by Piper Rayne
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 life who has more emotional issues than I do.
She shakes her head. “I’m selling him all wrong.”
“In my experience, if you have to sell him, there’s a problem.”
She nods. “True, but he is my best friend’s brother, so I feel the need to tell you one small thing about this town.”
We walk back into the store, and I’m not gonna lie, I feel a little defeated looking at this mess. “That being?”
“Cade is a Greene and there are a lot of Greenes in Sunrise Bay. So maybe just watch what you say in front of people.”
I nod. No talking shit about Cade Greene to anyone. Easy-peasy. I’m not a shit-stirrer anyway.
“I’ll help you pack all this up. I might want to keep some stuff if that’s okay?” Clara asks.
“Of course.” I look up from a pile of patterns. “I really want you to have your money for your half of the building, but I can’t afford to buy you out and renovate this place to be what I want it to be. Still, I can’t allow you to just give me your half.”
She takes a moment and looks around then shrugs. “I don’t really care about the building. I mean, it’s where my mom did her business, but I have the house, so let’s just call it even.”
It doesn’t sit right with me, so I make a mental note to figure out some way to pay Clara back.
“What are you thinking you want to do with this place anyway?” She sits on a table.
“I think I should do an inventory of what Sunrise Bay already has. And the shops in the neighboring towns.”
“Definitely. That’s a great idea.” She hops off the table. “I can totally—”
We’re interrupted when the bell rings. An elderly woman with hair as white as fresh-fallen snow comes in with another woman who has the bluish tint a lot of older women have in their hair, followed by a third woman with dark-rimmed glasses.
“Presley Knight?”
“Grandma Ethel.” Clara walks over to the woman with white hair.
My throat closes up. Another grandma I didn’t know about?
“Clara dear, how are you? The news just hit Northern Lights Retirement Home, so I told Dori and Midge here, we need to get over there and figure this all out.”
Clara laughs. “I’ll admit at first—”
She’s cut off by Ethel, who approaches me. “You two look so much alike.” She holds my upper arms as though she’s getting a good look at me. Almost as if she’s appraising my worth. It’s a tad creepy. “Welcome to Sunrise Bay. I heard Denise left the two of you this building.”
“Yeah, Jed and—” Clara gets cut off again.
“Rumor is you might be staying. Opening a place of your own,” Ethel says.
I catch the dark-rimmed glasses granny walking around and inspecting the spools of thread, and I watch as she shoves one in her purse. What the heck? “Yeah, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the space yet.”
“Not a sewing store. You’re much too young,” the one I think is Dori says.
Midge sticks another spool of thread into her purse and my eyes widen.
“Presley was just saying that she was going to go around town and see what we already had, and I suggested that maybe Lake Starlight—”
Grandma Ethel doesn’t allow Clara to finish, and Clara huffs at the third interruption.
“That is a great idea. I have just the person to show you around.”
“Oh, I was going to Uber or rent a car,” I say.
Dori waves. “Duke Thompson doesn’t have time to take only one client around all day.”
“I could rent…” I stop, seeing Dori’s lips twist in displeasure. “Or not?”
“You need someone who knows where to take you,” Dori says.
“I can—” Clara raises her hand, but Dori takes Clara’s wrist and lowers her arm.
“You’re much too busy at the library, Clara dear. I have just the person.” Dori looks around the room. “We definitely need to get this project started as soon as possible.”
“Um, I think I’d prefer to go by myself,” I say.
Grandma Ethel smiles at me. “This is Alaska, dear. You’re not familiar with the roads. What happens if something happens to your rental car and you find yourself face-to-face with a bear or, heaven forbid, a moose?”
“Rental cars are never reliable,” Dori interjects.
I look at Clara and she shake
s her head as though I might as well just give in. I’ll admit the bear or moose attack idea is a little scary.
“It’s just half a day. Believe me, you’ll be happy to have someone show you the ins and outs,” Ethel says.
It dawns on me that I have no idea who these two could be offering up to show me around, and hanging out with them might be preferable. “Okay, but maybe you two could show me around? I mean, you must know this area the best.”
