Page 58 of Butterfly Sisters
“I’m going to get dressed and then you can profess your love to me in person,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for the stairs, maintaining his poker face.
She swallowed, trying to keep her breathing steady until he was out of view, and then sipped her wine, the fresh citrus notes hitting her like a splash in the pool on a hot summer’s day. She willed the alcohol to still her trembling fingers.
As she waited for Colton, her mind raced with how she wanted to approach the issue. She hadn’t meant to say what she’d said outside—it had just come out in her desperation to get him to listen to her. But it was true. She couldn’t deny it.
Elvis plopped down beside her barstool with a groan.
A few minutes later, Colton jogged down the stairs in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, his wet hair now combed. Elvis hoisted himself up to greet his master while Leigh fiddled with the stem of her half-empty wine glass.
“What was it you wanted to tell me?” he asked, sitting down beside her, his expression guarded.
She sat up a little straighter. “I’m here to convince you that Jimbo’s retail shops are an important development for this area. But first I want to hear you. What’s going on to make you so angry about it?”
His expression hardened. “Forgive me, Leigh, but what do you know about this area? You haven’t been here in almost a decade.”
“I know the market and I know numbers,” she said. “This is a good thing. The space is incredible and I have wonderful, national companies involved.”
He sucked in a breath before his jaw tightened. “You’ve filled all the shops?”
“Nearly. I’m meeting with them all next week.”
“Jimbo’s paying you to do this?” He shook his head, pushing away from the bar before she could answer. “I can’t believe him.”
“He’s not paying me. I’m doing it for free.”
Colton wheeled around, causing Elvis to stand. “For free? You’re ruining our landscapefor free? Leigh, do you realize what you’re doing?”
“Yes,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I do. I’m not ruining the landscape at all. I’m increasing the revenue in Sumner County and providing jobs to area residents. Why is that a bad thing?”
He took her lightly by the wrist and led her out to the back porch, the shimmering lake under the moonlight against the horizon looking like a postcard.
“You want to destroythis?” He waved his hand across the fields. “Your work is so important that you’d give this up?”
“I think we can have both,” she refuted.
“And that’s exactly why I walked out last night.” He turned his back to her and spread his arms along the glass railing, his gaze on the water but his thoughts clearly elsewhere.
“I don’t understand,” she said, coming up behind him. “It’s just a couple of shops.”
He spun around. “Jimbo couldn’t find anyone to rent his place because collectively every local merchant he asked shut him down. They boycotted it and no one would dare fill it.”
“Why?” she asked, completely mystified.
“Because if he’s successful, his next build will behere.” Colton jutted a finger into the air, toward the lake in front of them.
“What?”
“I only own to the end of the fields. Jimbo somehow managed to get the land on the other side of them rezoned for mixed-use—residentialandcommercial. He’s planning a massive build that would knock down that old house out there and put a giant structure and its parking lot between me and the lake.”
Leigh’s blood ran cold. “Oh my gosh,” she breathed. “I didn’t know…”
“Well, it might be best not to meddle in things you know nothing about,” he said. “Leave the development to the people who live here.”
“I could try to change his mind,” she said, grasping for anything she could do to fix this.
A loud laugh burst from Colton’s lips, startling her. “You think Jimbo’s gonna do anything other than whathewants?” He laughed again, a sarcastic frustrated laugh. Then he sobered. “If you weren’t so worried about work all the time and spent a little bit of your life with the people in it, you might have avoided this.”
“That’s not fair,” she said, shaking her head, tears brimming in her eyes without warning.
