighed. "I still love him, Ashley. I've loved him for over five years. It's so hard to just ... stop. And there's no way I'm asking him for money."
     
"I'll give it to you," Ashley whispered and took her sister's hand.
     
Deeply moved by the offer, Cooper squeezed Ashley's hand and tried not to cry. "That is so sweet, thank you, but this is my mess. I'll take care of it. And I know you're going to offer to pay for those Nordstrom clothes too, but I don't want you to, okay?"
     
Ashley pretended to sulk. "Suits me, but you're missing out. I had a really pretty outfit for you to wear to church this week so you could dazzle all the eligible men."
     
"I'm not interested in any of those guys, but even if I was, I'd like to think they're not that shallow." Cooper returned her focus