Jed hops off the table. He’s not one to easily accept defeat. “This is a lot for you to take on. Not even just the store. Cleaning all this, making it your own, getting rid of whatever you want to sell. And then you have the town. The gossip mill around here is not easy to handle.”
Presley’s eyes narrow at Jed, so I hop down and go to his side. She turns her laser eyes on me.
“He means you should think about those things before committing,” I say.
“Oh really? Please enlighten me.”
“I saved you for twenty-four hours with our sister, Nikki. Well, my stepsister, but his real sister,” I say as Jed shakes his head and Presley looks as though she couldn’t care less. “She won’t report this whole thing on her radio show, but tomorrow morning, the entire story about you being Mrs. Harrison’s daughter will be on the news.”
“You saved me?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Yeah, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
She scowls. “Oh, I’m not worried about it. Do you people really think your small town gossip has anything on what I have going on back home? It can’t be any worse than attending a private school with privileged youth. The conniving and the lies would make your head spin. So I don’t need your saving, Cade.”
Clara laughs, and I look back at her. She bites her lip to stop herself, but I can tell she’s enjoying this.
Jed glances at me. “He’s just trying to help.”
“Oh my God. I’m not looking for a prince to swoop in. Why does everyone in my life think I need saving? I don’t. I’m a grown woman.”
My eyebrows rise. Is this the same sweet woman from yesterday?
“So what, you’re going to stay in town?” Jed says it with a laugh on the edge of his tone. Even I know that’s the wrong move.
“Maybe I am.”
“You are?” Clara asks.
Jed and I part to allow the two sisters to look at one another.
“I don’t know.” Presley shrugs.
Clara doesn’t say anything, and the room goes quiet.
“Can we talk?” Presley asks Clara in a calmer voice.
Clara nods and walks forward. “It’s why I came here. Because I didn’t like how I left it. That’s not me. This is just a lot to deal with.”
Jed and I share a look of surprise.
“I have no idea how to act,” Presley says with a vulnerability that makes my heart squeeze.
“Come on. I’ll show you around town,” Clara says, then tosses me a key. “Lock up, boys.”
I catch it, and they walk out, turning right down the street.
“What the fuck just happened?” Jed runs a hand through his hair. “This was ours. Your girl cannot be thinking she’s going to stay and take over this place.”
I’m still staring at the door. “Suffice it to say, she’s not my girl. And probably never will be.”
He smacks me on the back. “I think you dodged a bullet.”
We walk out of the building and I lock the store. Jed walks over to the brewery while I stare down the street. There’s this feeling in the pit of my stomach saying that there’s still something there. Regardless of whether Presley’s going to deny it, we have a connection. Maybe if she decides to stay in town and we don’t get to expand Truth or Dare, it’s not such a bad thing. Just don’t tell Jed.
Clara puts on her mittens and I put on my hat that isn’t nearly as wintery warm as hers. I’m not going to complain about my heels and the cold weather though, since that’s opening myself up for more ridicule.
A group of four men sitting on a bench outside a store called the Handyman Haven stare at us as we walk past.
Clara tugs on the sleeve of my coat and nods. “Let’s go toward the bay.”
I follow her, and neither of us says anything for a long time.
“Do you really want the building?” she asks.
I shrug. “I’m still deciding. I’m still processing, to be honest.”
She stops, and I do the same to see if she’s okay. “Did you know?”
“Know that I was adopted?”
She nods.
“Yeah. Did you know about me?” I ask.
Her shoulders sink. “I knew nothing. Nothing at all. Mom mentioned in her letter that Grandma Beatrice was in contact with you?”
“Yeah, she sent me birthday cards and my mom sent her pictures.”
She flops down on a bench as though she doesn’t have the energy to continue our walk. My feet thank her. “I’m just in so much shock. I mean, how did they never tell me that I had a sister?”
“You’d know better than me. You were their daughter.”
She looks over and I’m still struck by how similar we look, although she doesn’t wear the makeup I do. “Do you hate me?”
I stare out at the water and the fishing boats lined up on one side. How can I answer that?
“No, I don’t hate you. I wanted to tell you myself at the wake, but I couldn’t get you alone. I’m a little bitter that it seems like everyone wants to push me out of town to protect you though.”
She nods as though she understands. “I have no idea why I got so angry at the lawyer’s office. I’m mad that I was kept in the dark all these years and they were all too chicken to tell me. I took that out on you. If anything, you’re the one suffering more than me.”
“I think the suffering is the same for both of us, just different.” I sigh. “My mom wants me to go home.”
“Your mom. That’s weird to hear. But of course you have a family. Are they nice? Like, did you enjoy where you grew up?”
I think about it. I might complain about an overprotective mother and a dad who worked more hours than he spent with me, but I wanted for nothing and I never felt unloved. “I did. I love my family, it’s just… I expected to get a piece of jewelry or something, not half a building and the opportunity to start a life here.”
Clara laughs. “I can understand that. Leave it to Mom to throw a grenade after she dies and stir up the gossip in this town.”
“I’d love to know what they were like, but not right now.” I’m not sure I could bear hearing about Clara’s upbringing right now, imagining how it could’ve been mine. And most of all, I don’t want that to be a part of my decision to stay or not.
“Any time.”
“What do you do?” I ask.
“I’m the librarian. One of them at least.”
“And you’re happy here?”
She nods. “I am.”
“Did you go to school for English?” I ask. How ironic that I wanted to major in English but was talked out of it by my dad.
“Yeah. Worthless degree, right?” She chuckles. “But I had a double major, so I took library sciences too.”
“I think it’s great. I wanted to get an English degree too. I love reading. Of course, I never imagined my own life being similar to a novel.”
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.”