My Beautiful Neighbor (The Greene Family Book 1) by Piper Rayne (phonics reading books TXT) 📕

Molly’s gaze shoots up, but she grabs a bottle of whiskey and pours her a shot glass. Clara downs it, her brown hair thrown up in a ponytail, and slams the glass down.

“Do not tell Nikki anything about this,” Xavier whispers.

Like I would. I don’t agree with her morning radio show shit.

Since we just opened, they’re the only ones in here, so whatever is going on will only be between us.

“Don’t tell her that the town librarian is getting plastered this early in the day?” Jed asks.

“Turns out Clara isn’t the only Harrison left,” Xavier says in a quiet voice.

My eyebrows come together. “What?”

Xavier nods and his eyes widen in an “I’m just as shocked as you but trying to be a good friend and not tell her how fucked-up this is” look. “The blonde. She’s her sister.”

My phone slips from my hand, dropping on the bar then down to the floor, cracking my screen. “Fuck!”

“That’s why she looked familiar. I wondered if I’d banged her,” Jed says.

We both shake our heads at him.

“Good for you that’s not true.” Jed smacks me on the back with a grin.

“Why’s that good for Cade?” Xavier asks.

“He has a date with her tonight.” Jed sounds like a proud father and I want to punch him for it.

“With who?” Xavier asks, not getting it.

“Presley,” I say.

“The blonde,” Jed chimes in.

“Oh, and Cade…” Clara raises her hand. “I’m going to need that key back.” She pushes the empty shot glass toward Molly, who refills it.

“What’s she talking about?” I ask Xavier.

Jed’s mood deflates faster than a carnival blow-up toy when you get it home. “The space next door?”

“Mrs. Harrison willed it to Clara and her sister,” Xavier says.

My head falls back and Jed’s fist slams on the bar top.

“What kind of mother does this?” Clara asks.

Xavier holds up his finger to us, whispering in her ear.

She shoves him. “I don’t care. Isn’t there bartender-client confidentiality?” she asks Molly. “You can’t tell Nikki.”

Molly shrugs and nods. Clara doesn’t hold back, clearly the two shots already in her bloodstream.

“The mystery blonde? My sister. Half-sister, you think?” Clara shakes her head. “Did my mom get pregnant by some guy when she was a teenager?” Clara shakes her head again. “Did my dad have an affair?” Clara shakes her head. “She’s my full sister. Half my mom. Half my dad. My full outright sister.” She pushes her glass to Molly.

Molly looks at us and Jed shakes his head.

“I mean, what kind of mother wouldn’t tell me that?”

Xavier whispers something else in Clara’s ear and her arms flail as if he’s a fly she can’t swat. He says to us, “They either run the store together, or one of them can buy the other out, or they can sell it altogether.”

That explains why I’ve seen Presley in front of the window twice. And also why she looks so familiar. I realize now that she’s basically Clara’s twin but with dyed blonde hair, and a few years older. How the hell didn’t I put two and two together before this?

“Wait,” I say to Xavier, a memory sparking of ten years ago when Clara’s grandma died. “Remember when her grandma died, and I told you I thought I saw Clara at the cemetery when I went to see mom? But I called her name, and she just ignored me…”

“It was her!” Xavier snaps his fingers and points.

They looked the same, and I thought it was Clara, but it was her—Presley.

“Damn, it must have been her.” Xavier shakes his head. “Crazy. This is like something from a TV show. Who keeps a child a secret?”

I think he’d be surprised by how many skeletons people have in their closets. Being a pro-athlete, you’d think he’d know, since most of their dark secrets come out during their playing years. People want to pull celebrities down from their pedestals.

“And now ten years later, you’re going on a date with her,” Jed says.

“I’m not sure I can now. Seems unfair to Clara until this whole thing is cleared up.”

Not to mention, I don’t want Presley to find out I want the building too. She’ll think the worst of me and where would that get us? Plus, she’s obviously from way out of town, which means she’s not staying in Sunrise Bay long-term unless she decides to do something with the building.

“How do I face her tomorrow?” Clara cries. “‘Hey, I’m the daughter they kept. Want to braid each other’s hair?’”

Clara’s voice grows louder, so I tell Molly to give her one more. She deserves it.

When I get back to my house after getting the screen fixed on my phone, I debate whether I should go on the date with Presley. Terra and Mare had no reservation available anyway, but we could eat at the restaurant in Glacier Point. But I can’t help but think it’s weird now that I know who she is.

Sitting on the couch, I stare at my phone as though I’m waiting for a call, but really I’m trying to force myself to make one.

Jed walks in and stops in his tracks. “Stop being a dumbass. You know she’s not going to stay in town.”

“And if she does?”

“Then you can continue seeing her if you want.” His footsteps barrel up the stairs.

We live in the house I grew up in—me, Jed, Fisher, and now Adam since he and Lucy split. The girls share a house closer to our parents. Nikki was staying with us when she first moved back from college but said she didn’t like being by herself in the apartment and she didn’t want to move into the house with all us guys.

I sink back into the couch, pissed that after all these years, I find a woman I want to date and she turns out to be Sunrise Bay’s secret love child. The gossip brigade will eat this up. If she dates me, it would only make it worse for