Preserving Love: A Contemporary Romance Series (Nick & Lexi Book 2) (10 page)

A snicker from Morgan and Brad let me know they realized it wasn’t all about them.
 

“But standing on the sidelines is someone that truly wanted to head it up, and should have from the get go. The problem was his life didn’t allow for that at the time, so he passed the reigns to Alexis, who did a fine job with them. Yet when he found himself needing the solace of the job he’d passed up, he employed tactics that I also wouldn’t agree with to get where he wanted.”

“Bullshit!” I heard a voice, I presumed to be Grant, shout.
 

“It’s not a bad thing. It’s human nature. Fight for what you want. And it’s easy to see a simple mistake and view it as a purposely done deed to take sides. Like the fact that Alexis had not informed the Society that I was heading up the project. It wasn’t done because she was choosing me. It was done because she hadn’t felt it urgent as she still planned to fight me.”

“Hmmmm,” I heard a group mumble.
 

“The truth is, Alexis and I had agreed to not discuss this and to fight with all we had. We weren’t going to let our business dealings be the center of our relationship. Because we’d gotten to know each other on a personal level anonymously prior to realizing that it was the other we were talking to.”

A loud gasp filled the area around me.
 

“The problem is those behind us, those who have something to gain, are using tactics to win their fights that are hurting the two of us. And because we are both the faces and names you know-- it appears that we are doing it to each other. But we are not.”

“MONROE!” Morgan’s voice was loud enough for the audience to hear.
 

I stood a moment longer, hoping that no one would pull me off stage. I needed to finish what I’d started.
 

*****

Lexi

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to the words that Evan spoke. I could hear his boss behind him and wondered if anyone else could. He was risking his job and his reputation for this and it meant more to me than anyone else would ever know.
 

“He’s doing good,” Kendall commented and I saw the admiration on her face.
 

“Yes, he is,” I admitted and focused back on him.
 

“What upsets me isn’t the tactics these groups are using to win a battle. That’s what business is. It’s all about finding the leverage and making your side more powerful. Yes, even non-profit groups will use the same tactics. If they don’t, they will lose and nobody wants to lose what means so much. What upsets me is the way the community has handled it.”

Moans from the crowd got a little louder.
 

“Hang on guys,” Evan continued with a makeshift laugh. “The newspaper got involved and the stories were harsh. Because they were being told through the eyes of a reporter wanting to get noticed. They were stories created by businesses or organizations wanting to win a battle. They were meant to illicit emotion. But those words and those comments sent the community into a tailspin. Hateful words were being spewed about a woman that everyone once called friend. Her business was boycotted and picketed until she shut it down. She’s suffering in her everyday life. Who she is has had to change. She’s hurting financially. She’s hurting mentally. All because two sides of a battle were fighting it out.”

The crowd got quiet again. No one could really say anything.
 

“Everything I loved about this community changed in the past two weeks. Everything that mattered seemed to have been forgotten. In two days the HRC will make a decision on the resort. Either GHM or the Preservation Society will win. There will either be a resort or there won’t. And then the day after, GHM will move on to either begin building or find another location. The Society will move on to either celebrate or begin their next battle. Life will go on. But the community has been divided. Friends have turned their backs on each other. A much loved candy shop has been out of business and may not be able to return. A person who did nothing but support a man she loved and fight for a community she loved will try to recover the life she’s lost.”

Evan cleared his throat and then said the words I hadn’t expected to hear.
 

“I can’t take my name out of this now. It’s there. And I do believe in the potential of the resort for the community. But if I could go back to that night when Alexis encouraged me to follow my dreams, I would have said no. I would have chosen her and the community that I’d grown to love. Because to me, that matters more than any dream I’ve ever had. I only hope that whatever decision is handed down, the people and love I’ve come to know can return to what it once was. Otherwise, you have the mentality of those cities you claim to want to be nothing like. And I ask that in this moment, the community stop and think for just a minute. What is it about Asheville that you want to preserve? Because if a building can tear friends apart, then what is really left?”

Evan turned and walked off the stage and I heard mumbles as attendees began to chatter among themselves. I was in shock. Even knowing what the purpose had been, I couldn’t believe all he’d risked for me.
 

*****

Chapter 15

 
Evan

“You’re fired,” Morgan announced as he walked into the office. “You can finish this deal and then you are fired.”

“I wasn’t planning to stay on anyway,” I let him know, already packing up my desk in preparation. “I have a life to live and I get to choose how to live it.”

“What you pulled out there,” he waved his hand as if he were pointing directly to the stage I’d been the day before. “If that cost me this deal then I’ll sue your ass.”

“Was any of it untrue?” I used his own words from before against him. “I mean did I lie?”

“That’s not the point Monroe,” he snapped. “You walked onto that stage representing my company and made us look like shit.”

“You made your company look like shit Morgan,” I looked directly into his eyes. “You are the one that made the choices you made. Not me. I simply spoke about their effect on the community.”

“No,” he glared. “You let a piece of ass come before your career.”

“This,” I waved my arm around the office, “is NOT my career. I design buildings. I don’t play puppet to an asshole and his egomaniac sidekick.”

“You will regret this Monroe,” he said, turning towards the door.
 

“I regret a lot of things,” I admitted. “This will never be one of them.”