Ethel looks at Dori and nods. “She has a point.”
“She does,” Dori says.
“Okay, we heard you’re at Glacier Point? We’ll be there tomorrow at nine in the morning.” Ethel pats my hand.
“Perfect. I’ll be ready.”
Ethel smiles. “We should go. See you tomorrow, Parsley.”
“It’s Presley.” I smile.
“That’s what I said. Maybe wear some sensible shoes too, all right?”
“Okay.” I look at my heels.
“But those jeans are keepers.” Dori points and places a ten on the table. “For Midge. She’s a bit of a kleptomaniac.”
They leave the store, and I feel as if I’ve been run over by a bulldozer.
“What’s up with the grandma gang?” I ask Clara.
She’s biting her lip, staring after their departure. “That’s Ethel Greene and her friend, Dori Bailey. Midge is new. I haven’t met her yet.”
“Greene as in…”
“Cade Greene’s grandma.”
“Great.”
She laughs. “Well, they do know the area best, but I’d make sure you have your cell phone fully charged. I have no idea where you’ll end up.”
If Midge comes along, probably the county jail.
I’m at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, when Fisher walks in wearing his sheriff’s uniform after a long overnight shift.
“You okay, man?”
He nods. “Just beat.” He grabs a water. “I’m showering and going to bed.”
He disappears upstairs, and I continue scrolling through my phone and eating my eggs. I’m midway through seeing what my high school girlfriend, Reese, posted last night when my phone vibrates, and my grandma’s name flashes across the screen.
“Hey, Grandma,” I say.
“How’s my favorite grandson?” she asks, which means she needs a favor.
“Would no one else answer their phone?”
She laughs. “You’re my first choice, always.”
“What do you need?” I pick up my plate, rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher.
“Something is wrong with Dori’s Cadillac and it won’t start. We promised to take out a friend who’s visiting. Could you pick us up and drop us off? We can find a ride home.”
“When do you need to be there?” I glance at the time on the microwave because a guy is coming in today to taste a few beers and let us know if he wants them on his shelves. He owns five small grocery stores in the neighboring communities.
“At nine, then you can just drop us off at Two Brothers and an Egg.”
“So you want me to come to Lake Starlight and bring you back to Sunrise Bay? Sure.” I’ll make it back in plenty of time.
“With one pit stop to pick up my friend at Glacier Point.”
“Okay.”
“Great.” She sounds so happy, it makes me go over what she said like I might’ve missed something, but nothing stands out. “See you soon and make sure you shower and look nice.”
“Um, okay?”
“I can’t have my friend saying my grandson smells like he works in a brewery.” She chuckles at her own joke. “A spritz of cologne would be nice.”
“Cologne?” I can’t even remember the last time I wore cologne. Jed, on the other hand, has five different bottles, and he plays a game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe with them before he goes anywhere.
“You know how us grandmas are. We like to brag, and I can’t brag if you show up looking like a slob.”
I’m not sure the last time I embarrassed my grandma, but it’s easier to agree with her. “Sure thing.”
We say our goodbyes and I hang up.
Jed comes in through the back door after his run, pulling the earbuds out of his ears. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. I have to go pick up Grandma and take her and her friends to breakfast.”
His eyebrows rise. “Have fun with that. I’m showering and heading to the brewery. I think I’m going to book some appointments up north to pitch the new beer. Do you think you can handle the town council meeting on your own?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, it’s at the end of the week and I know they’re going to be talking about Mrs. Harrison’s business. If blondie wants to open something, she’ll have to tell them and get their approval. This might just be the nail in her coffin.”
I shake my head at Jed because he’s got a one-track mind. “We don’t even know what she plans to do with it.”
“I saw her and Clara yesterday and they looked tight, so I’m pretty sure Presley’s sweet-talked her into cooperating.” He gulps down a green smoothie he had in the fridge. “Xavier said Clara told him that she gave her half of the building to Presley.”
“I’m heading out. We can discuss this later.”
Jed just needs to give up the fight at this point.
“You’re only being this way because you want her,” he says.
I shake my head. “I did, but I ruined my chance.”
