13. Heath
CHAPTER 13
heath
T he past two weeks were some of the best I’d ever lived. Being with Sable was exciting. Was she fun? Yes . Was she stimulating? Also, yes . Was she easy and drama-free? A big fat, absolutely .
Since we danced together at the Wildflower, I’d talked to Juno. She’d dismissed any idea of her feeling uncomfortable or weird that I was dating openly . I would never have told her about a woman I was seeing in San Diego until it became serious, but that wasn’t an option in Aspen. She’d hear about it and find out anyway, as I’d discovered.
“ Daddy, it’s your life, you do what you want. I like her. She seems fine. If you want us to spend time together, that’s cool with me, too .”
Of course, that wasn’t going to happen. Regardless of how much she appealed to me, I wasn’t ready to introduce Sable to my kid.
I had changed my schedule at the resort and was taking Monday afternoons off so Sable and I could spend some time together. We were two busy professionals, with conflicting and often unpredictable schedules, and we didn’t have the luxury of spending weekends and evenings together frequently.
“When did you start hiking?” I asked as we walked along a trail through the pines, dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy.
It wasn’t a strenuous trek—Sable had promised me it would be fun but not death-defying —but I could feel the steady burn in my legs as we worked our way toward the top.
“Since forever,” she admitted. “Didn’t call it hiking then.”
“What did you call it?”
“Getting away?”
She didn’t hide her roots, but she also didn’t make a big deal out of it, unlike the townsfolk.
I’d gotten an earful from Daniel and Cynthia Vikar, my former in-laws, when I went to drop off Juno at their place over the weekend.
They lived in a sprawling stone-and-timber mansion perched just above town. The driveway alone was longer than a city block, winding through manicured pines and meticulously arranged wildflowers that likely cost a small fortune to maintain. I knew because we did the same at resorts around the world—including the one here.
Daniel used to be the mayor of Aspen, and if the town had a throne, he and his wife would sit on it. When I saw them once in a while when we visited, or they came to San Diego, we got along just fine. Even after the divorce, we did well enough. But that reprieve seemed to be coming to an end now that my relationship with Sable had become common knowledge and, according to Ellie, my assistant, a hot gossip topic.
Once Juno had gone into the kitchen with her grandma to find something to eat, Daniel asked to talk to me in his library. Yeah, it was that kind of a house. I grew up with professors; we had books everywhere, and not a library with a reading fucking nook. I doubted anyone in the Vikar house took advantage of the cozy spot with a view and couch to immerse into reading…Salman Rushdie? Midnight’s Children was set on the small table next to the reading couch. It even had an ornate bookmark tassel coming out of it. I was certain it was there for show.
“How are you doing, Heath?” Daniel sat down on an armchair (yep, it looked like a throne) and asked me to take a seat on a matching couch across from him. Between us was a coffee table slash bar with two bottles of expensive whiskey and suitable glasses.
“I’m good, Daniel.” I looked at my watch as if I were busy. I was. I was going to attend the first Saturday Jazz Night at the Wildflower. Sable had managed to make that happen in the short time since she’d taken over the tavern. I was excited about the New Orleans band she’d signed up for opening night despite being more of a blues man.
“Now, I’m not one to beat around the bush,” Daniel continued, trying to look superior to me despite being four inches shorter and many pounds rounder .
“Okay.” I leaned back, draping an arm casually along the edge of the couch to show just how at ease I was with this ridiculous conversation—especially since I knew what was coming.
“Being a Vikar in Aspen is…well, it comes with responsibilities,” he began.
I nodded.
“Now, I know a man has needs, and you’re absolutely allowed to meet those…ah…needs.”
I didn’t bother to hide my amusement.
“But you don’t do it in the open.”
Did he think Sable and I were fucking out on the streets of Aspen?
I shook my head, feigning confusion. “What are you talking about, Daniel?”
He somehow managed to look down his nose at me. Quite a feat, considering I was taller.
“It’s been brought to my attention that you’re seeing that woman who used to be married to Jack Cavalieri.”
Daniel was a patriarchal snob, unwilling to acknowledge that Sable had an identity beyond her ex. I wondered what he thought of Alexa who was also divorced.