Morgan stormed out the door and tried to slam it, but Brad caught it first and decided to add his own two cents to the situation.
 

“I had you pegged from the start,” he smirked. “Whipped.”

“If that’s how you choose to look at it,” I answered. “Do you actually do any work here?” I couldn’t resist asking what I’d wondered all the time I’d been working with him.
 

“I did a lot of work. I’m the one that did the digging on rules and laws and regulations. I also found the information on your little piece of ass easy to find. I’m the one that gave us a shot in hell of winning this battle.”

“So you are the asshole that can’t play fairly?” I shook my head. “Something to be really proud of.”

“I take it your were let go?” he laughed as he watched me pack up.
 

“I wasn’t planning to stay,” I corrected. “Once this decision is made tomorrow, this deal is over for me. I will move on with my life and be happy.”

“Well I hope that happiness pays the bills,” he pointed out. “Or maybe your girlfriend will support you if her little business ever picks up again.”

“Guess I could opt to be the plaything for bossman,” I mumbled. “If there’s nothing else Brad, I’m busy.”

He followed my not so subtle hint and left the office. I sat back down in my chair and thought about everything that had happened. Lexi had deserved so much more than she’d gotten over the past few weeks and whatever I chose to do, I was going to give it to her from that moment on. I no longer cared about following my dreams because I realized that she had become that dream. I only hoped that the community of friends that she had always known would feel the same and things could go back to normal for her.
 

*****

Lexi

“Old lady Whipple came by earlier,” Kendall informed me as she bit into a piece of s’mores fudge. “Said she wanted to apologize for the way she acted and to tell you that you have a good man like her Burt was.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I wouldn’t peg Evan Monroe as being anywhere near like Burt Whipple had been. But the sentiment had been wonderful. Especially knowing that people were starting to come in to the shop again. It’d been a little over a day since Evan’s speech and not many had ventured my way, but the few that had were kind and spoke as such.
 

After the meeting I’d found Evan and talked to him. I didn’t want to feel guilty that he was going to lose his job and career for me. It had been him that told me it didn’t matter. He had new life goals and they didn’t include playing games with people’s lives.
 

He even informed me that he secretly hoped the plan was rejected just so Morgan would get what he deserved and not be able to put his name on that building.
 

“He doesn’t deserve to be remembered in Asheville,” Evan had teased.
 

It amazed me even as I sat there that I had found him in this madness. I hadn’t really been looking for a relationship when Nick and I had stumbled upon each other on Facebook. Yet he’d become an everyday part of my life.
 

When I’d realized it was Evan I hadn’t taken it as well as he’d hoped, but eventually I had warmed to the idea. Unfortunately it had taken us going through hell to realize the bond we’d shared as Nick and Lexi would still be there as Evan and Alexis.
 

Kendall had been iffy about our relationship throughout the course of it, but finally she’d given it her seal of approval. She realized that Evan cared about me a lot if he was willing to publicly put his ass on the line for me. Mostly, she was happy to see me happy with something in my life besides playing in chocolate.
 

“So what happens now?” she asked, pulling me from my thoughts about life.
 

“Well, tomorrow we have the HRC meeting,” I told her, sitting down with my coffee. “They will make the final ruling on whether the resort will be allowed.”

“If they say yes?” she asked.
 

“Then Evan will likely stay on to oversee the building. But it’s a given at this point that once this development is completed he will no longer be affiliated with GHM. He’s not really thrilled about the design anyway at this point. He says its very different from what he’d originally come up with.”

“What if they say no?” she asked

“Then he will leave the company and begin looking for work elsewhere,” I answered. “It really is almost over, either way.”

“What about the Society? What is going on with them?” her questions were all of the things I’d spent the past 48 hours of my life sorting out.
 

“I’m stepping down voluntarily,” I told her. “I don’t have the time and truthfully, Grant needs it. Turns out Anna is in remission and he’s got a lot of time on his hands. He will do a good job. They have offered to allow me to stay on as a member. I just have to decide if I want to at this point.”

“Life sure did change didn’t it?” She pointed out, taking another bite.
 

“That it did Kendall,” I agreed. “I’m not sure what to do now. Everything is different and I don’t really know how to handle it.”

“You will find a way Lex,” she smiled at me. “It’s what you do.”

I turned and walked behind the counter, starting a fresh pot of coffee. I knew that changes were coming I just wasn’t sure what they were going to be. If the candy shop didn’t pick up again, I wouldn’t be able to keep it operating. Without the Society, I wasn’t sure how to spend my free time. I was kind of lost. As much as Evan’s gestures had meant and as helpful as they’d been, they didn’t solve all of the problems that I faced.
 

“You could always move away,” she teased.
 

“And leave Biltmore Village?” I laughed. “I doubt the day will ever come that I do that. I wouldn’t really belong anywhere else. This has always been home.”

“Never know what could happen,” her jokes were always so serious and it bothered me.
 

“I know that there is absolutely nothing that could happen that would make me leave home. Nothing.”

“if you say so,” she laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh with her, both of us knowing that I was destined to spend my life right there in Western North Carolina.

*****

Chapter 16

“There’s a lot of people here,” Kendall pointed out as we walked into the HRC hearing room. “Who knew this many people care so much about a dumb building.”

I turned and glared at my best friend.
 

“I did,” I answered. “It’s important.”