17. Heath
CHAPTER 17
heath
S able was behind the bar when I walked into the Wildflower. She was looking through her computer. The place was quieter than usual for a Friday night—locals filled a few tables, and a small cluster of tourists gathered near the dartboard, but the energy didn’t match what I usually saw here.
I leaned against the bar, catching her attention. “Slow night?”
She glanced up at me, her face unreadable, but I could see the tightness in her jaw. “It’s been a slow few weeks.” The way she said it made it clear that I should’ve noticed and that this was somehow my fault.
I frowned. “What’s going on?”
She closed her laptop and let out a sigh. “You don’t want to know.”
“I do, babe.” I held out a hand to her so she could slip hers in. She shook her head. “Sable?”
She poured me my whiskey and slid the drink close to my extended hand.
“Alexa has asked everyone to stay away from here, and her father intimidated townsfolk at some BBB meeting.”
I blinked, taken aback. “I don’t think so, Sable. I’d have heard about that, and I’ve heard nothing.”
Sable crossed her arms. “I have no idea why you haven’t ‘cause I’m the talk of the town.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she kept going.
“ The locals have been told to avoid my place. Business is down. It’s not a coincidence.”
I straightened, not liking her insinuation. The Vikars were snobs, no doubt, but even if they wanted to, they didn’t have that kind of power. Also, it was too petty for them.
“Sable, you’re imagining things. This kind of dip happens whenever there’s a change in management. People are just waiting to see if you can handle it.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I could tell my statement didn’t land well.
“You don’t think I can handle it?” she asked, her voice sharp.
“That’s not what I said, so don’t put words in my mouth,” I warned. “I’m just saying that you’re taking this too personally. This isn’t high school, Sable. Alexa doesn’t have that kind of power. People talk, sure, but they’ll move on. They always do.”
She stared at me for a moment, and I could see she was hurt. “Wow, you think I’m overreacting. ”
“I think you’re letting this get to you more than it should.” I smiled reassuringly at her and kept my tone gentle. She was stressed, and she needed me to hold her together and not get upset with her because she was unfairly blaming Alexa for this.
She shook her head, her lips pressed into a tight line. “You don’t get it.”
“I do, Sable. I know you’re fighting for respect in a town that’s been judging you your whole life. Just give it time. People will come back to the Wildflower. This stuff happens in business.” I knew because I worked in hotels and restaurants my whole career.
Before she could respond, one of the guests at the other end of the bar raised his hand. Sable smiled at him and walked over.
I was irritated with Sable. I felt like she was expecting me to fix her business problems for her somehow. But what was I supposed to do? This wasn’t the first time someone had to deal with rumors in a small town, and it wouldn’t be the last.
She needed to toughen up and not look to me as her savior. We were grown-ups, right? That meant we solved our problems. Sure, we were in a relationship of sorts, but that didn’t mean I could rescue her.
While she took care of the guest, I decided that maybe I should just go home and not spend the night with her. She was in a piss poor mood, and I’d had my share of an angry woman in my bed for years. This…whatever this was, was supposed to be fun and easy—no w it was getting messy and complicated, and I didn’t like it. I also didn’t like that Sable was badmouthing my kid’s mother.
The last guests left, and I was almost done with my whiskey. She didn’t let me pay for it, saying it was the friends-and-family benefit drink.
“Hey, it’s going to work out,” I told her.
She wasn’t angry anymore as she had been, just sad. “I hope so.”
“I feel like…I feel like you think I am somehow to blame for this.” I waved a hand around the tavern.
She looked so contrite that I felt like an asshole. “I’m sorry, Heath. This is on me and not on you at all.”
Good. She was getting it. I was glad.
“I have an early meeting tomorrow,” I lied. “Would it be okay if I just went home tonight?” And you went to your place.
“Okay.” She didn’t look like she was okay with that at all. I understood. I had Juno the following week so we wouldn’t be sleeping together for a week, at least. Tonight would have been the last time before….
“Or maybe you can come to my place and?—”
“No, it’s fine,” she cut me off. “I think I’m getting a migraine. I’m just going to take some pills and zone out.”
“Take care of yourself, darlin’.” I kissed her and walked her to her car before driving home, feeling uneasy as fuck about how she seemed to have shut down, wondering if I was being unfair to her. We may be casual, but I could be a friend to her, couldn’t I ?
Fuck! When had companionship and sex become complicated and stressful?
Since Juno was with me, Alexa suggested we go out for dinner, and that she’d make reservations. I let her because I knew she was still struggling with how she behaved with Sable. She’d apologized to me, and I’d told her it was fine. What the hell else could I say? She was Juno’s mother, and I wasn’t going to be in some long-term fight with her over her losing her shit with Sable.
Alexa told me she’d tried to talk to Sable, but Sable had rebuffed her. I didn’t bring it up with Sable because I didn’t want to get between her and Alexa—I’d rather they stayed away from each other. However, I thought that Sable was being childish when Alexa was trying to be mature. These two women needed to get the hell out of high school.
On her end, Sable had been understanding about me seeing her only around or after closing time at the Wildflower, and meeting at each other’s homes. We didn’t go out in public. I didn’t mind. I was out all day, every day talking to people, and it was nice to eat a home-cooked meal and stay home with her, reading a book or watching some mindless television, before having the best sex of my life. It was a nice routine we’d fallen into in the past few weeks since Alexa went to the Wildflower.
