Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jess
Iwas late. An unexpected trip to the city had already thrown me off schedule, never mind the accident that had backed up traffic for over an hour on the highway.
Frantic and out of breath, I made it to the town hall only five minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start.
Of course, it was packed, and when I got inside and scanned the room, I couldn’t find an empty seat. That is, nowhere except next to Trevor. He spotted me and waved me over.
He was the last person I wanted to spend any time with, but for better or worse, we were still partners on this project, if not in life.
I took one more quick look around the room, trying to find the other committee members, but they were scattered around the room, and I couldn’t even find Preston. Not that he’d want to sit with me, but surely he’d show up to the meeting?
Then again…
I pasted what I hoped was a professional smile on my face and slipped through the row to take my seat next to Trevor.
“It’s about time you got here,” he said by way of greeting.
“Here. This is the revised proposal that meets all the recommendations of the committee. I had it fast-tracked. It’s already been given a preliminary pass,” he said.
“I don’t expect there’ll be any problems getting this moving forward after tonight. ”
I flipped through the package of materials. Most of it was familiar, but there were a few differences that stopped me. “What’s this?” I pointed to a site map. “It looks different.”
“We made the changes your committee requested,” Trevor said with hardly a glance in my direction. “The redesign addresses all of those concerns.”
“But…this…” I flipped through the pages again, trying to make sense of what I was looking at.
At the front of the room, Tilley Beckett called the meeting to order.
“Trevor,” I said, trying to keep my voice low. “This is wrong.”
“It isn’t wrong.” Again, he hardly turned his head to look at me. “It’s different. Like you asked for.”
“I asked for a—”
“Ssh!” Someone behind me leaned between our seats with a finger to her lips. “The meeting is starting.”
Trevor shot me a smug look, and I resisted the urge to smack it from his face.
Again, I scanned through the proposal, reading as fast as I could to catch up while the meeting began. The development vote was the biggest issue on the agenda. I knew things would move quickly.
But what I was reading didn’t make sense. Yes, they had redesigned the lots that were going in, and the trailhead access would be much less affected now. There was still some encroachment on the wildlife corridor, but I couldn’t deny that it seemed like a good compromise.
At first glance.
The problem was with the lots themselves. They were huge. Estate lots for million-dollar homes. Not the small, starter homes that would provide affordable housing like we’d been promising.
I leaned closer to him and kept my voice low. “Trevor,” I hissed. “What is going on? Where’s the affordable housing initiative?”
He rolled his eyes, reached over me to the map, and pointed to a small square at the back of the development without a word.
“But that’s…” I lifted the paper and squinted. “A fourplex?” My voice rose higher than intended. “There were meant to be forty—”
“Ssh!” The woman quieted me again, and I sat back in my seat.
I stared at the papers in my lap. Trevor was right; they’d made all the changes the committee requested. There was no reason it wouldn’t be approved based on that criteria. And it had been the only criterion presented to them. He’d done what he’d committed to doing.
Only, he’d done it in the smarmiest, most underhanded way possible. Worse, there was no way he’d pulled this off at the last minute. It had been planned. He’d played me for a fool.
He’d always been forthcoming about how the next phase of Timberstone would be estate homes that would appeal to a higher tax bracket. He used to tell me how the real money in development was in the big lots.
But we’d agreed…I thought we’d agreed…affordable housing was a priority. It was meant to be the cornerstone of the entire development, and now…
At the front of the room, Tilley banged her gavel. “Our next agenda item is one that I’m proud to have been personally involved in myself.” She beamed from her place on stage, but she had no idea what was about to happen, and how we’d been completely hoodwinked.
It was never about the trail access or the impact on the environment.
I stared at my ex-fiancé. The whole thing had been a bait and switch.
In every sense of the word.
Preston
I didn’t want to go to the meeting. There was no point, considering I already knew the outcome.
But Grayson had a point. I was being stubborn and idiotic. Not just about Jess—but definitely about Jess—but about everything else, too. I needed to get my head out of my ass and come to grips with the fact that progress wasn’t always a bad thing.
