Unlike the garishly ugly sales office I’d just seen.
“This is good.” I wiped my mouth and set the beer down. “But yes, I’m talking about that monstrosity of a sign outside. Did you see it?”
“I did.” He nodded.
“See what?”
I turned as Brody joined us.
“You didn’t see the sign?” I stared at him, open-mouthed. “How could you miss it?”
“Oh. That.” He accepted a beer from Ethan with a nod of thanks.
“Yes, that.” I looked between my brothers in a mixture of shock and disgust.
“I see you kept the dog.” Brody lifted a questioning brow as he took the seat next to me.
I ignored him, too, and continued my train of thought. “You’re both business owners in town. How can you be okay with this?”
Ethan sighed and leaned back against the bar, his arms over his chest. “Developments are hard to stop, Pres. Besides, there’s going to be affordable housing, and we need that in town. Badly. I can’t tell you how many stories I hear of people who can’t afford to make their rent or whose landlords are moving to a short-term rental model, and they have to move out.”
“It’s true.” Brody jumped in. “The increase in tourism isgreat,” he said. “But all of those tourists create a few new problems for our town, like making sure everyone can afford to live here with the increasing prices.”
I hadn’t thought of any of that. I’d been fortunate to have a stable place to live. Years ago, I bought a small cabin on the edge of town for next to nothing and fixed it up. I’d never considered what my situation would be like if I were still renting.
“Okay,” I said after a moment. “I agree. We need affordable housing. But I still think there’s a better way to do it that doesn’t involve destroying such a big part of our trail system.” I lifted my beer and drained half the glass before setting it down again.
Damn, it really was good.
“You know the part that really pisses me off?” My brothers both stared at me. Brody’s lips twitched up in a smirk, as if he already knew what I was going to say. I ignored him and continued, “I don’t understand how someone who was born and raised here, and understands how special our trail systems are, could possibly support a development that would destroy them.” I shook my head in disgust.
“Uh-huh.”
“I knew it.”
My brothers spoke at the same time.
“You knew what?” I looked at Brody. “Because you don’t know shit.”
He didn’t even bother to hide his amusement. “I know you have a thing for Jess Anderson.”
“Always have,” Ethan joined in. “Too bad she’s never felt the same.”
I could feel my face heating. There was nothing worse than big brothers who thought they understood something they had no idea about.
“That’s what really fires you up, isn’t it?” Brody continued. “That she’s the one?—”
“I told you.” I stopped him. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Right.” Both brothers broke out in laughter, but there was nothing funny about the situation.
“You two smart-asses think you’re so smart, but unlike the two of you, I don’t base my decisions on a woman.”
“Hey, that’s?—”
“When have I?—”
“Don’t even try to deny it.” I stopped them both, but focused my gaze on Ethan, who’d recently based many of his decisions on his new fiancée, Delaney, who owned the bookstore next door. In his case, I actually agreed with all his decisions because Delaney was fantastic, and they were super happy together.
