Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Jess
Iarrived at the trailhead exactly on time, and of course, Preston Lyons was already there, frowning at his watch as if I were twenty minutes late.
Frankly, it was a miracle I hadn’t been late because I couldn’t find my hiking boots or my pack earlier that morning.
It had been so long since I’d been for a proper hike that all my gear had been pushed deep in the recesses of my closet.
My boots were dusty and felt foreign on my feet. But oddly good, too.
Sure, I would have rather gone on a hike with pretty much anyone else besides Preston, but if it took a forced hike with my arch nemesis to get me outside on a beautiful Saturday morning, I’d take it.
Especially after the week I’d had. My days had been filled with fielding calls from people who were interested in our new development but had heard rumors that the town was going to block the progress, and were worried about their deposits.
Never mind the ever-growing list of wedding tasks that I’d been mostly putting off.
It turned out that avoiding the tasks didn’t actually make me feel better. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
Every time I thought about the stupid list, my blood pressure rose.
Which was just another reason I was glad for the hike this morning. A little fresh air and physical activity was going to do me some good.
At some point the night before, I’d decided to be as pleasant with Preston as possible. After all, it wasn’t like I had a choice about spending time with him, and I probably had been a little rude before. It wasn’t his fault I was stressed out.
“Glad you could make it, Dots.”
I gritted my teeth at the old nickname I hadn’t heard in years. He’d started using it when we were kids because he thought it made me self-conscious of my freckles. It hadn’t. But it had irritated me. Mostly because everything Preston did irritated me back then.
And apparently now as well.
“I’m not late,” I snapped, a little harsher than necessary. So much for trying to be nice. “And you can call me Jess.”
He smirked, and I immediately realized my mistake in acknowledging his stupid nickname for me.
“It’s a beautiful day for a hike, friends,” Tilley announced as she arrived, dressed in a hot-pink fleece jacket with a matching bedazzled hat. “Oh, you brought the puppy!” She dropped to her knees in the dirt and started to rub the puppy’s head.
“Little guy is going to be a good hiking dog one day,” Preston said. “I might as well get him started early.”
“He is pretty cute,” I admitted.
The puppy seemed to know I was talking about him. He left Tilley and bounded toward me, attacking my laces before I bent down, and he licked my cheek.
“He likes you.” Chase joined our little group. “Dogs are usually a pretty good judge of character.”
I looked up at him and grinned, but I couldn’t help but notice the way Preston shook his head and looked away at Chase’s comment.
I got to my feet right as Becky, with a teenage boy in tow, joined us.
“Hi, everyone. I hope it’s okay that I brought my son.
I thought it might be good to get a young person’s opinion on the trail situation.
And, it wouldn’t kill him to get outside and away from the video games a little bit, right, Mason? ”
The teen shrugged and raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey, Mason,” Preston said. “Good to see you again.” He looked to Tilley and Chase to explain. “Mason’s come out a few times to my Teens in the Trails group.”
He has a Teens in the Trails group?
There was a lot I didn’t know about Preston Lyons, but somehow the fact that he willingly spent time with a group of teenagers in his free time was the most surprising.
“The more the merrier!” Tilley whipped her clipboard out of her pink pack. “Why don’t we get started?” She scribbled a few things down before looking up, straight at me. “Jess, are you ready to present your thoughts first?”
“You know I am.” I pulled out a few sheets of paper I’d had printed out for the group with a map of the area, including the area that would be affected by the development.
I had to admit, I didn’t love seeing it in black and white.
It really did seem like a larger section than I’d originally thought it would be.
But it wasn’t the right time to say anything about that. Trevor and the entire development was depending on me and how well I handled this.
“Okay,” I said. “Why don’t we start down this trail, and I can show you exactly where the development is proposed to be.
I think you’ll see that the trailhead is still accessible for most users.
” I shot a look at Preston, waiting for him to object.
He only raised his brow and nodded slightly, so I continued.
“There will be a little modification, of course,” I continued.