Affordable housing was good for our town. Just because I didn’t fully agree with how it was going to happen didn’t mean it wasn’t beneficial.
I’d never been an obstinate or stubborn man. That was Reid’s job. But when it came to Jess, it seemed that all bets were off.
But it wasn’t who I was, despite recent indications. And I definitely wasn’t who I wanted to be.
It was time to change that.
The town hall was already full by the time I arrived, but Grayson had been watching for my arrival and waved me over to where he and Harper, along with the rest of the family, sat.
He’d saved me a seat between himself and Avery. Summit plopped down at our feet, angling himself to get head scratches from my sister-in-law. He was a smart puppy.
“Hey.” I still owed my brothers an apology. “About the other night. I—”
“We’re good.” Brody cut me off. “You’ve got a lot going on.”
“Still, I shouldn’t—”
“No.” Reid stopped me. “But we’ve all been there. You’re good.” He shook his head, crossed his arms, and turned away, indicating the end of the discussion.
I rubbed my chin in an effort to hide my grin. They could be a pain in the ass sometimes, to be sure, but a guy couldn’t ask for better brothers.
“He’s going to be too big soon to take him everywhere.” Ethan gestured to the dog, who’d managed to wiggle his way down the row to get pets from Delaney as well.
“Nah. He’ll be all right.” I had to admit, the little guy was growing pretty quickly. But he was already my favorite adventure buddy.
Not that I wouldn’t like another adventure buddy, too.
As if the mere thought of her had conjured her, I turned to see Jess rush in through the door. She looked frazzled, like she was running late. She scanned the room for a seat. My stomach turned, my jaw clenching tight when I saw the one empty seat she moved toward.
Next to him.
Logically, I knew she wasn’t choosing him, but it still burned.
“Don’t worry about it.” Grayson noticed where I was looking and pulled my attention back. “Remember, that’s—”
“I know,” I said gruffly and focused on the front of the room, where Tilley was getting ready to call the meeting to order.
I only half paid attention as they moved quickly through the first few items on the agenda, and then it was the big moment. The reason I was there at all.
“Our next agenda item is one that I’m proud to have been personally involved in myself,” Tilley said proudly from the stage.
“We spent endless hours assessing the situation and putting boots on the ground to experience firsthand exactly what the pros and cons would be,” she continued with her signature dramatic flair.
“I can assure you that no stone was left unturned and every perspective was examined. Even at the risk of losing life or limb.” She paused for effect.
“And let me assure you, there were a few close calls out there in the wilds.”
My lips twitched up at the reminder of Jess falling in the stream and how I’d had to carry her out of the trails that day. The way her body felt pressed up against my chest. Not nearly as good as it had felt a few days later, naked and—
“I’d like to call on Chase Carlson to give us the final decision of the committee and to present our official recommendation.”
Tilley pulled me from my thoughts. As a group, we’d agreed that Chase was the best choice to present to the council.
On the other side of the room, he stood, a stack of papers in his hand, and cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Tilley.” He nodded and turned slowly to address not only the council that sat on the stage, but the room as a whole.
“As Tilley mentioned, the committee took our job very seriously, and we spent a lot of time on this matter. There were a few heated discussions.”
From two seats over, Reid cleared his throat loudly, but I ignored him.
“And a lot of respectful debate.”
Again, a muttering from my brother made me shoot him a dirty look. He chuckled as Avery smacked him on the arm.
“But ultimately, we came to what we all agree is the best decision,” Chase continued. “The committee would like to formally recommend that—”
“No!” Jess jumped up so quickly that she knocked into the person sitting in front of her. She mumbled a quick apology before turning to Chase. “Sorry,” she told him. “But I no longer agree with the decision we reached.”
There were murmurs from the crowd, and next to her, Trevor reached for her arm in an effort to pull her down into her seat. I growled and clenched my teeth. I would rip his arm from his body if he touched her again.