“Thank you, Mr. Burton,” Tilley said from her lectern. “Now we can all go ahead and vote on the project.”
Trevor leaned over and whispered in my ear. “What did I tell you? This was only a?—”
“Not so fast! I object.”
The smile fell off Trevor’s face as we both spun around to see where the voice had come from. But I didn’t need to look to know who’d objected.
Preston Lyons.
Preston
“Not so fast! I object!”
“This isn’t a wedding, Preston Lyons.” Tilley’s comment got a few titters of laughter, but I wasn’t smiling.
They were really going to vote on this damn development without even hearing the other side.
And there was no way I was going to sit back and let that happen. “Yeah, well, this feels a hell of a lot more permanent than most weddings.”
That earned me a few more giggles, but I wasn’t there for the laughs.
Every head in the place had turned to stare at me, including Jess Anderson. Maybe I could have picked a better way to ease myself into my very first community meeting, but it was too late for that now.
“We can’t allow a vote until both sides have been presented.”
I didn’t actually know that, but I was hoping Tilley would agree with me.
“I think you’ll find that?—”
“Excuse me.” Jess’s fiancé, Trevor something or other, stood up. “We just presented all the?—”
“You presentedyourside of things.” I stopped him. “But there are other people here who use those trails every day. Or hike on the ridge. Or care about what your development will do to the forest and the natural habitat,” I said confidently. “And wouldn’t you agree that those are all important points that should be presented?” I let my gaze sweep the room. “Because those people deserve a say in things before you bulldoze half the mountain to put up condos.”
“Affordable—”
“Doesn’t matter.” I shot Trevor a look and tried to avoid meeting Jess’s eye.
A few murmurs rippled through the crowd. There were a few people who nodded, and I was pretty sure I heard someone mutter,Damn right.
Confident that I had at least some support, I nodded and looked to the front of the room, where Mayor Susan Whitaker lifted a hand to call for order.
“Okay, everyone, let’s all settle down.” She turned to me. “Mr. Lyons, welcome to your first meeting.”
Why did everyone care so much about pointing that out?There must be hundreds of people who don’t bother coming to these things.
“While objections are allowed,” Mayor Whitaker continued, “we do need to follow procedure.”
More people called out, trying to have their opinions heard.
Tilley Beckett banged her gavel like she’d been waiting her entire life for this moment. “One at a time. One at a time.”
Ignoring everyone, Trevor forced a polished smile. “With all due respect, Mayor. We’ve already followed the process. The vote is the next step and?—”
“And with respect,” I said before I could stop myself, “the town hasn’t heard anything about the user impact and what the trail closures will mean to the people of this town.”
More murmurs. Stronger this time.
Trevor sat down again and leaned over to Jess, muttering something in her ear. I obviously couldn’t hear what he said, but judging by the way Jess shifted in her seat and twisted that ridiculously large engagement ring on her finger, it wasn’t positive. I tried not to notice her frown, but I did anyway.