“I’m dating Sable Nees.” I tilted my head. “Though the word dating sounds so juvenile, don’t you think? At my age, I’m more inclined to say I’m spending time with Sable Nees, the owner of the Wildflower Tavern.”
He sneered. “Like I said, being a Vikar comes with ? —”
“Daniel, I’m not a Vikar.” I gave up the pretense of giving a shit about what Daniel had to say and got up. “Who I see is not something you and I can or will ever discuss. You’re Juno’s grandfather, and that’s all the relationship we have.”
My former father-in-law wasn’t used to being told off, and I wasn’t used to being treated like an errant teenager at my age. Hell, I hadn’t been treated like this when I was a teenager. My parents always respected Wyatt and me.
Cynthia caught me by my Jeep, her hands wringing. If she were wearing pearls, she’d be clutching them.
“Heath, now, I know that you and Alexa have had some issues—but honestly, we felt that was because you were so far from family. Now, we’re all here to support you.”
By family, she obviously meant themselves and not my well-adjusted parents and brother.
I suppressed a sigh. “I’m really grateful that you’re Juno’s grandparents.”
Her smile wavered. “What I’m saying is that you and Alexa should get couples counseling. All marriages have issues and ? —”
I’d rather shoot myself than go into couples counseling with Alexa again.
“Cynthia,” I cut her off. “Alexa and I are not a couple; we’re not married, so couples counseling is moot. We’re co-parents to Juno. I’m in Aspen because she insisted, and I wanted to be where my daughter was. After Juno goes to college, I will move somewhere else with Royal hotels.”
It wasn’t common knowledge, but the deal I’d made with Maverick Royal, the CEO and President of the hotel chain I worked for, who was also a friend, was that I’d stay in Aspen, fix up the issues with the resort here and some others across Colorado until Juno finished high school. After that, I’d move on.
“That woman has a very bad reputation,” Cynthia tried.
“Are you talking about Sable?” I asked unnecessarily.
“Yes,” she hissed.
“That’s because of your daughters, Cynthia. Natasha told me how she and Alexa bullied Sable in high school, started rumors about her, and basically made her life hell and ruined her reputation.”
Cynthia gaped at me.
“You have a nice day. Alexa is going to pick up Juno tomorrow. She has her next week.”
Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones who had taken a stance and tried to give me advice. As Sable had warned me, there was ‘ your place is with your family, son’ contingent—and a smaller ‘ screw, the Vikar family’ group. They were both vocal. But I was certain that Sable got more of the remarks and advice than I did. We both had to ignore them and carry on!
“I think I prefer skiing to hiking,” I called out to Sable.
“You can’t ski all year round,” she quipped.
“True, but the season is longer than it used to be. I think we’ll keep the slopes open for at least another two-three weeks.”
“Is that unusual?” she asked.
“Skiing until the end of April? Yeah, that’s not something we could do a decade or two ago. ”
She walked ahead of me, her dark ponytail swinging with each step.
She wore hiking shorts with many pockets, sensible boots, and a backpack slung over her shoulders. I was in similar clothes and had brought along a bottle of water.
As we hiked uphill, I had to catch my breath.
“You said this was an easy trail.”
She glanced back over her shoulder, smirking. “If you like skiing, I figured you had strong legs.”
“Yeah, but I usually have gravity working with me,” I shot back. “Not against me. Is this payback because you fell on your ass several times during our last date when I was teaching you important life skills?”
She laughed a soft, musical sound that made me wonder if I was losing my mind being so maudlin about this woman. “Skiing is an important life skill?”
“Sure is.”
The truth was, I didn’t mind the climb. Not when the view was this good—not just the mountains but also her. Seeing Sable out here, flushed from the effort and smiling in the sun was worth giving up my morning run for a later afternoon hike.
“I didn’t come here for years while I was married,” she told me as we walked companionably up an easy trail. “But after the divorce, I started again. It is almost meditative. Plus, the views are better than therapy.”
“Did you ever try couples counseling?” I asked.
“There wasn’t enough time between Jack admitting to adultery and my asking for a divorce for couples counseling. ”
“How much time was there?”
“About five to ten seconds,” she told me.
Why did people think this woman had easy morals? To me, she appeared to have enough integrity for ten people.
“Cheating is a hard no?”
“Disrespecting me is a hard no.” She sighed. “Though I didn’t know that until he told me he knocked up Molly.”
