The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,71

took a seat beside Rick, Lucy and Aunt Anita at the town council meeting. She’d moved through the remainder of the day in a daze, smiling at customers and wrapping Valentine’s Day gifts in shiny red paper, trying not to think too hard about what Anita had said earlier.

True love didn’t have to be perfect. What did that mean, exactly? Was she supposed to pretend that Sawyer didn’t have anything to do with the demise of her business? She wasn’t sure she could.

Even if Jamie somehow managed to close her bookshop’s doors and let herself keep falling in love with Sawyer, there was always the chance that one day, her grief would rear its ugly head at some unexpected, wholly inappropriate moment. Like maybe one day she and Sawyer would take a fabulous vacation and just as they reached the top of the Eiffel Tower, Jamie would turn to him and wail, “How could you do it? How could you make me give up True Love?”

It would be awkward to say the least. Awkward, and very much possible. Jamie was used to wearing her heart on her sleeve, not repressing her feelings. She’d always considered that to be a good thing, but now she wasn’t so sure.

No, she decided the second Sawyer walked into the room and took his place next to Dana beside the lectern. It’s definitely a bad thing. Her face went instantly hot, and she was certain every person within a five-mile radius could tell she was hopelessly in love with Sawyer O’Dell.

Emphasis on hopeless.

She forced herself to look away, focusing instead on the crowd assembled for the meeting. Every single shopkeeper from the business district was in attendance—Olga from the dance studio, Beth from the hobby shop, Chuck from the pizzeria, along with his dad. So many others, too. A long conference table had been set up along one of the side walls, where members of the town council sat facing forward. Eric was situated right in the center with a gavel in his hand and a microphone stand in front of him.

Everything looked so official. It was impossible not to feel at least a little bit intimidated. Before she could stop herself, Jamie glanced at Sawyer in search of comfort. Big mistake, obviously. Huge. His warm brown eyes looked as soft as velvet and as soon as their gazes locked, Jamie found it impossible to look away.

True love doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be true.

Her heart beat impossibly hard.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Eric said into the microphone, prompting Dana to step up to the lectern and begin the presentation.

“Thank you. Council members, I’m Dana Sutton. With me is Sawyer O’Dell, and together we represent Ridley Property Development…” As if Jamie needed the reminder. She felt Lucy’s gaze on her, checking to make sure she was okay, but she kept her focus straight ahead as Dana continued, “…which, as you know, has presented a proposal for a redesign to the Waterford Business District.”

Gosh, this was painful.

Jamie squirmed in her chair, almost wishing they would just commence with the vote and call it a day. She didn’t have the emotional bandwidth for another splashy presentation of the architectural renderings of her beloved business district disappearing to make way for some hideous spaceship, and she was pretty certain that was what was next on the agenda because a drop-down screen began to unfurl behind Sawyer’s head.

Dana dazzled at the lectern. “We are here today to withdraw that proposal.”

Wait.

What?

The room buzzed with interest. Lucy grabbed Jamie’s arm, and she knew she should probably react. But she couldn’t. Until she knew exactly what was going on, all she could do was sit there numbly, afraid to get her hopes up.

But then Sawyer shot her a tiny, almost imperceptible wink…and her spirits rose like a buoyant, beautiful, heart-shaped balloon on a string.

“And we’d like to present a new one.” Dana turned toward Eric and his colleagues. “If the council is amenable.”

Eric leaned forward in his chair. “You realize this will mean we’ll have to delay the vote until everyone has a chance to review the designs, in depth?”

“We do. And, honestly? My business instincts are completely against this.” Dana pressed a hand to her heart, and Jamie was more bemused than ever. “But my creative instinct says that what Sawyer came up with deserves to be seen.”

Eric nodded. “Well, then, let’s see it.”

Dana stepped aside to make room for Sawyer at the lectern as the lights dimmed.

He looked