Page 48 of Against All Odds

“I know.” I wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned into me.

I inhaled her familiar perfume. I wondered if maybe we could be friends and not just friendly. Perhaps then it wouldn’t hurt her quite so much.

I put a finger under her chin to lift her face. “What can I do to make this better?”

Her eyes glistened with tears. “I don’t know.” Her voice was small. She seemed so forlorn that my heart ached. “Maybe, maybe, you can keep your…whatever it is withher, quiet? For the sake of us…for Juno.”

Her voice cracked on Juno’s name, and that’s what did it. That’s what softened me completely. Because whatever else Alexa was, she was Juno’s mother, and I’d promised myself I’d always keep things civil for our daughter’s sake.

“Okay,” I promised her.

I’d talk to Sable. She’d understand. It had been the wrong move to go public. Two weeks of that, and already my ex-wife was crumbling, and my daughter had to witness it. I didn’t want her to have a broken mother—especially sinceI was the one who wanted the divorce. I had a higher burden of responsibility to make this right.

She nodded, wiping her eyes one last time. “Thank you, Heath. I just want things to be okay again. For all of us. Especially for Juno.”

After she calmed down, I checked in with Juno.

“You okay, Junebug?” I asked after I entered her room.

“Yeah.” She looked sad. “Mama’s gonna be alright?”

“I think so.”

“She told me what happened.”

Well, Juno would probably hear about it at school. I doubted Alexa’s little nervous breakdown at the Wildflower wouldn’t make the gossip headlines.

“How does that make you feel?” I asked.

“Sad,” she admitted. “I don’t want her to hurt, you know? I want her to be happy. You guys weren’t happy together. You fought, and you were…cold to each other. But now, you both seemed to be doing well…with each other. Friendly. We went for dinner and it was fine, even fun, like old times. Now….”

I pursed my lips.

“But, Daddy, you have to live your life, and she needs to live hers,” Juno continued, surprising me with her maturity. “I think she just needs time to accept that you’ve moved on, and when she does as well, she’ll feel better.”

“When did you become so smart?” I kissed her forehead.

“Born this way.” She grinned.

By the time I made it to the Wildflower, the resolve I’d walked in with was gone. I wasn’t sure who I was trying to protect anymore—Alexa, Juno, Sable, or myself.

The last thing I needed was to see Natasha there. Fuck me! I couldn’t catch a break from the Vikar sisters today.

I smiled at Natasha and nodded at Sable, tacitly asking her if she was okay. She just shrugged and poured me my nightly drink—a finger of Macallan 12, which she kept at the bar just for me, she’d told me.

“Natasha.” I sat next to her.

Sable slid my drink in front of me, and without thinking about it, and because I needed it, I grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Thanks, babe.”

Thinking about how to handle the situation was one thing, but when Sable was in front of me, a warm sensation took over, and I knew in my heart that I couldn’t let her go.

Natasha noticed the kiss and smiled. She finished her drink. “Thanks for talking to me, Sable. You have a nice evening. Good to see you, Heath.”

“I’m sorry I’m late.” I held out my hand to Sable after Natasha left. She came around the bar, and I pulled her to me, spreading my legs so she stood between them. I put my hands on her hips and squeezed. She felt good. She always felt so damn good. I wished we could just be in this space and explore one another without all the interference.

I kissed her and let go. Feeling her tongue against mine, her taste inside me, it washed away everything bad that had happened during the day—the small stuff like the ski lift that stopped working and the big ones like finding Alexa losing her shit in front of Juno.

“Hey, handsome,” she whispered when I let her mouth free.

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