I caught her hand in mine because I heard her pain.
“It doesn’t bother me…now,” she quickly added.
“But it did bother you.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, it did.” She squeezed my hand.
When she didn’t say anything else, I didn’t push her. Instead, I let the quiet stretch between us, the sound of our boots crunching against the dirt filling the space.
“What about you?” she asked after a moment. “You try couple’s counseling?”
I groaned. “Unfortunately. It was hell.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
She didn’t laugh as I wanted her to, and I marveled at this woman’s care when it came to others. She didn’t want to be amused about the fall of my marriage. The more time I spent with Sable, the more I was impressed by her.
“What made you want to get into the hotel business?” she asked after a while.
I smiled at the question, thinking back. “I kind of fell into it. Mav…Maverick Royal is the CEO of Royal Hotels. We were in college together at UCLA. I knew his fa ther well, and he asked me to try the hotel business. I didn’t think it was for me, but I thought, why the hell not? Experience is experience. But then he passed, and Mav needed help, so I started working for him at the headquarters in New York.”
“How did you end up as a general manager?”
“I spent a lot of time in hotels, and I started to understand why some of our hotels were successful, but others that seemed similar weren’t. A big part of it was the leadership, so I became the general manager slash fixer for Mav.”
She raised an eyebrow, curious. “I thought you were just a GM.”
“I am. In San Diego, I felt settled and resented having to move around. So, I took over as GM of the flagship hotel. It’s a resort and conference center—with connected properties. Next thing I knew, I’d been running that place for fifteen years with short stints here and there whenever Mav needed me.”
We reached the overlook, which was the destination of our five-mile hike. The trail opened up to a wide expanse of rock that jutted out over the valley. The view was breathtaking—rolling green hills giving way to snow-capped peaks in the distance.
“Wow,” I exclaimed.
Sable sat on the edge, dangling her legs over the side, and I joined her. The warmth of the sun offset the cool mountain breeze.
She drank some water from a bottle and then handed it to me. She asked me questions about my work, and I realized that Sable was curious about others, not revealing much about herself in the process. I didn’t mind. We had time. I’d get to know her, slow and steady, when my doe was comfortable with me and not as skittish.
“What do you love most about the hotel business?”
I didn’t have to think about the answer. I knew. “It’s the people. I like creating spaces where people feel comfortable. Where they can relax, make memories, and be themselves. It’s rewarding in a way I didn’t expect.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “You know, it’s what I also like about having the Wildflower.”
“It’s a big shift from bank teller to bar wench,” I teased. “How did that happen?”
She took a deep breath. “I worked in the bank because I thought that was what normal people did. I got an associate’s degree in accounting and got a job in the bank. I found I was good at it. I didn’t love it, but I liked the regular paycheck and the dignity it gave me. I had a roof over my head. I didn’t have to worry about…well, my safety or getting food. All of that was pretty heady at twenty-two.”
I put an arm around her, and she nestled against me, the world’s most beautiful view in front of us. Technically, I knew that Sable grew up poor, and I thought I knew what that meant. But hearing her talk about what she experienced was hard-hitting, and it made my esteem for her grow.
“You did the bank job for a long while,” I remarked.
“Yes. Eighteen years.” She kissed my chest almost absently. I liked that about her. I liked how she felt in my arms, how she nestled against me, how she always found a way when we were alone to touch me. It was all the same things I did with her as well.
“But after Jack discarded me?—”
“He screwed up, Bambi.” I didn’t like how she talked about herself sometimes. She was not trash that was discarded.
“Screwed Molly more like it,” she tried to joke.
“I’m so sorry, babe. Adultery hits hard.”
“It’s not that or not just that. We tried to have a baby with IVF,” she paused for a long moment and then continued, “I had two miscarriages. After that, I was done. I was sick of pumping hormones into my body. I was thirty-eight, and I didn’t want to have one of those geriatric pregnancies. Jack was upset and disappointed…so he found a woman who was, amongst all other things, fertile .”
This was tricky ground, and I didn’t think I could say anything to make her feel better, so I stroked her arm and held her closer.
“I don’t want children,” she continued. “I mean, I did, but I met Jack when I was thirty, and we married two years later. I was just so happy someone decent married me. So grateful.”
