“He wasn’t happy.” I shrugged.
Preston nodded. “You know I’m here for you if you ever?—”
“I know,” I interrupted him, unsure whether I wanted to hear the way he ended the sentence.
“Right.” He glanced toward the Bean Bag. Through the window, we could see the others already sitting at a table; we were the last to arrive. No doubt they were all watching our interaction. Tilley was probably taking detailed notes. “We should probably get in there.”
I nodded. Besides dealing with the wedding fallout, I’d spent some time trying to work through my thoughts about the development. It was harder than I thought to separate what I’d learned on the hikes from the planning documents—and from the reality that everything I had was financially tied up in it.
But it was important to the town. I needed to be sure I was doing the right thing.
As difficult as it was, I needed to take my personal feelings out of it.
All of them.
“I’m ready.” I took a deep breath, pulled my shoulders back, and walked through the door Preston held open for me.
Summit ran in under my feet and instantly curled up under the table on Tilley’s feet. I shook my head with a laugh, knowing that Dale, the owner, would only look the other way about a dog in the coffee shop for so long.
“We already got you two drinks,” Chase said. “Sit down so we can get started.”
Ever the businessman, I’m sure it was killing him that we were exactly one minute late.
“Oh, Chase.” Tilley slapped his arm lightly. “It’s a sensitive time for Jess.” She looked at me, concern—or maybe it was curiosity—in her eyes. “You take all the time you need, dear. And if you ever need to talk?—”
“Thank you, Tilley.” I cut her off. The last thing I needed was the biggest gossip in town thinking that we were going to have any kind of heart-to-heart. Although I bet it was killing her that she didn’t know the details of my ill-fated wedding day.
I was happy to leave it that way, too.
“I got us a plate of treats.” Becky took her seat and slid a plate of pastries between us.
Chairs scraped as everyone settled in. Preston took the seat across from me, making it hard for me not to look at him.
I focused on my coffee, unsure whether I should make eye contact or not. Would I give it away? Would Tilley or the others notice that something had shifted between us?
Hadsomething shifted between us?
“Okay.” Tilley slid her glasses down her nose and lifted a sparkly pen in the air, ready to take notes on her ever-present clipboard. “Today is the big day,” she continued. “We need tocome to a decision that we can present to the town at the meeting. Is everyone ready?”
I let my gaze travel around the table as everyone nodded in agreement. I let my gaze linger on Preston a moment longer than necessary. His lips curled up into a small smile when he caught me looking.
Damn it. His smile had a way of making my stomach flip. I shouldn’t let that happen. Not anymore. Not with everything…
“I hope I did enough to show you all the drawbacks to the development,” Preston said confidently. “When we were on the trails, the impact on the surrounding environment and the animals in the area was clear.”
There were a few nods around the table. I swallowed hard.
“You did a very good job showing us all that,” Chase said. “But I think it’s important to remember that there are some very impressive pros to the proposal and we would be remiss in ignoring those, too.”
I nodded and refocused my attention on the coffee in front of me.
“I think we all know the pros and cons already,” Chase said. “So why don’t we take a minute to go around and say which way we intend to vote. Jess, do you want to start?”
My head shot up.
I took a deep breath. I was confident in my decision. Still.
Whatever happened between Preston and me—and whatever had happened with Trevor—couldn’t factor into this.