“But just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s bad. ”
Automatically, I looked at Preston, expecting him to disagree.
To my surprise, he nodded and muttered, “That’s true.”
Tilley’s mouth dropped open as she looked between us. “Well, well. I don’t know if it’s the magic of the great outdoors, or what, but dare I say that we’re all going to get along on these little nature hikes?”
I couldn’t help but laugh along with the others. I wasn’t sure we were going to get along, but I had to agree we were off to a good start. I just hoped we could keep it up and not throw each other off the ridge.
Preston
If someone had tried to tell me that following Jess Anderson on a hike in the trails that I knew like the back of my hand would be an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I would have had more than a few choice words for them.
She caught me off guard with the clear way she delivered her points, used her hands to talk, and most interestingly, actually seemed to care about the trails. Maybe even as much as the development she was trying to sell.
Either that, or she was a really good actor. A point I couldn’t rule out completely. After all, she was a salesperson.
We’d been walking for about twenty minutes when I realized I was actually enjoying myself. Of course, being in the woods always made me feel better. The outdoors had a way of recharging me.
Summit ran along the trail, seemingly fearless as his tail bobbed back and forth.
Whatever trauma he had from almost plummeting to his death a week earlier didn’t seem to have affected him very much.
Although I couldn’t help but notice the way he hugged the mountainside when the trail got a bit steeper.
That was fine by me. A little bit of caution on a hike was never a bad idea. I liked the fact that he was trusting his instincts. Just like the way he looked back at me every few minutes, checking in like the good pup he was.
Our little group kept a good pace as we moved through the trail system that made up the biggest multi-use area of the entire network.
As the section that was closest to town, this was the space that contained a nature park school area made up of tree stumps set in a circle, and an open field space where groups would often picnic.
Never mind the spiderweb of mountain bike trails and beginner hiking paths that people liked to walk their dogs on.
It also happened to be the part of the Trickle Creek trails that was set to be impacted the hardest by Jess’s development proposal.
As if she could read my mind from her position at the head of our group, she paused in a clearing, calling all of us over.
“If you look at the maps I gave you, this is where the edge of the development will come to.” She waved her hand to indicate a line of trees that would cease to exist if she got her way. “Which means that the bit of the pathway that we just walked through would have to be changed a little bit.”
“You mean, it would have to be destroyed.”
Chase turned to shoot me a look. So far, I’d bit my tongue and kept my opinions in check, but there’d been little need. Until now.
“It would be modified,” she said smoothly.
“We are aware that the Trickle Creek Trail Society has been making use of this land up until now, and obviously, any changes in the way things have been done will be met with a little bit of objection,” she continued.
“However, the reality is, the proposed development is on private land that has been loaned to the trail society up until now.”
I opened my mouth to object, but she wasn’t wrong. It was a detail I had only recently learned myself. It was widely known that the thousands of acres of wilderness on the edge of town that we enjoyed so much had been donated and put in a nature preserve. I’d assumed that included all the land.
I’d assumed incorrectly.
“Okay, Dots.” I folded my arms, smirking a little at the scowl that crossed her face at the use of the old nickname I’d pulled out. “I assume you’re going to show us what the new plan is then?”
“Absolutely, I am.” She reached around and pulled a new stack of papers out of her pack, handing us each one before continuing.
“This is a sketch of the proposed changes. As I mentioned, the end of the development will come to that line of trees there, which, as Preston so clearly pointed out, will eliminate the current access point.”
She shot me a bright smile. I didn’t want to return it, but I couldn’t help myself.
She did seem to be making an effort to get along with me; there was no harm in meeting her halfway.
Especially considering I wasn’t even remotely concerned that she and her development project would come out on top at the end of all this. I might as well be a good winner.
I held my tongue as Jess continued to explain how, when they designed the housing development, they’d kept the trail system in mind with green spaces that would link up and lead to a pathway that skirted the very edge of the proposed houses.
Becky stepped forward, holding out her map. “Just to clarify, Jess, this area here will be the new access path?”