My Beautiful Neighbor (The Greene Family Book 1) by Piper Rayne (android based ebook reader txt) 📗

I glance down the hallway, not seeing Xavier, who’s been at her side the entire day. Going back into the kitchen, I grab a plate of our signature quesadillas that’s just come off the grill and follow her.

She’s sitting at a table we keep in back, separated from customer parking by a wall, for the employees when they’re on break.

“Hey,” I say, sliding in across from her and pushing the quesadillas toward her.

“Hi, Cade.” She looks up. “Is someone looking for me?”

I shake my head. “I saw you sneak away.”

She nods like she figured someone would. “I can’t take the sad eyes anymore. I mean, it was expected. She was sick.”

“It doesn’t make it any less hard.” I pull apart the quesadilla. Hopefully, if she sees the gooey cheese, she’ll be enticed to eat something.

“I think it’s more because I’m the last one. I have no more family.”

I squeeze her forearm. “You have us, the Greenes. You know that.”

She nods again as though she understands what I’m saying. Maybe I’d be better off to leave her alone.

“There’s so much to do. Her house needs to be emptied. And the store.” Clara shakes her head. “I mean, I have time when I’m not working at the library, but it’s all so daunting. I have to go to Trent Lawson’s office tomorrow to go over the will. It’s just a lot.”

“If you need help, we’re here. I can help with the store or help move some stuff from the house. Whatever you need. Xavier will be here for a few weeks since the season is over and tourist season isn’t for another two months. We’ll get it all handled.”

She stands and heads over to the store beside the brewery, digging the keys out of her pocket. She opens the back door. There are cobwebs and dust on the door because no one has stepped foot in there in some time. She swivels the key off the chain and holds it out toward me. I stand and walk over to her then open my palm.

She places the key there. “I have no use for this. It’s yours. I know you and Jed have been wanting to expand the brewery.”

“Are you sure? We’ll pay you of course.” Her mom would’ve bought this storefront decades ago, so Clara will get a good profit by selling it to us.

We step inside, and she flicks on the lights. It smells musty, and it’s obvious no one has been in here for a while, but when I look around, all I see is potential and profits for our business.

She picks up a spool of thread from one of the shelves. “We’ll figure it out, but she would’ve wanted you guys to have it. What am I going to do with it? I can’t thread a needle, let alone teach someone to sew.”

“Thanks, but it doesn’t seem right that we’re talking about it today.”

She smiles at me. “Maybe, but when then? I couldn’t be in that bar with all those people staring at me for any longer. Xavier’s all over me like a damn linebacker. I appreciate it, I do, but I just want to be by myself. Handle her affairs, remember her, and move on.”

I hug her. I was exactly where she was years ago. “I know it hurts and you want to move on and forget this pain, but believe me, one day you’ll think of her and it won’t hurt nearly as much.”

She squeezes me. “Thank you for that.”

I nod.

“There you are.” Xavier walks in, stepping over patterns and fabric that must have fallen at some point.

Clara smirks. “I’m here. Can you just take me home?”

Xavier nods and puts his arm around her. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Thanks, Clara,” I say.

She turns around. “You’re welcome.”

Xavier is babying her because we know what it’s like to lose a parent. Clara’s lost two and her grandma. As annoying as my big family can be at times, I can’t imagine having no one left.

As I’m about to pocket the key and keep this conversation to myself until I know she means it and wants to sell it to us, Jed walks through the door. “So is it true?”

“What?”

“That she gave you the key? That she’s going to sell us the space?”

So much for keeping it quiet and making sure it’s not just her grief talking.

I look around the space, trying to figure how much we’ll have to renovate, how we’ll manage the support beams by tearing down the wall.

Jed’s already got a pencil and an old pattern laid out, writing a floor plan on the back of it. “Do you think we need more seating? Maybe we should just expand our production so we can offer more flavors, more options for grocery stores.”

“I think we should expand the seating. Remember during tourist season how long the line was? We had to turn people away. Doubtful we could get a beer garden in here, but it might be worth talking to an architect.”

“Then we’d have to go to the town and get approval. Plus, we’re in Alaska. We’d only be able to use it less than half the year.”

“You make Alaskans sound weak. We’re used to braving the cold.” I walk to the front window and the foggy glass that Mrs. Harrison used to keep crystal clear. “This seems horribly disrespectful. Let’s wait to make plans until Clara has a few days to think this through.”

He drops the pencil and crosses his arms. Jed isn’t an asshole—he’s become my best friend over the years, which is funny since I hated him when he first came to town—but sometimes he gets tunnel vision and forgets his manners.

So I’m not surprised that after a moment he nods, agreeing with me. “Okay then, let’s talk about the blonde.”

“I don’t really care who she is.”

He jumps off the table and meets me at the window. “I’m not saying you care in the same way Nikki does, but you couldn’t