My Beautiful Neighbor (The Greene Family Book 1) Piper Rayne (best e reader for manga .txt) 📖

hate you. I wanted to tell you myself at the wake, but I couldn’t get you alone. I’m a little bitter that it seems like everyone wants to push me out of town to protect you though.”

She nods as though she understands. “I have no idea why I got so angry at the lawyer’s office. I’m mad that I was kept in the dark all these years and they were all too chicken to tell me. I took that out on you. If anything, you’re the one suffering more than me.”

“I think the suffering is the same for both of us, just different.” I sigh. “My mom wants me to go home.”

“Your mom. That’s weird to hear. But of course you have a family. Are they nice? Like, did you enjoy where you grew up?”

I think about it. I might complain about an overprotective mother and a dad who worked more hours than he spent with me, but I wanted for nothing and I never felt unloved. “I did. I love my family, it’s just… I expected to get a piece of jewelry or something, not half a building and the opportunity to start a life here.”

Clara laughs. “I can understand that. Leave it to Mom to throw a grenade after she dies and stir up the gossip in this town.”

“I’d love to know what they were like, but not right now.” I’m not sure I could bear hearing about Clara’s upbringing right now, imagining how it could’ve been mine. And most of all, I don’t want that to be a part of my decision to stay or not.

“Any time.”

“What do you do?” I ask.

“I’m the librarian. One of them at least.”

“And you’re happy here?”

She nods. “I am.”

“Did you go to school for English?” I ask. How ironic that I wanted to major in English but was talked out of it by my dad.

“Yeah. Worthless degree, right?” She chuckles. “But I had a double major, so I took library sciences too.”

“I think it’s great. I wanted to get an English degree too. I love reading. Of course, I never imagined my own life being similar to a novel.”

She chuckles. “Well, Mom thought I should be a doctor or a lawyer. She pushed me to leave Sunrise Bay, and when I returned after college, she was upset with me. She said she never got to see the world and she wanted that for me.”

“It’s not so great,” I say with a shy sort of grin.

“Where are you from?” Clara asks.

“Connecticut. I love the seasons we get there. It’s a good place to live. Hell, I have no idea why I’m even entertaining doing something with the building. Maybe I’m bored.” I shake my head and cross my arms.

“I can’t say enough good things about Sunrise Bay. If you want to stay, I’ll abandon my stake and give it to you.”

My head whips in her direction. “Clara, no.”

She looks at the bay and back at me. “It’s the least I can do. I mean, I’m happy you’ve had a great life and your parents were good to you, but I had my whole life here with your birth parents. You should have a piece of her. That store was a huge part of her life. She worked so much, night and day.”

“You must have memories there too?”

She nods. “Yeah, running around while she was teaching ladies how to make their own clothes. Overhearing the gossip. But once I got older, I never really went with her. Like I said, you deserve a piece of her.”

“I can’t do that. It’s both of ours, and I’m probably crazy for thinking I might want to stay. Do Cade and Jed have a point?” I stand and walk closer to the bay, unsure why I’m even asking someone who doesn’t know me.

“I think you schooled them pretty good.” She chuckles. “I can’t tell you what to do, but what does your gut tell you?”

“I’m not sure I should listen to my gut right now.”

She tilts her head. “Why?”

“Because it’s telling me to prove Cade Greene wrong. Show that I can start this business and be successful and live in this town.”

Clara smiles. “Then do it. Nothing has to be written in stone. If it doesn’t work out, you can leave, and Sunrise Bay can just be a chapter of your life.”

I look at her with a small smile. “Spoken like a true librarian.”

She laughs. “I suppose so.” Then she sighs. “I’d like to get to know you better. I know you have your entire family, but I don’t have anyone left…” Tears fill her eyes.

I move to touch her but retract, unsure if it’s my place.

She’s quick to put up her hand and shake her head. “Please do not stay because of me.” She wipes her tears. “You don’t need to pity me, but even if you leave, would you mind keeping in touch?”

“Not at all. Regardless of our situation, you are my only blood relative.”

I used to beg my parents for a sibling. Little did I know I’d get one at the age of twenty-nine. If I stay here, I could get to know Clara. Form a true friendship and maybe a sisterly bond. She’s a reason for me to stay, at least temporarily.

As I stand on the edge of a bay in a town far away from my hometown, I take the biggest leap I ever have in my life.

“I think I want to stay,” I whisper.

Clara’s mitten-covered hand falls into mine and she squeezes. “Then stay.”

I guess that’s that.

When Clara and I return from the bay, Cade’s coming out of the coffee shop, The Grind.

She touches my forearm to stop us when my eyes lock with his. “He’s a good guy, just harbors some… well, you know how when you’re younger, things define you—”

I hold up my hand to stop her. “That sounds incredibly too complicated for my life right now.” The last thing I need is a man in my