I’m not going to divulge to Jed that I’m beating off to imaginings of Presley at night. That she was the first woman in a long time who interested me. Because all he can see is that building and how he can’t have what he wants. Presley is in the way of that, so she’s the devil.
“She’s not worth it anyway. I mean, yeah, her ass is out of this fucking world, but…” Jed stops and narrows his eyes. “Fuck no.”
“What?”
“You still want her. I just saw that jealous look flash in your eyes when I talked about her ass.”
Adam walks in, looking like he woke from a long hibernation about a minute ago.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jed hits Adam in the arm, and Adam actually moves his hand over his bicep like it hurt. The guy is a forest ranger and in a helluva lot better shape than either of us. “Look at Cade.”
Adam stops in front of the fridge. “What am I looking at?” His voice is still groggy.
“You know that new chick in town, Presley? Man, I want to bend her over, put both my hands on that ass of hers, and get to grinding.”
Adam laughs, the first one I’ve heard from him in weeks.
Jed’s smug grin says I’ve proved him right. “See? Told you. She’s our enemy, man.”
I raise my hands in the air.
Adam opens the fridge and pulls out a batch of wings I brought home last night after we closed. He bites into one and goes back upstairs.
Jed and I both follow Adam’s movements until he disappears.
“I’m gonna call for an intervention if he’s not in the angry phase by next week,” he says.
“She left him with no explanation other than she wasn’t happy. Give him a break.” I grab my jacket from the hook by the back door. “I’m out of here.”
“Don’t get lost and end up licking Presley’s honey pot, okay?”
I shake my head and shut the door before he can say anything else that will give me visuals to add to my spank bank.
I pick up Grandma Ethel and Dori from the Northern Lights Retirement Center. They each have their own apartments there, and since Dori can’t drive anymore, Grandma drives Dori’s Cadillac. Dori is actually Doris Bailey, owner of Bailey Timber Corp, the largest timber company in the state. She comes from as big of a family as we do, except they’re not a blended family like mine.
“So nice of you to pick us up, Cade,” Dori says, climbing into the back of my truck.
Grandma hops in right after, next to Dori, leaving me as their chauffeur with no one
in the front passenger seat.
“Um. Grandma?” I ask.
“Oh, our friend will sit there so she can see the sights. I’m old and I can’t be moving around so much. The more I get up and down from your truck, the more likely I’ll break a hip. And then someone will have to wipe my ass. Do you want that job, Cade?”
I wince and decide that instead of arguing, I’ll just get on my way. I put the truck in drive to get this favor over with.
On the way to Glacier Point, I endure a conversation about nutritional shakes and which ones help them stay regular. I might have zoned out. I pull up in the circular entrance and do a double take when I see Presley standing outside. She’s got on another great pair of jeans, but instead of the high heels, she’s in a pair of boots. A jacket covers up whether she’s got on another tight sweater.
“Do I need to go in and get your friend?” I ask, hardly taking my eyes off Presley. She’s checking her phone and hasn’t looked up yet.
“No, she’s right there.” Dori rolls down her window. “Yoo-hoo.”
Presley picks up her head and smiles at Dori before she takes in the truck and sees me through the windshield. Then the smile is quickly stripped from her face. She walks toward the truck, but doesn’t get in.
“I’m sorry, I think there was a misunderstanding. I thought it would only be us three.” Presley never even looks at me.
“Sorry, my car didn’t start, so we called Ethel’s grandson. Presley, this is Cade.”
“We’ve met,” she says through a tight smile. “Let’s just reschedule.”
“Nonsense, go sit up front.” Dori waves at the valet. “Excuse me, I’m Wyatt’s grandma-in-law. Can you please open the door for this woman?”
The guy actually comes over and opens the door, but Presley doesn’t step in. Her jaw twists, and little huffs fall from her mouth. It’s a turn-on, watching her be so defiant. Makes me want to throw her over my shoulder and drag her home.
“Ma’am,” the valet says.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” She climbs up, still not looking at me. “I don’t have a ton of time anyway.”
“Good, me either. I’m just dropping you at breakfast. Surely you can handle a twenty-minute car ride with me?”