“He was lucky to have you. I know because I’m lucky to have you with me right now.” I brushed my lips close to her ear.
“You know, I thought you wanted to be a GM here for the free lift passes since you’re such a big skier and all that,” she changed the topic, bringing levity. I liked that about her. She let things go. Didn’t keep bringing up the stuff that didn’t work—but moved past it after saying her piece.
I chuckled. “How did you guess?”
“I have skills,” she teased.
The hike back to my Jeep went faster, and by the time we got to Sable’s place, a small cottage tucked into a quiet corner of Snowmass close enough to the town square so she could walk and get a cup of coffee but far enough to feel like a hidden retreat, I was famished, and so was she.
“Let’s go to a restaurant,” I suggested. “You must be too tired to cook.”
She winked at me. “I’m not, and trust me, most of the food is already ready.”
“We can do takeout,” I offered.
She didn’t want to eat out in public with me. I’d figured that out. She didn’t mind us meeting and eating at the Wildflower, but I’d not been able to convince her to dine with me at the many restaurants on Main Street. I understood. She wanted to maintain some modicum of privacy.
I liked Sable’s place. I’d been here a couple of times now, even spent a night on her big bed where we’d made some dirty love that even thinking about made my dick stand up.
Her place was cozy without being cramped. The living room had mismatched furniture—an overstuffed armchair that looked like it belonged to someone’s grandmother, and a modern coffee table, that probably didn’t—but somehow, it all worked. It was what I’d come to think of as Bambi’s Magic Touch. She’d done the same thing at the Wildflower, which even Ben Greyfeather, the previous owner who was now Sable’s mentor and unpaid employee, admitted.
I sat at her kitchen island, watching as she moved effortlessly around the stove. The smell of garlic, herbs, and spices coming from the pan made my mouth water.
The table was already set, and all the pieces of the dinner were ready to go as soon as we came back. She opened a bottle of Chardonnay that paired well with the food. She had candles on her small dining table and white cloth napkins. This gave me insight into the kind of person she was. She cared that things were done well. She didn’t want to just throw a meal together after a long hike; she wanted it to be special.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you could cook.” I set my fork down.
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “You sound surprised.”
“I’m impressed,” I corrected. “This pasta is some of the best I’ve ever had.” She had served pappardelle with wild mushrooms and a sage cream sauce.
“Homemade pasta is the best,” she agreed.
I stared at my food and then back at her. “You made the pasta yourself?”
“Yes, Heath.” She twirled some pasta around her fork. “You sound like I just built a house with my bare hands. ”
“It’s not that far off,” I remarked, spearing a mushroom.
“This is better than most restaurants.” And I’d know. I spent my time staying in hotels and eating at some of the finest restaurants in the world. “Rich and earthy, perfectly balanced.”
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she offered a small, dismissive shrug as if it didn’t matter—but I knew it did. Not many people in her life had ever told Sable she was remarkable.
“I had to learn.”
“There’s cooking, and then there’s this, Sable.” I stroked her cheek with a finger.
She hesitated, her fork hovering over her plate. “You know how I grew up...so when I met Jack, I didn’t want him to think I didn’t know what good food was. This” —she gestured to the meal with a small smile— “is the result of years of subscribing to Bon Appétit magazine.”
“Well, Bambi, take it from me, you definitely know what good food is and how to cook it.”
She didn’t smile or look comforted at the compliment. “The sad thing is that I did all this as a way of polishing myself, removing the trailer trash taint.”
“I hate when you refer to yourself as…trash or?—”
“I know,” she quickly cut me off. “So, do you want to know what’s for dessert?”
“I was hoping for pussy,” I joked, going along with her desire not to dwell. As much as I wanted to know everything about her, I knew it would take time. Sable wasn’t open in general; she was guarded, and I knew that it was a huge honor that she’d let me get so close to her truth so quickly.
She laughed and then somberly said, “I mostly cooked and set the house and all of that to hide what I thought was the real me—which was?—”
I put a finger on her lips to silence her before she could refer to herself deprecatingly. “You don’t have to hide, Sable. Not from me. Not from anyone. You are an amazing woman, and that’s the honest truth.” I winked at her and added, “And you have the most gorgeous pussy I’ve ever tasted.”