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

same driver picks me up. I guess the area is small, but he’s on autopilot when he drops me off at Trent Lawson’s office the next morning.

Mr. Lawson’s receptionist takes in my outfit. After Cade asked me out, I went shopping in downtown Lake Starlight, finding a new outfit at a boutique store for our date. I’m not letting it go to waste, even if my heels are a little fancy to meet a lawyer.

“Mr. Lawson,” I say as if we’re in such a big city she wouldn’t remember me from yesterday or that Mr. Lawson isn’t probably the only lawyer in this office.

“Nice to see you, Miss Knight. Please allow me to introduce myself this time.” She puts out her hand. “I’m Beth Lawson.”

I nod. She’s his wife. So that whole lawyer-client privilege probably doesn’t hold up. I shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lawson.”

“Please call me Beth.”

“Okay, then call me Presley.”

“You seemed… deep in thought last time, otherwise I would’ve introduced myself then.”

I give her a wane smile.

She smiles back. “It’s a very pretty name. Your mo—Denise was a good friend of mine.” I’m not sure what look I give her, but she’s quick to wave her hand. “She never told me about you or anything. It wasn’t until she got sick and planned some things out with Trent that she divulged the information to me. I’m sure you have some personal feelings about it all, but I just wanted to let you know, she was a good person.”

I’m stiff and robotic in my response. “Thank you.” I’m not sure if that’s the answer she wants to hear or not, but that’s the one she’s getting.

“Let’s get you into Trent’s office.” She ushers me back but doesn’t shut the door because someone else is joining us this time.

My stomach twists with the thought of coming face-to-face with Clara.

“Good morning, Miss Knight,” Trent says, and I shake his hand, sitting down. “Have you come to a decision?”

What’s with this guy? “No.”

He nods and holds up his hands as if it’s none of his business. But he’s the one trying to push me into a decision. I hate lawyers.

Then I hear Beth talking to someone in the reception area. “Clara dear, how are you holding up?”

All I hear after that are murmurs. Trent looks at me as though he’s trying to decipher how it makes me feel. Last I checked, this was a lawyer’s office, not a psychologist’s.

“Clara’s here, Trent,” Beth says behind me.

I close my eyes for a second before Clara comes into my peripheral view. It’s not as if I haven’t seen her, but now we’re actually going to speak to one another. Do our voices sound similar?

“Hello, Clara, did Xavier come with you?” Mr. Lawson asks.

She sits in the chair next to me, and I brace myself to face her. Her eyes aren’t red-rimmed like they were before. She’s more casually dressed this time, wearing jeans, a sweater, and boots. Because she’s an Alaskan and this is her hometown. Another stark reminder I was not raised here.

“No. I’m here by myself,” Clara says.

“As you know, Clara, this is Presley. Presley, this is Clara.”

The two of us look at one another, saying hello as if we’re nine and our parents are at our sides, forcing us to be nice to one another.

At least we’re on the same page. I can’t imagine how I’d react if she was excited to discover she had a sister and wanted to be my best friend or something.

“So the building. You’ve both had a chance to think about it. Have either of you come to a decision?”

Why is this guy in such a rush to have us settle this?

“I haven’t,” I say.

“Me either.”

He sets down an envelope labeled keys. “Okay. I want to make you aware of a call I received this morning. There’s a third party interested in the property. They’d be willing to purchase it from you, then you’d split the money.” He thumbs through some paperwork in front of him.

Clara glances at me from the corner of her eye. It’s one of her friends, probably. A native Sunrise Bayer who can’t bear to see the girl be tortured into handling this complicated situation herself, no doubt.

“I’m fine with that,” Clara says.

“We don’t even know for certain what the building is worth,” I interject.

Clara huffs, but I ignore her.

Mr. Lawson nods. “I’m sure you looked over the paperwork I gave you yesterday. The appraisal came in at a hundred fifty thousand. The third party is offering a fair amount of a hundred twenty-five thousand. They’ll take it as-is, so the two of you don’t have to worry about anything. Other than a lot of papers pushing around, which you could do from Connecticut,” he says to me. “And Clara, I know you aren’t interested in the building.”

“Yeah, I’m good with the sale,” she says again.

“I hate to be the stop sign here, but how do we even know if it’s a fair offer? Someone might offer us more on the open market. Plus, what if I want to keep it?”

Clara whips her head in my direction. “You can’t be serious.”

I turn toward her, and I’m struck by how similar we look now that I’m this close to her. Yeah, her hair is dark brown, the color mine used to be before I began dying it blonde. But our skin tone is the same, as are our lips. Having someone share the same characteristics with me after growing up with no one sharing any feels weird.

“I am serious,” I say.

“You want to stay in Sunrise Bay? Is this because of Cade Greene? Because you’re wasting your time if you think you’re going to ride off into the sunset with him.”

I throw my hands in the air. “What are you talking about? And how do you know about anything to do with me and Cade Greene?”

I’m used to gossip. Hell, I grew up in high society where the gossip isn’t just