Page 6 of Worth the Fall

“Everyone is going to talk,” I whispered as if they already weren’t.

She threw her hands in the air, as if to wave my words away. “Who cares? They’ll talk for five seconds before they move on to something else.”

I’d never been the focus of Sugar Mountain gossip before, and I definitely wasn’t a fan of becoming it now. Strangers having strong opinions on your relationship was a surreal thing. I wasn’t enjoying it.

“Maybe you can bring back the whores on swings,” Lana all but shouted, and I bit back a laugh.

“They don’t do that anymore,” I said, shaking my head.

“That’s why I said you should bring it back,” Lana argued.

Sugar Saloon had been around for over a hundred years. Apparently, it wastheplace to get your whiskey and women back in the day. If you looked up, there was a glass ceiling in one section of the bar, where the ladies used to swing around from the rafters and tempt the men. The see-through ceiling was still intact. Unfortunately, the swings were not. Pictures remained, and they were framed all over the saloon, reminding people of what it used to be like inside these wooden walls. I wasn’t sure I would have believed it if there weren’t so many photographs.

“Let me buy you your first freedom cocktail,” Bella said with a grin as she grabbed her shaker with one hand.

“What about me?” Lana pouted.

“Duh. Of course, you too.”

“Thanks, Bella.” Lana smiled wide. “So, what are we drinking?” She pounded the bar with her fist, clearly ready to celebrate.

“Wait.” Bella turned serious. “Do either of you have to go back to work today?”

“Nope,” Lana said before adding, “And Sven said he’d be our designated driver.”

Of course he had. The man was perfect.

“I took today off too,” I answered.

I’d figured that I’d take the day in case I needed it to sit with my feelings, cry it out, or mourn the loss of a marriage I’d never thought would end in the first place. I’d been so worried that after officially signing the papers, I’d be filled with sadness or regret or thoughts that I’d made a mistake somehow. But I wasn’t feeling any of those ways because I’d already been grieving for months before we officially ended.

A woman didn’t simply pack up and leave overnight. It might have looked that way from the man’s perspective or to an outsider, but that was rarely, if ever, the truth. Women fought until we couldn’t fight anymore. We tried until we were exhausted from trying. And once we finally made the decision to leave, it hadn’t come lightly or without warning.

Men were always warned.

And by that point, our minds could rarely be changed.

All the days and nights I’d told Eli that I wasn’t happy, he refused to listen to me. No matter how many times I brought up the same issues, he never took my complaints seriously. I felt unseen and unheard. We started unraveling without any way to stop it.

And then he’d had the gall to act shocked when it finally had.

“Great! What spirit sounds good? Vodka? Gin? Rum?” Bella started listing off liquors and then wagged her eyebrows before adding, “Tequila? I’ve been working on a new drink.”

“Bella, you’re too good for this place,” I said, genuinely meaning it.

“I know,” she whispered toward me. “Oh my gosh. Did I tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I leaned closer, thankful for the subject change.

“Barry agreed to let me create a seasonal drink menu!” She sounded so excited as she mentioned the owner of the saloon.

Sugar Mountain regulars might love their local beer, but having craft cocktails would appeal to the tourists who inevitably ended up in here night after night.

“I can’t believe you finally wore him down. I thought that old Grinch would never agree,” Lana teased, but we all knew she was serious.

“Right? He was a tough sell, but I convinced him that the drinks would all contain ingredients we already carried, so there would be no extra up-front costs. And I had to keep the menu simple so that every bartender could make the cocktails if I wasn’t around to do it.”

“That makes a lot of sense actually.”

---