9. Heath
CHAPTER 9
heath
I was in a better mood than I’d been since I asked Alexa for a divorce, and we went through the process you go through as a couple, where one wants the separation more than the other. It took a year after our first conversation to start the legal process, and then we moved to Aspen, which was a year and a half ago. I wouldn’t say that I was depressed or sad—but it weighed on me, this decision I made and the consequences of it.
But I had felt lighter since my date with Sable.
The next evening, I texted her to tell her that I really enjoyed our time together. She replied, “ Me, too .”
Life got in the way, and I hadn’t been able to get in touch with her, but I also didn’t feel the need for it. I had expected her to reach out, as that was my experience with women, but she hadn’t—which made me feel even better about what we’d started. This would be the epitome of casual. I enjoyed Sable’s company in and out of bed, and that’s all I wanted, didn’t I? Some companionship, and…then there was the sex. Fucking mind-blowingly fantastic sex!
I looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window of my office, which framed the peaks of the Elk Mountains, their tops still glistening with snow even as the spring thaw crept up the valley. The resort bustled quietly below; its sleek architecture nestled into the landscape like it belonged there. I was proud of this place—not just for what it was, but for the work I’d put into making it the crown jewel of Aspen’s ski scene. The tourists came for the slopes, the high-end amenities, the exclusivity, but for me, it was all about balance. Business thrived here because I kept the chaos in check.
I was a man who liked order, and my office was, as my assistant liked to tease me, the oasis of order. I had needed to fix it up before I parked my butt in here because the previous GM had a style that was Las Vegas meets Switzerland.
The walls that used to be dark purple were now painted a neutral slate gray, and the furniture was simple and modern. A glass desk with chrome accents sat at the center of the room, replacing the vintage shitshow the previous guy had. My desk was meticulously organized: a laptop, a leather-bound notebook, and a stack of files sorted by priority—I like to have my reports printed out. A low bookshelf against the far wall held a few framed photos of Juno, some books on leadership, and an award or two that the resort had picked up over the years.
I glanced at my watch. I had three more emails to send, a Zoom call at noon, and a lunch meeting with a potential partner who wanted to pitch a new eco-friendly ski lift design.
Everything was on schedule.
I picked up my phone, debating whether to text Sable to see if she had time to meet up before the following Monday. We hadn’t made any specific plans, but if this was going to be a casual relationship, maybe it was okay to be spontaneous.
I’d barely started typing when a knock at the door interrupted me. “Come in,” I called, and Ellie, my assistant, stepped inside.
Ellie was the only thing I’d inherited from the previous GM’s office that I had kept. She’d been with the resort for six years now, a sharp, no-nonsense professional who could juggle half a dozen tasks at once without breaking a sweat.
She came inside, closing the door behind her. “Your wife is here.”
“Ex-wife,” I automatically corrected her.
“Well, whoever she is, she is?—”
The door behind Ellie pushed open, and Alexa stormed in.
“Thank you, Ellie.” I waved her off before she became witness to my family drama, which, seeing Alexa’s expression, was impending.
Ellie hesitated, her sharp eyes darting between Alexa and me. Then she nodded and disappeared into the hallway from my office to hers, closing the door behind her.
“How dare you?” Alexa did not disappoint.
I had no idea what she was talking about. “Good morning, Alexa,” I greeted dryly, leaning back in my chair.
She ignored the sarcasm, crossed her arms, and stared at me with fire in her eyes. She wore a tailored cream blazer, and heels sharp enough to stab someone. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. She looked like the sophisticated woman she wanted everyone to see—beautiful, intense, and about as subtle as a grenade.
“Are you out of your mind?” she snapped, not bothering with a greeting.
I sighed, gesturing to the chair in front of my desk. “Please, sit. Let’s start with what this is about before you burst a blood vessel.”
She didn’t sit. She stalked toward my desk, her voice rising. “It’s about you gallivanting around town with Sable Nees! Are you kidding me, Heath?”
I should’ve known, a part of me had known—but I had thought it wouldn’t become an issue. Now, nearly two and a half years had passed since we separated. Did Alexa expect me to remain celibate? I didn’t expect that from her.
“I didn’t know that what I did had anything to do with you.”
“Goddamn you, Heath!” she barked. “Taking that slut out on private skiing lessons like it’s some kind of fairytale? Do you have any idea what people are saying? About you? About her? About us?! ”
“Don’t use that kind of language about a woman I consider a friend…or, in fact, any woman in front of me.” I didn’t bother to temper my tone. “And, Alexa, there is no us . We. Are. Divorced. You do remember that, right?”
That only seemed to make her angrier. “Oh, don’t pull that with me. You know damn well people are watching! What you do reflects on me, Heath. On Juno. And you’re out there making a spectacle of yourself with someone like her .”
My teeth clenched. I hated the way she said her —like Sable was beneath her, beneath me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Alexa leaned over the desk. “It means you’re running around with trailer trash who everyone knows has a reputation. She slept her way through half this town and probably is still doing it…well, she is since she’s fucking you.”
I pushed back in my chair, my voice cold now. “Didn’t I just tell you to be careful about the words you use to?—”
“And don’t call her your friend. She’s your fuck buddy.” Alexa was breathing hard. “You couldn’t pick someone better? You had to go slumming?”
