Better than Sunshine

My new neighbor is a ray of sunshine with a sledgehammer, and she’s not just renovating the house next door. She’s aiming it right at my life.

Austin:

My rules are simple—keep to myself, stick to my routine, and never get involved. And here in Dove Key, Florida, they keep the ghosts of my past chained. Until Iris Holloway moves into the derelict mansion next door and breaks all three before she’s unpacked.

She’s a hurricane of disastrous renovations and off-key singing. Her relentless cheer should be infuriating. She laughs at every setback like a plot twist she’s enjoying, and that laugh does something to me I can’t afford to name.

I find myself wanting to be the reason for her smiles. Iris came to Dove Key to rebuild. She didn’t plan on her grumpy neighbor making it complicated. But letting her in means telling her what I survived—and what I didn’t. She thinks she’s just fixing an old house, but she might be the only one who can reach the man I locked away years ago.