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

The room quiets with my entrance. All of my stepsiblings come over and hug me.

Jed slaps me on the back. “Come to your senses at all?”

I ignore the jab. “When did you become Team Presley?”

He shrugs. “I like her. And Books and Beers made the most money on duo night, so… bragging rights.”

Marla hugs me tightly, her hand running up and down my back. “You okay?”

I nod. “Yep, if everyone would stay out of my business.”

The whole room erupts into a conversation of how this big family is in everyone’s business, not just mine.

“Would you mind setting the table?” Marla asks.

“Sure.”

She picks up a stack of plates and hands them to me. I go to the dining room and see that all the leaves are already in the table, making it stretch the entire length of the large room. I place all the plates down, but run out before I reach the final chair. Huh.

“Marla, we have one extra chair,” I call.

She’s mixing the salad and her smile dims. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”

“Is someone else coming?”

She shakes her head. “No, you can take it away. I thought someone might be joining us.” She sighs and goes back to mixing her salad.

“Who?”

All my siblings and stepsiblings groan.

“How on Earth are you the oldest?” Nikki asks.

“What am I missing?”

Chevelle steps over to me with an exasperated expression. “The speech and the letter were supposed to put some sense into your brain to make up with Presley. The chair is for Presley!” She throws her arms in the air. “It’s a lost cause. He’s going to die alone.”

Tears spring from Chevelle’s eyes and Marla is quick to hug her.

“I’m not gonna die alone. Jed will be next to me,” I say, but no one laughs.

Jed finishes swallowing a pull from his beer. “Hell no. I’m not wiping your ass.”

At least one person in this room is willing to joke about this.

“At least Mom lived a good life. She had five kids, she was happy and in love. Your looks aren’t going to last forever,” Adam says.

“Dad’s still looking good,” I counter.

“Seriously?” Chevelle asks.

Marla puts up her hands to stop us all from fighting. “This is Cade’s decision, everyone. We’ve all interjected ourselves enough at this point. We tried and failed.”

“You mean you all planned this entire thing? On Mom’s birthday?” I ask.

They all nod. Everyone is in on it.

“We love you and we want you to be happy,” Chevelle says.

I hug her. “I am happy.”

She shakes her head against my chest. “Not as happy as you were with Presley.”

My dad walks in and frowns—from seeing me here alone, I guess.

“Okay, let’s eat,” Marla announces.

Everyone takes a dish and heads to the dining room. Dad lingers with Marla, hugging her and kissing her forehead. I hear them whisper I love yous and Marla asking Dad if he’s okay. He only holds her a little tighter.

I go back to the dining room. I’m about to sit down when Nikki pulls her vibrating phone from her pocket. She glances at me then responds to the text.

“One of your many sources?” I ask.

“Oh, this is something you’ll want to know.”

“Doubt it,” I say, my hand on the back of my chair.

“Turns out Presley is booked on a flight back to Connecticut tonight. Looks like you got your wish, Cade. She’s out of your life permanently.”

I snatch her phone and she tries to grab it back, but I put my palm on her head to keep her in her seat, holding the phone high. I see who her source is, and damn, I’m surprised and annoyed at the same time. But the source is legit, so I hand it back to her.

“You cannot tell a soul,” she says, warning me with her finger.

Everyone looks at me as Dad and Marla walk in.

“This is your last chance. You really gonna let her go?” Jed asks.

A reel of my time with her runs through my mind.

“Son, you’re stronger than this.” Dad puts his hand on my shoulder. “It takes a strong heart to love again.”

“Ah, Hank, no worries. I’ll take Presley off his hands.” Jed stands and drops the napkin on the table.

Just the thought of Presley with Jed or anyone else makes the arteries in my neck pop out. I couldn’t stand that.

“Finally!” Jed’s head falls back. “All it took was some good ol’ jealousy.”

“I’ll be back.”

Unfortunately, Jed’s right. I’m an idiot.

“Where is she?” I ask Nikki.

She hammers a message out on her phone to her “source.” “She’s at the apartment above the garage, cleaning it out.”

I race out of Dad and Marla’s house and jump into my truck. I can’t let her leave this all behind. Leave me behind. I might be slow on the uptake, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make Presley see what everyone else already has—we’re meant to be together.

My mom is leaving tonight, but she’s helping me clean out the apartment before she goes.

She comes out of the bathroom. “Bathroom is done.”

She holds up the black trash bags full of my rugs, shower curtain, and toiletry items. The fact she’s willing to help with this says how much she loves me. She sits on the bed I’ve already stripped, the one that started this whole mess with Cade.

“Sweetie, come home with me,” she says.

I shake my head, throwing away the food that’s about to expire and I don’t want to take with me. I found a small place to rent closer to town, where I can walk to work. The rental car was getting expensive, so I bought a cheap one to get me by for a while.

I’m not proud of my actions with Cade. There’s no excuse for me hashing it out with the entire town watching. Maybe I was trying to hurt him as much as he hurt me, I don’t know.

“I can’t. I have the bookstore.”

“But he’s going to be right next to you.”

I dump the cream cheese. “I know.”

“You’ll still be