The fact that despite everything, I could feel things were not the same with Sable—as in, she wasn’t the same, bothered me. I’d had drama for a good part of my marriage, and I didn’t need one with the woman I was casually, if monogamously, dating.
I wondered if I should just end it.
But every time I was with Sable, the world felt lighter, and I loved being around her. Still, the previous night at the Wildflower had given me pause, especially when she seemed to blame Alexa for her business struggles.
I missed Sable and our conversations as I sat with Alexa for dinner while Juno chatted with a friend at another table who was there with her parents.
We were at Angelo’s, a traditional Italian restaurant popular in Aspen. It was not your regular Saturday-night dinner joint; it was where you went to celebrate anniversaries, and tourists lined up for reservations weeks in advance. But it was where Alexa liked to go, and I had no problem with that.
I felt a pang of guilt that I’d never brought Sable here. I hadn’t taken her anywhere, not even to the resort, after that one time when we went skiing.
I couldn’t help but compare dinner conversations with Sable versus Alexa since Juno had abandoned us for the moment.
My ex always talked about people, and I felt a prickle of annoyance. What was I doing spending time with her like we were a family, especially since I wanted to be with Juno, not Alexa.
“So, now everyone knows that the ring cost so much less than he obviously lied about,” Alexa continued to tell me about someone in her friend’s circle who’d recently found out that her engagement ring wasn’t Tiffany and…whatever the fuck.
Juno, thankfully, came back when the server came to get our drink orders.
I told him I was okay with water. I would be driving Juno home, and I stayed clear of alcohol, always had, whenever she was in a vehicle with me since she was a baby.
I scanned the menu after the server left to get our drinks.
Everything at Angelo’s was gourmet: handmade pasta tossed with fresh seafood, osso buco braised to perfection, and wood-fired pizzas that people claimed could rival those in Naples. Typically, I would’ve been looking forward to a meal like this, but tonight, my appetite was shot.
“One glass of wine doesn’t hurt,” Alexa mocked. “Come on, loosen up a little, Heath.”
“Mama, he never drinks when he’s driving me,” Juno reminded her mother.
Alexa rolled her eyes. “Even the cops say one drink doesn’t impair you.”
“Leave it, Alexa,” I ordered stiffly. Why was she making a big deal out of everything? Christ! I missed having a quiet dinner with Juno, where we’d talk, and there would be none of these people coming by our table to talk to us all the freaking time, and Alexa, who couldn’t go through a sentence without putting someone down.
I wondered if I was being foolish by agreeing to dinners with Alexa when I didn’t enjoy them. Was this really healthy for Juno? To see me annoyed and her mother…well, who was on her second glass of wine even before we’d eaten a thing.
Juno filled the silence with her usual chatter, telling me about her upcoming exam and complaining about the hours of conditioning her lacrosse coach had put her through this week. Alexa, thankfully, steered off gossip, smiling at Juno’s stories, keeping up the perfect facade of a family dinner.
I wondered if Sable would hear about this when I went to the restroom. I’d told her that I was going to spend time with my ex and daughter. I didn’t want a contentious divorce that would crush my child.
Fucking hell! Yeah, I needed to end this with Sable. It was getting a bit too complicated, and I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.
I was washing my hands when two men walked in. They started talking without noticing me.
“That place is gonna close down the way it’s being run. This is what happens when you make decisions with your dick,” the man in a grey button-down said.
“Come on, man, you really think Ben sold her the Wildflower because he was boning her?” his companion asked.
I froze.
“You’ve seen her,” Grey button-down said lasciviously.
“Yeah,” the other man agreed. “She’s hot.”
“No wonder Falkner is banging—” Gray button- down stopped talking when he spotted me. I finally recognized him. He was Craig, Brian, or…. He owned a couple of ski rental stores around town.
“Hey, Heath.”
“Brian.”
“How are things?” the guy who wasn’t Brian said, his hands on his fly.
“Good. Excuse me.”
I walked out then, irritated that Sable and I were still being talked about. Damn it! Maybe Alexa was right, and I should’ve been more discerning about who I dated in a town like Aspen. A woman with Sable’s reputation would always be part of a scandal, whether she liked it or not.
Yeah, this thing with Sable had run its course, and I’d just have to accept that. I’d arrange a time to meet with her and end it face-to-face.
“What’s wrong?” Alexa asked when I came back.
“Why?”
“You look pale.”
“Yeah, Daddy, all okay?”
I forced a smile. “Junebug, I’m good.”
When I got home, I called Sable, but she didn’t pick up. I texted her, asking her to call me when she woke up so we could meet at her place.
It wasn’t until the middle of the next day that I realized Sable had neither texted me back nor had she called. When she finally did, suggesting I come over to her place after she closed the Wildflower, I was so relieved that I put ending us on the back burner. I wasn’ t ready. Knowing I was going to see her made me feel good, no matter all the complicated stuff. It wasn’t sustainable, this yo-yo I was on. I knew that. But for now, I didn’t want to give Sable up. I didn’t want to hurt my daughter. I didn’t want to have Alexa lose her shit. And I was aware that all my wants were in conflict.