“Jesus, Alexa. You know high school is fucking over.” She was pushing my buttons, no matter how much I didn’t want her to. Outwardly, I kept my calm, but inside, I was a fucking raging forest fire. How dare she come here and talk about Sable? And how the fuck did she already know about our date? It had been like half a goddamn minute since Sable left my bed .
“Oh, we’re not talking about high school; we’re talking about now,” she scoffed, straightening up and tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“Alexa, what I do and who I do it with is none of your business. Unless you want to talk about how we're co-parenting Juno, we?—”
“You’re ruining our reputation. Do you think this is good for Juno? For her to see her father hooking up with that woman? What kind of example are you setting?”
I stood, my patience wafer thin, but I knew losing my temper would do me no good. Alexa fed off my anger, which was why I no longer showed it to her. “Any woman I’m seeing is also not my kid’s business, so let’s not bring Juno into this.”
“Oh, because you think she’s not going to hear the tawdry gossip?” Alexa shot back. “Do you think she’s not going to find out how your latest fuck buddy is also fucking half the town?”
“Stop, Alexa,” I growled out, and more than my words, my tone made her freeze. She knew what it meant when I raised my voice, and she was smart enough to know not to cross that fucking line with me. I’d been generous with pretty much everything when it came to our divorce; her need to move to Aspen, the house she wanted me to buy, every fucking thing.
“If Juno is going to meet any woman you’re seeing, you need to clear that with me.”
I grinned then. She was out of her ever-loving mind. “No.”
“What?” she screeched .
“No. Who I see is none of your business. I repeat, Alexa, we are not married, which means I don’t need you for much of anything except raising our daughter. We have her for three years or maybe four, and then she’s off to college. That’s all you and I connect over.”
She looked deflated all of a sudden and crashed onto the chair. “I can’t believe you’re dating her .”
“Alexa, it’s casual, and I repeat, it’s none of your business.”
Alexa let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Casual. Right. I’m sure the town will see it that way when they catch wind of how cozy you two are getting. Do you know how hard this makes it for me? For us?”
I frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
Alexa hesitated, her eyes narrowing. “I mean, you asked for this divorce, Heath. Not me. And now you’re off playing the bachelor like this is what you wanted all along—an excuse to sleep around. Is that what this is? Some midlife crisis fling?”
Her words landed like red flags between us, and I knew I had to nip this in the bud.
“Alexa, I didn’t ask for the divorce so I could sleep around. I asked for it because we weren’t happy. You weren’t happy with me any more than I was with you. You remember that, right?”
She stared at me for a moment; her lips pressed into a thin line. “If you think Juno doesn’t notice all of this, you’re wrong. She’s fifteen, Heath. She’s not stupid.”
“I know she’s not.” I rubbed the back of my neck, relieved that she’d at least stopped screaming. “I’ll talk to her. And....” I sighed, reluctant but knowing it was the right thing to say. “Why don’t we have dinner tonight, the three of us, and clear the air?”
Her expression softened slightly—just enough to tell me I’d said the one thing she’d been waiting to hear. If marriage was a compromise, those fuckers who wrote the advice books didn’t know that divorce was an even bigger one. I could give her dinner if that meant she’d calm the fuck down and not take this mood home to my kid.
She sniffled, going from raging bitch to vulnerable damsel faster than one of those F1 cars went from zero to a hundred. “There’s that new Italian place.”
“Amore,” I agreed. “How about six-thirty tonight.” It was a school night, and I wanted Juno back home and tucked into bed, latest by ten. She had lacrosse every morning at the crack of dawn, which I took her to, regardless of who she was staying with.
She stood up shakily.
I felt a pang go through me. I’d loved this woman with my whole heart, and somehow, in the past several years, it had all vanished like footprints in the snow after a storm—wiped clean, leaving nothing behind but cold, empty ground.
She came up to me and, before I could take a step away from her, went on tiptoe and…missed my lips because I moved my head at the last minute and caught my cheek.
I wanted to push her away because this was not cool, but we’d just found a modicum of peace, so I didn’t.
“Thanks, Heath.” She smiled at me and then, after patting my shoulder with her hand, left my office much calmer than she’d been when she came in.
I sat back down as the door closed behind her, the burden of the conversation settling over me like a heavy coat.
This was why I didn’t want a relationship. I wanted easy, casual, and companionable, but I was starting to wonder if that was a pipe dream in a place like Aspen. I had suspected that, which was why I hadn’t dated and, in fact, had only done so in San Diego. And as much as I liked Sable—hell, maybe even more than liked—I didn’t want this drama in my life.
Fuck! But I didn’t want to let her go. I was so into her it was ridiculous. I’d find a way to keep this going—not sneakily, but maybe not so overtly, either. Maybe no more skiing lessons in public. We could see each other at our homes, away from prying eyes.
Even as I considered it, the thought left a sour taste in my mouth. By nature, I was an honest man, and the idea of hiding a woman I cared about felt disingenuous—like I was ashamed of her. And I wasn’t. Not one bit.
Sable deserved better than that. Hell, I deserved better than that. The question was, how could I have my cake and eat it too? And if that thought didn’t make me feel like an even bigger asshole.
Ultimately, I didn’t text Sable. Instead, I asked Ellie to make reservations at Amore for three at six-thirty p.m.